THE PERCH. 1 



I AM glad to be able to vouch personally for the 

 fact that perch are once more becoming Increase 

 plentiful in the lower Thames. I believe it in the 

 is also the case in the upper part of the Thames 

 river. In May, 1897, Walton Sale, a Thames 

 backwater, was well stocked with perch-spawn. I 

 walked over to Walton to see about a punt I had 

 purchased for a friend, and took the opportunity of 

 searching the Sale for perch-spawn. The water- 

 weeds and willow roots were thickly festooned 

 with spawn in very many places, affording a good 

 prospect of plenty of fry at an early date. It is a 

 great pity that the Mundella Act allows perch to be 

 taken so late as the I5th of March ; I have taken 

 them in February in full spawn, particularly in mild 

 seasons ; and it should be made illegal to take perch 

 after the I5th of February, at very latest, in the 

 Thames. I saw many perch caught on the closing 

 day of the season in 1897, and each fish should 

 have been put back in the river. I have, during 

 recent years, taken many large perch when Thames 

 trouting with small bleak or gudgeon, carefully 



1 In view of Mr. Alfred Jardine's forthcoming volume, the 

 author has dealt very briefly with this and the following 

 species. ED. 



t 



