WHITE PERCH AND OAT-FISH ANGLING. 285 



The baits used are various: live bait, as worm or fish, is 

 generally best. But whatever you take 

 " To bait fish withal," 



if it will feed nothing else, 'twill feed Cat-fish, which are omni- 

 vorous. They are the fresh water Toad-fish, and, like others 

 of the family, seem to subserve the purpose of purification, by 

 the reconversion into life of corruptible organic matter. Though 

 esteemed delicate eating* when well cooked, they are noi 

 pleasant to take raw ; their ugly mouths, slimy skins, and 

 dangerous horns, causing the dainty angler to avoid their 

 neighborhood. This he can do only by fishing some feet above 

 bottom. But drop below that discreet distance, and he will 

 surely damage his tackle in the jaws of some bull-headed Man- 

 darin, to be disengaged only with infinite difficulty and disgust. 

 Fishing for them, wnen rightly prepared, is, like fishing for Eels, 

 well enough and quite another thing. You will then use gimp, 

 and a kirb about No. 3 Salmon, upon bottom. The best time 

 is sundown, and after. Then they bite boldly, and are a sure 

 fish. Glove your left hand and seize them fearlessly but firmly 

 behind the horns when you disgorge the hook. Boys with 

 stick and string, a rusty hook and piece of pork, take " Bull- 

 heads" (as the small Cat-fish are called) in almost every pond 

 and fresh stream in the Northern States. 



But angling for the White or Silver Perch the graceful 

 aright-eyed Perch with pliant rod and gossamer thread of gut 

 this is no boy's play, but a true exhilarating sport. A nimble, 

 strong, clean fish, that springs voraciously at the bait, struggles 

 hard, and dies game, is a respectable adversary, and occasions 



you to 



" Know the fierce joy that anglers feel, 

 In fishes worthy of their steel." 



* From Philadelphia, pleasure parties very commonly visit the falls of 

 .he Schuylkill, to despatch them with knife and fork. 



