March 2, 1893.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



188 



ANGLING NOTES. 



The Yellow Perch. 



As the Salmon fisherman tiu'ns up his nose at the so- 

 called sea trout of Canada-, and calls them vermin when 

 he seeks the nobler fish; and as the brook trout angler 

 mildly cusses the fall-fish or chub, or "cousin trout," that 

 takes his fly when he casts for the beauty of the fountains; 

 so the beach bass fisher, as a rule, damns with faint praise, 

 or plainly without praise, as liis bringing up may have 

 been, the yellow perch that takes his cricket, grasshopper 

 or minnow wlien he is fishing for plain bass. But really 

 the yellow perch is entitled to greater consideration than 

 it receives from those who seek the so-caUed game fishes 

 only. In fact, two eminent doctors have given the perch 

 a character which entitles it to stand with the very elect 

 of fishes. Dr. G. Brown Goode reproduced the late S. A. 

 Kilboume's painting of the yellow perch, and included it 

 in his "Game Fishes of the United States," and Dr. DaAdd 

 S, Jordan in his report upon the fishes of Ohio, says that 

 the yellow perch "is voracious and gamy, readily taking 

 the hook, and being a handsome fish it finds a ready sale 

 for food." I suppose the truth to be that we have so 

 many larger or more dainty fishes, in some instances in 

 abundance, that we do not properly api^reciate some of 



from a clean mountain lake in February or March, is a 

 sweeter-fleshed fish than any bass or pike-perch that ever 

 wiggled its tail. It is a mistake to skin a perch, and it is 

 in this way that market perch are treated, as a rule. A 

 perch should be scalded, its head cut off, if you please, 

 and the back fin taken out, and it comes out easily, when 

 you have left a delicious, sweet, firm-fleshed fish. In 

 summer perch from warm muddy water may be insipid, 

 and they may also be coarse, but they are not so from a 

 clear, cold lake, and any one who despises a yellow perch 

 for the table has not seen it at its best. 



As an Angle Fish. 



If all fish that take a. fly are to be considered game fish, 

 then the yellow perch is to be included in this class of 

 fishes, for it will take a fly, but there is no certainty that 

 it will do so, and the regTilar bait in summer is the angle 

 or earth worm for those of small size, with small min- 

 nows for the big ones. Of artificial lures its preference is 

 for those which are striking, and it will take a gaudy 

 scarlet-ibis fly rather than a modest brown-hackle, and it 

 will impale itself on a silver troUing spoon with a regu- 

 larity that is vexing when one is trolling for black bass 

 and offers the choice between a spoon and a minnow 

 gang. Like other, fishes, they are peculiar in their moods. 

 ^ J, „ . . I times a large school of perch will swim past a variety 



the' lesser fishes, like the perch, which in another land I of baited hooks, taking no notice of them whatever, ancl 

 would be highly esteemed on the hook 

 and on the table. Starting with the 

 certificates of good character which I 

 have quoted for the perch, let us be- 

 come more familiar with it. 



Its 



Habits. 



The yellow perch is a gregarious, 

 spring-spawning fish, inhabiting ponds 

 and streams, and like most spring- 

 spawning fishes, its eggs are of the 

 adhesive class. In northern New York 

 it spawns in May, and to the early lake 

 trout troller the perch are a familiar 

 sight on their spawning beds around 

 the shores where they are sometimes 

 sought for bait and used on a gang of 

 hooks after taking the skin from one 

 side. It is a prolific fish, spawning 

 from 10,000 to 100,000 eggs. Buckland 

 counted 127,240 eggs in a yellow perch 

 of 21bs. lloz. in weight, and 155,620 in 

 one of Bibs. 2oz. These were the 

 European perch, Perca fliiviatilis, 

 which is very like om- perch, Perca 

 america/na. The spawn is laid in glu- 

 tinous bands adhering to everything 

 they touch, and the eggs hatch in from 

 six to twelve days, depending upon the 

 temperature of the water. They in- 

 habit the waters of the Great Lake 

 region, the upper part of the Mississippi 

 Valley, and most of the waters east of 

 the Alleghany Mountains, south nearlj-- 

 to Florida. They are also called barred 

 perch, and winged perch, because of 

 the vertical dark colored bars on their 

 yeUow sides. 



