THE PEECH. 59 



half a minute or so, draw the plummet gently to the 

 right or left about a yard ; fish the water within reach all 

 round you ; having finished that, swing the plummet a 

 yard or two further away from you, and fish that line 

 of water in the same manner, and so keep on casting 

 further and further until you have fished all the water you 

 want to, when go on to another spot. 



In punting you do just the same choosing the likely 

 spots, of which the eddies are the best just off the edge of 

 the stream. When these are large, as on the Thames 

 after floods and frost, many perch will frequently be found 

 congregated ; the head or first turn or two of the eddy and 

 close to the stream will always be found the favourite spot, 

 as it is there that the food is first driven in from the 

 stream. When you have to make longer casts beyond the 

 command of the rod, you work the line back a foot at a 

 time until the plummet is under the rod point once more, 

 when cast again but not twice to the same spot, unless 

 you have a bite or a fish there, then stick to that spot as 

 long as the fish bite. It requires a good puntsman, who 

 is well up to his work, to manage his punt properly and 

 manipulate the baits. The best plan is, if two anglers are 

 engaged, for them to stand side by side in the stern, each 

 bringing his fish round on his own side to the puntsman, 

 who lands them, takes them off, and rebaits. In this way, 

 with a friend, I have often taken a bushel of fine perch in 

 a day on the Upper Thames, in February. When you feel 

 a bite do not strike at the first touch, but when it is 

 repeated strike smartly, and take care you do not scratch 

 and lose your fish, as, if you do, you will too often find 

 that the story that a scratched perch frightens the rest is 

 no fable, and though it does not always hold good, it very 



