162 American Fisheries Society. 



the finest game fish, such as the various western trouts and 

 graylings, are not suitable. They must have rippling, rapid 

 water, gravelly shallows, and the conditions generally which are 

 characteristic of mountain streams. The eggs of such fishes 

 also are deposited, and the young fish hatch out on sandy or 

 gravel areas where the water is swift and aeration is assured, 

 and subdued sunlight has access to hasten incubation. 



YELWW PERCH PRESENT ADVANTAGES. 



There are many species of fish which deposit their eggs in 

 glutinous masses, and which do not usually occur in rapid water. 

 The yellow perch {Perca flavescens) has desirable qualities ren- 

 dering it suitable for comparatively still waters. It is a hand- 

 some active fish, a good "pan fish," and afifords considerable sport 

 especially when it takes the fly — the black bass flies being the 

 best. The eggs occur in tenacious ribbon-like masses, which 

 cling to water plants, submerged posts, etc., or may even lie 

 folded in a circular form on a soft muddy bottom, where I have 

 often procured them in an advanced hatching condition. They 

 take five to ten days only to incubate, and the young fry are 

 unusually transparent and minute, and well fitted to escape the 

 notice of many enemies. They are so prolific and hardy that the 

 species is entitled to favor in spite of its low esteem on the part 

 of many anglers, and also on the part of epicures because of its 

 numerous small bones which are a trouble when it appears upon 

 the table. 



Its fighting qualities are undoubted. I have hooked a yellow 

 perch of one and one-half or two pounds in weight, when fly- 

 fishing for black bass in the swift clear waters of the Upper 

 Ottawa River, Ontario, and I imagined, at first, that a good bass 

 was at the end of my line. But after much powerful tugging, 

 and many vigorous "rushes," he failed to "break water," and I 

 soon realized that my victim was not a bass. When taking the 

 fly it proves a really good game fish, and is, as I have said, so 

 hardy and so prolific that it may be regarded as an ideal species 

 for many irrigation reservoirs and canals. The only danger may 

 be its tendency to spread, and it hatches out so rapidly that it 

 soon over-runs adjacent waters, and finding its way into trout 

 or bass waters has proved undesirable on that account. Of pike 

 or jackfish, suckers, and other kinds of what are called "coarse 



I 