Its Size, 



One of the cMef things urged agaimi 

 the yellow perch is its insignificant 

 size, and too often this is a true cormt; 

 but it is claimed, and I believe witli 

 truth, that yeUow perch of olbs. in 

 weight have been caught in Schrocn 

 and Paradox lakes on the borders of 

 the A^dirondacks, and Benjamin Hayes, 

 of Brant Lake, not far from Schroon 

 Lake, has told me that perch of 3 and 

 41bs. each Avere once not imcommon in 

 Brant Lake ; and a year ago last sum- 

 mer I saw one caught from this lake 

 that weighed almost 21bs. In Schroon 

 Lake, fishing one evening and one 

 morning, with a fi'iend, we caught 127 

 perch that weighed 571bs. One perch 

 of this lot weighed lib. OAoz., and it 

 was not considered remarkable and 

 would not have been weighed except 

 a gentlemau had a $5 opinion that a 

 perch which he had was heavier, and 

 it did prove to be almost as heavy. A 

 few days ago twenty-eight perch were 

 caught through the ice in Glen Lake, 

 "Warren county, N. Y., that weighed 

 141bs. This is larger than the average 

 in most waters, but i and fibs, perch 

 are not unusual in waters where thej-- 

 have an abundance of food. Like other species of fish 

 the large perch are more wary than the smaller ones, and 

 ■ it is not positive evidence that there are large perch in a 

 pond or stream because small ones do most abound. In 

 England yellow perch of f5, 7 and even 81bs. are recorded, 

 but of course such fish are exceedingly rare, although 

 Pennell says that perch of 2 and 31bs. are by no means 

 uncommon, and specimens of even 41bs. are probably less 

 rare than may be supposed. 



Edible Qualities. 

 There is a difference of opinion regafdiiig the perch as 

 a food fish, and that is very natural, for they inhabit 

 warm water witli mud and Avater Aveeds, and they also 

 inhabit clear, cold Avater with rock and sand bottom, and 

 the difference in environment makes the difference in the 

 quality of the flesh of the fish. Dr. Jordau declared that 

 the flesh of the yellow perch was much inferior to that of 

 the bass and pike-perches, "being soft, coarse and in- 

 sipid." I questioned this opinion and he wrote me that 

 he Avould retract the "soft" but must adhere to the "coarse 

 and insipid. " At the same time he said the perch he tried 

 at my suggestion "were market fish crushed beneath a 

 mass of ice." Later he wrote: "Taken at its best, the 

 perch is a good pan-fish, and every fish has the right to 

 be taken at its best." The fish that Dr. Jordan tried were 

 Western perch, and may have come from Avarm or muddy 

 water and from being on ice Avere probably "tom-ists" or 

 traveled fish, in Avhich case they were not in condition to 

 compete regardmg a question of flavor. It may be heresy 

 for me to say so, but I fixmly belieA-e that a yellow perch 



OUT FOR SPORT. 



First Prize, Forest and Stream Amateur Photography Competition. 



Photo by A. G. McFarlajtd. 



what one does all will do. At another time one cannot 

 bait hooks fast enough to satisfy their voracious appetite. 

 I haA^e fished from one end of a boat, and fished for 

 perch, too, without a bite for hours, during Avhich time 

 my companion in the opposite end of the boat has taken 

 perch as rapidly as a hook could be baited and thrown 

 into the Avater. Then the school would move to my end 

 of the boat, and Avhfle I caught them rapidly my com- 

 panion would be idle. At times a school of perch will be 

 seen at the surface of a lake when it is still, apparently in 

 play, for they refuse all baits offered, although one might 

 suppose from their actions that they were feeding. It is 

 just at dusk when they are at the surface breaking the 

 water in all directions that they take a fly the best, but 

 eA'en then they are not to be depended upon, for one 

 eA'ening they will take a fiy, and another evening — Avhen 



perch is caught it furnishes the bait for its brethren, as a 

 perch eye is tlie best bait for perch fishing through the 

 ice. Kill a perch, remove its eye on the point of the 

 hook and that is all there is to baiting the hook, and two 

 or three perch will be caught at a time from early morn 

 to frosty eve, and they are at this time in the best possible 

 condition. a, N. Cheney. 



THE NEW JERSEY COAST POUNDS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Apropos of the fishing season I wish to protest against 

 the merciless slaughter of our food fishes on the Now Jer- 

 sey coast by the pound fishermen. I know there are 

 thousands of people who will echo the sentiments I ex- 

 press. That every variety of fish is being rapidly decir 

 mated there can be no question, and unless a halt is called 

 in the near future the livelihood of thousands of honest 

 toilers and the delightful pastime of the salt water angler 

 Avill be a remembrance only. It is a matter of public sur- 

 prise that our commissioners of fisheries do not acquaint 

 themselves with the senseless havoc Avrought. 



Within the past five years the number of pounds have 

 increased from 19 to 128. What the exact number of 

 pounds which were put doAvn last year aggregate I have 

 been unable to learn, but it is safe to say 12. which makes 

 the entire number, to be entirely conservative, 140 of these 

 nionster death traps guarding every 

 inlet and tideway of our coast, scoop- 

 ing in without reserve all that comes 

 within reach. Beginning Avith the 

 early runs of the shad this pernicious 

 system is continued day and night, 

 week day and Sunday alike, during 

 the entire season, until the last fish has 

 left our waters. 



