492 PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 



attained a large size, it being said that a perch of 9 Ib. 

 was taken out of the Serpentine in Hyde Park, and 

 another of 8 Ib. from Dagenham Reach. The best that I 

 ever saw was one that weighed 4 Ib., full weight ; he was a 

 splendid fish, and was caught by a lad with a sixpenny 

 rod, a stout gut-line and a hook baited with worm, from 

 one of the pools of the little Brent at Hanwell. I was a 

 boy at the time, and remember offering him a threepenny 

 bit and my dinner for it ; he didn't see it, and perhaps it 

 was just as well, for I should have assuredly deceived my 

 worthy sire as to who caught it. Deep, quiet water, where 

 there is a gentle eddy, under hollow banks, holes where the 

 roots of trees run down and their pendant branches shade 

 the retreat from the fierce heat of the sun, the piles of 

 locks and sluice-gates, and the back-water of millstreams, 

 are all favourite perch haunts. In navigable rivers and 

 canals he seeks the deeper parts, where barges lie, and 

 about floats of timber, always choosing, if obtainable, a 

 " habitat " where the bottom is sandy and pebbly. I have 

 found it a good plan in wandering about the banks of an 

 unknown river in quest of perch to note where the small 

 fry of dace, roach, &c., most do congregate. Such a place 

 will be a sandy bank at the edge of a bed of sedge and 

 rushes, and where the current forms a little eddy ; here 

 the youngsters get out of the force of the main stream, and 

 if the angler remains quiet, and unobserved by the fish- 

 meanwhile observant himself it is any odds that he will 

 notice ere long the rush from the deeps, of a perch, with his 

 bristling back fin erect and menacing, and a scatter of the 

 small fry for the shelter of the sedges. Try here, then it 

 is sure to be good ground and likely to be remunerative. 



Now for the tackle to be used. Select a nice light cane 

 rod, 12 ft. or 14 ft, with standing rings, and not too pliable ; 



