WHERE TO FISH FOR PllRCH. 97 



the punt, in paternostering ; a bungler will be sure to 

 spoil the fishing. 



The localities in which to look for perch vary with the 

 season. Early in the summer the angler will find them in 

 the streams, as in gudgeon- swims, into which they come 

 when the ground is raked or disturbed, and here they 

 often take the angler's gudgeon worm ravenously ; in- 

 deed, perch occasionally take a worm almost as well, and 

 in some cases even better, than they do the minnow. 

 They are often taken on the ledger, and these are fre- 

 quently the best fish too. Some time since I was fishing 

 with a friend on the Thames ; we were dace-fishing, with 

 the float line ; he had a paternoster out on his side of the 

 boat for perch ; I had a ledger on my side for barbel ; I 

 had at least a dozen bites, and caught two or three nice 

 perch, while he never got a touch, with a choice minnow 

 and a small gudgeon not four or five yards off, and the 

 perch were feeding all round us. As the summer ad- 

 vances, the perch seek the deeper and stronger streams, 

 the quiet eddies and deep holes near piles, lock-gates, 

 piers of bridges, corners of weirs, and by heavy weed 

 banks. At this time they are well fed and cautious, and 

 will try the angler's skill to make a good dish of them. 

 As the season advances, and the winter floods sweep 

 down, they all draw into the great eddies, or still corners, 

 particularly after a sharp frost, and here they will be 

 found in great numbers ; and when the water is a little 

 coloured, they may be taken in from three to seven or 

 eight feet of water, or deeper, in any quantity, as they 

 are then hungry, though in good condition. As March 

 comes on, they get heavy in spawn, when they should not 

 be disturbed. By the middle of April they get amongst 

 the weeds, rushes, or fibrous roots of trees, in still back- 

 waters, and here they deposit their spawn in long ropy 

 glutinous masses. It is astonishing what a vast number 



H 



