156 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



directions how to catch this fish, of which I have given you 

 these observations. 



He will bite at a paste made of brown bread and honey, or at 

 a Marsh- worm or a Lob- worm ; he inclines very much to any 

 paste with which tar is mixed, and he will bite also at a smaller 

 worm, with his head nipped off, and a Cod-worm put on the 

 hook before that worm. And I doubt not but that he will 

 also, in the three hot months, (for in the nine colder he stirs 

 not much,) bite at a Flag- worm, or at a green Gentle ; but can 

 positively say no more of the Tench,* he being a fish that I 

 have not often angled for ; but I wish my honest scholar may, 

 and be ever fortunate, when he fishes. 



CHAPTER XII. 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE PERCH, AND DIRECTIONS HOW TO 

 FISH FOR HIM. 



Piscator. THE Perch is a very good, and a very bold biting 

 fish. He is one of the fishes of prey that, like the Pike and 



* The haunts of the Tench are nearly the same with those of the Carp. 

 They delight more in ponds than in rivers, and lie under weeds, near 

 sluices, and at pond heads. 



They spawn about the beginning of July, and are best in season from 

 the beginning of September to the end of May. They will bite all the hot 

 months, but are taken best in April and May. 



There are no better baits for this fish than a middle sized lob-worm, or 



