CHAP. XII.] THE FOURTH DAT. 233 



your hook through his "back-fin ; or a minnow with the hook 

 in his upper lip, and letting him swim up and down, about 

 mid-water or a little lower, and you still keeping him to 

 about that depth by a cork, which ought not to be a very 

 little one : and the like way you are to fish for the pearch, 

 with a small frog, your hook being fastened through the 

 skin of his leg, towards the upper part of it : l and lastly, I 

 will give you but this advice, that you give the pearch time 

 enough when he bites, for there was scarce ever any angler 

 that has given him too much. 2 And now I think best to 

 rest myself, for I have almost spent my spirits with talking 

 so long. 



Yen. Nay, good master, one fish more, for you see it rains 



1 A successful mode of catching Pearch in the Thames is as follows : 

 Take a large clear glass bottle, such as are seen in chemists' windows, fill 

 it with water, and put a quantity of lively minnows in it. Tie a piece of 

 parchment over the mouth with holes pricked in it to admit air, or a piece 

 of netting. Sink it with a cord tied round the neck in some deep hole in 

 the river. Leave it for a night or two, and then drop a pater-noster by the 

 side of the glass, with three hooks baited with minnows, and you will 

 not wait long for bites. The minnows in the glass attract the pearch around 

 in considerable numbers. (See Hoffland's "Angler," second edition.) ED. 



2 Although pearch, like trout, delight in clear swift rivers, with pebbly, 

 gravelly bottoms, they are often found in sandy clayey soils ; they love a 

 moderately deep water ; and frequent holes by the sides of, or near, little 

 streams, a'nd the hollows under banks. 



The pearch spawns about the beginning of March : the best time of the 

 year to angle for him is from the beginning of May till the end of June, yet 

 you may continue to fish for him till the end of September ; he is best taken 

 in cloudy windy weather, and, as some say, from seven to ten in the fore- 

 noon, and from two to seven in the afternoon. 



Other baits for the pearch are: loaches ; miller' s-thumbs ; stickle-backs ; 

 small lob, rna,rsh, and red worms, well scoured ; horse-beans, boiled ; cad- 

 bait ; oak-worms ; bobs and gentles.' 



Many of these fish are taken in the rivers about Oxford ; and the author 

 of the "Angler's Sxire Guide" says, he once saw the figure of a pearch, 

 drawn with a pencil on the door of a house near that city, which was 

 twenty-nine inches long ; and was informed it was the true dimensions of 

 a living pearch. 



The largest pearch are taken with a minnow, hooked with a good hold 

 through the back fin, or rather through the upper lip ; for the pearch, by 

 reason of the figure of his mouth, cannot take the bait cross-wise, as the 

 pike will. When you fish thus, use a large cork float, and lead your line 

 about nine inches from the bottom, otherwise the minnow will come to the 

 top of the water : but in the ordinary way of fishing, let your bait hang 

 within about six inches from the ground. H. 