As the fish approach the shore to 

 spawn, their natural runway is at low 

 Avater back of the outer bar, at high 

 Avater inside the ba,r and near the 

 shore. The great net known as the 

 fence is stretched from the bar shore- 

 ward and the pocket just back; so no 

 matter Avhat stage of tide the fish move 

 there is no escape, small and large 

 alike are held. Were tliese nets ar- 

 ranged as gill nets or so that market- 

 able size fish only coold be taken, the 

 aspect of the case Avould be materially 

 different; but the aforementioned 

 pocket being made Avith small meshes, 

 no matter how small the fish may be, 

 he is kept captive. And right here 

 comes the most damnable part of the 

 whole affair. As is natural Avith ani- 

 mated creation CA^ery where, the Aveak 

 must succumb to the strong, and Avhen 

 great masses of fish are packed in the 

 pocket the small and consequently 

 Aveak ones are literally smothered to 

 death, so that at every lift of the net 

 tons of dead fish are unceremoniously 

 dumped into the sea. A little figui-ing 

 Avill soon prove to those avIio have not 

 considered the subject a slight idea of 

 the tremendous waste carried on. Say 

 of the one hundred and forty poimds, 

 each makes one lift per day during the 

 fishing season and casts over only 

 l,0001bs.. AA^e have as a result 12,600,- 

 OOOlbs. of the young of our finest food 

 fishes criminally destroyed. That the 

 aboA^e figures are entirely conservative 

 and away within bounds, can be easily 

 verified by any one AA^ho Avill take the 

 trouble to investigate a little; and that 

 these figures would approximate nearly 

 three times the aboA'e I am confident 

 could the exact truth be learned. I 

 have seen as high as 90,00()lbs. of 

 weakfish massed in one net at a single 

 lift. 



This enomous mass of fish is Avorse 

 than wasted; it destroys their produc- 

 tiATness in addition, for nearly all 

 kinds of fish, as is well knoAvn to every 

 student of the finny tribe, spaAvn at an 

 early age. And were they cA^en sold 

 as fertilizer some consideration might 

 be granted, but such a course- Avould 

 tend to open the eyes of the public, a 

 circumstance Avhich it is desirable 

 should not occur. Again , at the season 

 of the year when drum do not sell 

 well, those scaly beauties, instead of 

 being humanely liberated, are merci- 

 ie^ly stabbed to death in the net and allowed to 

 drift with the tide until they are finally beached, 

 when they become a public nuisance. One morning 

 last August I counted no fcAver than sixteen drum, 

 ranging in weight from 15 to 401bs. each, floating in 

 Shark Eiver Inlet at one tide, each one bearing the 

 same fatal stab, and each one representing just so much 

 waste in point of depopulation and valuable food. 



Again, the thousands of boat fishermen who haA-e here- 

 tofore made good incomes and provided well and plenti- 

 fullj' for their families, find their vocation gone; attest the 

 hundreds of boats lying idle upon our beach, the men 

 either seeking neAv employment or sitting despondent in 

 enforced idleness and a mortgage groAving upon each 

 heretofore happy home. That the present system of 

 pound-fishing is detrimental to our best interests cannot 



all the conditions seem to be the same— they will refuse it ' be successfully contradicted ; vicAved in any light it is per- 



utterly, but if you catch one you are sure of more. In 

 the early summer tlie perch are on the shoaLs, but as the 

 weather grows warmer they retire to deeper water where 

 there is a bottom of grass or weeds, and here they may 

 be caught until cold weather comes. From NoA^ember to 

 January in northern latitudes perch are not biting as a 

 rule, but when February, IMarch and April conies then is 

 the perch fisherman's harvest. He cuts holes through 

 the ice and catches perch until he reckons his score by 

 the "dozens," the Ettriek Shepherd reckoned his trout. 

 At the end of his line the fisherman has a Avire "spreader," 

 from which depend two or tlu-ee snelled hooks, as the 

 case may be. For a first baiting the white grubs found 

 in dead second-gi-owth pines are used, but as soon as a 



nicious, and Avorks financial good to the few against mis- 

 fortune to the masses. The argument that the inhabitants 

 of the great deept are so numerous that depletion is impos- 

 sible, will not stand trial. 



That our sea bass are gTOAving scarcer each year is a 

 matter of common comment. The bass begin moving 

 shoreward about May 10 for the purpose of spawning, 

 naturally seeking the channels of the riA ers and bays as 

 feeding grounds during the period, and as all stream.'; are 

 now guarded by pounds the ir chances of success arc small 

 indeed. Examination of all early caught bas.s Avill shoAv 

 them to be fuU of ripe spawn. Consequently, nature's 

 great object of reproduction is thwarted. 

 Abundance of fish should mean cheap fish for the pco- 



