190 ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT FISHERIES 



Fishing for perch was a popular pursuit on 

 Windermere a century ago, and to-day this bold 

 biter affords sport to unskilled visitors when every 

 other kind of fishing fails. About 200 rods and 50 

 boats are on hire at Bowness, and these are mostly 

 employed by visitors in catching perch. In fact 

 the perch has been described as the " great staple " 

 of Bowness. This statement takes no count of the 

 boats at Ambleside and Lakeside, used mainly for 

 the same purpose. At one time perch had but 

 little protection, nor was protection necessary. 

 They were netted the year through, but in spite of 

 this they flourished abundantly. At present they 

 have too much protection, and the fear is that their 

 over abundance may go far to ruin the fishing of 

 the lake. In fact, to a great extent perch in 

 Windermere should be treated as vermin, and a 

 premium put upon their reduction. At present 

 they have a close-time, but this is quite unnecessary. 

 Perch are not now netted in Windermere, and 

 in consequence their size is annually .decreasing. 

 When coarse-fish netting was worth the while of 

 the professional fishermen, thousands of small perch 

 were occasionally brought up from the deep water by 

 the small-meshed nets. These could not get down 

 again in consequence of the distention of the air- 

 bladder. Then the lake might be seen covered 

 with distended fish. This occurred every spring, 

 and was owing to the small-meshed nets used. At 

 that time tons of perch were taken when spawning 

 in May and June when they were unfit, of course, 

 for food. 



To give an example of the number of perch in 

 Windermere to-day, it may be stated that in no part 

 of the lake can a bait be dropped without in a few 



