15 



with this line, you must not attempt to throw him over your 

 head, else you will break it, but play .him carefully. This is the 

 line I always use myself for bottom fishing, and I find it to 

 answer admirably. • 



The same tackle as I have recommended for spinning the 

 Minnow with for Pike, must be used for spinning for Perch, as 

 you will take them both in the same water, and often as many 

 Pike as Perch. But if you should hook a Pike you must be 

 careful that he does not break your line. Give him line and 

 allow him to go where he likes, and he will soon exhaust him- 

 self, and then you can draw him carefully to the landing net. 



The tackle that I have recommended for fishing with the live 

 Minnow for Pike will also do for Perch, but the hook smaller, 

 say No. 4 instead of 2. Some Anglers use the Paternoster 

 tackle and laud it very much for Perch fishing, but I do not 

 myself think much of it. I have seen the two tackles worked 

 together, and while the live Minnow with the float was catching 

 both Perch and Pike, the Paternoster failed to get a bite. I 

 thought, on first seeing the Paternoster, that the chances were 

 three to one against the float; but experience has shown that 

 my first impressions were wrong. The baits for Perch fishing 

 are very numerous: Minnow, Gudgeon, Loach, small Dace, 

 worms of all sorts, gentles, wasp-grub, cadbait, straw-bait — 

 in fact, I once caught a brace of Perch at one cast with the fly 

 — the red, or cockshackle, and peacock body ribbed with gold. 

 But I do not recommend fly fishing for Perch. They will 

 take almost any kind of bait in the summer months. I once 

 saw a gentleman take a Perch with an artificial Minnow made 

 from a piece of plum cake, but I would not recommend this 

 as a good bait. Taking all seasons of the year the Minnow and 

 worms are the best, but the worm will kill more Perch at ajl 

 times of the year than any other bait. The best kinds of 

 worms are the cockspur or red worm, and the dew or lob worm. 

 If you use the latter bait, fish with the tail end of a female lob. 

 Some Anglers prefer the brandling and marsh worm, and 

 various others, for which we have no name, but I have tried 



