PERCH. 
33 
which is generally at the edge of the reeds, and a place 
is usually selected where the water is so deep that two 
or three traps may be laid on the top of each other 
without projecting above the surface. More attention 
should be paid, however, to the nature of the place 
than to the depth of the water, and the weir should 
be constructed close to the edge of the reeds. When 
the traps have been set, the weir is covered with large 
pine-branches full of needles, in order that its interior 
may be only dimly lighted. 
The sinking-traps are generally set singly at a 
distance of some yards from each other; they are used 
in places where the water is so deep or the bottom so 
stony that a weir cannot be constructed. These traps, or 
sometimes the kind of traps called ’ ryssja (tig. 7), are 
also set in narrow straits or streamlets between neigh- 
bouring lakes, for the Perch most often makes its way 
to the spawning-place through channels of this nature. 
At the entrance of the straits or the mouth of the river, 
standing nets (lag gnat), are set at the edge of the reeds 
the fair sex. There are several modes of angling: for 
Perch, and a description of them is necessary. One 
must first pay attention not only to the time of year, 
but also to the hour of day, best suited for angling. 
Ascension Day is known by fishermen as the first 
day for angling. This is not quite correct every year, 
but still it roughly gives us the time. The surest guide 
is given by the growth of a reed, Arundo phragmites. 
As soon as this plant has grown to a height of an inch 
or two above the surface of the water, the spawning- 
season of the Perch is over, and one can then with all 
certainty begin fishing. The best season, we may take 
it, begins in the last days of May and ends at the be- 
ginning of September. The best time of day is from 
sunrise till 9 a. m. and from 6 p. m. till sunset. With 
regard to the weather we may say that cloudy days are 
better than very bright ones, and a light breeze than 
a dead calm. All fishes bite best just after rain, espe- 
cially if it has lasted long. The most suitable spots 
are generally well known. A stranger to the water 
near the spawning-place. These nets have their advan- 
tages, and may be used during the whole summer. They 
only require to be taken up in the morning and set at 
night, operations which do not take much time. When 
the spawning-season is over, these nets are placed off 
stony headlands, in narrow creeks, etc.; and as all the 
fish hug the shore, or more strictly the edge of the reeds, 
they are always set at right angles to the shore, not 
parallel to it. At the time when the Perch have depo- 
sited their spawn and disperse in order to find their 
summer haunts, they are sometimes taken, though sel- 
dom in large numbers, in drag-nets. In order to have 
any success with the drag-net during summer, one must 
choose a cloudy day when there is a light breeze, 
or only go out at night. To use a drag-net on a 
bright summer day, is one of the most useless things 
one can do. During summer, with the exception of 
occasional catches in a net or drag-net, perch-fishing is 
generally carried on with rod and line. Angling for 
Perch is in many places one of the darling amusements 
of high and low, and a pleasure not disdained even by 
should choose a spot at the edge of the reeds, off stony 
headlands and in places where there are sunken twigs 
and tree-trunks (Sw. lagor). At such spots are gene- 
rally to be found numbers of bleak, minnow and 
small fry of all kinds, a store of food of which 
the Perch does not omit to take advantage. In lakes 
where the shores do not offer such favourable spots 
for fishing, one may look for points out in the bights 
where the bottom is sandy or stony. If no such 
spots are to be found, one may form an artificial ang- 
ling-place by sinking twigs and stones a little way 
from the shore. 
As angling may be practised at spots of a, different 
nature and in a variety of ways, special names have 
been invented for the various modes. When the angler 
stays on shore or close to land, it is called shore-fishing, 
but when he fishes at some distance from shore in 
deeper water, it is called deep-water fishing. In shore- 
fishing earth-worms are generally used as bait, the best 
being those taken from under old woodpiles or in un- 
manured soil, as the fish always prefers them to worms 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
5 
