THE PEECH. 119 



rent : he clipped up a few worms and threw them in, and 

 then baited his hook, his float had hardly reached the per- 

 pendicular, before down it went, and in another minute a 

 half-pound perch was landed, this was rather encouraging, 

 and so he set to work in earnest, and for two hours the biting 

 was very fair, and when he left off, he had something like 

 thirty perch, and some half-dozen roach, and many of the 

 perch were very good fish. The perch had run up the mouth 

 of this drain, to get out of the way of the heavy water out- 

 side, and being hungry, had taken the bait freely. Nothing 

 like that has been done on the' X^'ent, and I have tried all 

 such likely -looking spots up and down the river, on purpose 

 to see if I could not break the spell that seems to be cast 

 over it, but without any very great results, and I have long 

 ago come to the conclusion that the Trent is not much of a 

 perch river. The largest perch by far that I have seen 

 captured in the neighbourhood of Newark was taken out of 

 the Devon, it was only an ounce or two short of two pounds. 

 I have, however, an idea that if they were properly angled 

 for there are some good perch in Besthorp Fleet (a large 

 sheet of water a short distance from the Trent, about eight 

 miles below Newark), in fact, I think of experimenting 

 there before long. A perch is a splendid fish for the table, 

 a small one out of a stagnant pond is not very good, but a 

 good river perch is excellent ; his flesh is white, firm, and 

 flaky, without so many of the objectionable small bones of 

 the roach. I have them opened and well cleaned, and a little 

 salt rubbed down the backbone, and then simply broiled in 

 their jackets. When they are cooked the skin and scales all 

 slip ofi", they are then seasoned to taste. The rod, reel, and line 

 described in Chapter II., p. 22, will be most suitable for perch 

 fishing, and the tackle may be stoutish roach tackle, about 

 three or four feet long, with a No. 5 or 6 hook on the end. 

 A perch has a large mouth and so it is better to have a large 



