APPENDIX XII. 



PRACTICAL ESSAY. 

 THE PERCH. 



The perch is a very plucky and game fish. It swims in large 

 shoals, and the small ones may be caught in great numbers by the 

 most youthful hand with a worm-baited hook. It frequents slow 

 rivers, lakes, and ponds. The small " pits " in Cheshire are often 

 full of perch, although they may be no larger than a fair-sized room. 

 I was once coming home from fishing, and had not taken my tackle 

 to pieces, and while I took a rest I threw my line, a remnant of a 

 worm being on the hook, into a tiny pond by the side of the road. 

 The float instantly dipped, and I pulled out a nice perch. In a 

 short time I caught nine perch averaging half a pound each. 



The perch spawns in March, April, or May, according to the 

 warmth or coldness of the season, and is in condition from June. 

 It grows to four or five pounds in weight in England, but a two- 

 pound fish may be considered as above the average. It affords 

 good winter fishing, and at that season of the year it may be found 

 in hundreds in some eddy or deep backwater. 



Worms and minnows are the most common baits for perch, and 

 may be used with a good-sized hook, and a cork float, the bait 

 swimming midway in the water in the warmer months, and near 

 the bottom in the colder ones. If the bait is a minnow, it should 

 be hooked through the upper lip. It is well to have a second hook 

 a couple of feet above the lower one, and one can be baited with 

 a worm, and one with a minnow. Let the float be taken well 



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