FISHING FOR PERCH 123 



streams for dace ; or even a scrap of red worm, that you 

 only intended a gudgeon to pick up. These oddments are 

 not however his staple food ; I look on him as a fish-eater 

 in a general way. I have seen him on the quiet stretches 

 of the Great Ouse getting on the track of a bleak, chasing 

 it all over the place, every second nearly chopping at it 

 with a splash, the poor bleak jumping continually, until 

 finally it gets too exhausted to jump any more, and so 

 speedily becomes a victim. I once saw a bleak succeed 

 in escaping ; but this was a very unusual thing. The perch 

 chased it from one side of the river to the other, and finally 

 it leaped on the bank ; and there it lay jumping and kicking 

 until I removed it to a place of safety. I thought that 

 hunted bleak had thoroughly earned its liberty. 



The tail end of a lob, or a succulent marsh worm, or a 

 couple of small red worms pretty well scoured, and swum 

 down the stream a couple of inches from the bottom, will 

 be as good as anything ; and let the swims be pretty long 

 if you can, and a fair stream is running, for fine and far off 

 is the tip for perching down the shallower streams. 



In this fishing it is best to rove about ; never stopping 

 long in one place unless you happen to find a packed shoal ; 

 but during the summer and early autumn perch are on the 

 rove, and are found in odd ones, sometimes by twos and 

 threes. A few coarse lob-worms clipped up now and again, 

 and cast in the track of the float, is as good a groundbait 

 as can be used ; or you can employ a ball or two of bread 

 and bran kneaded up very stiff, and keep throwing a few 

 scraps in every time you try a fresh place. This sort of 

 fishing does not require the elaborate care that must be 

 exercised with roach ; the great thing is to fish fine and 

 fish a long way off. Cast out your bait clean and well, and 

 let it trip lightly over the bottom, anywhere and every- 

 where that you think is likely to hide a lurking perch. 

 This stream fishing can also be done with minnows and 

 tiny gudgeon for bait ; just hooked on the same tackle as 

 used for worms, only in using the small fish more time must 



