ANGLING FOR THE PERCH 
The First of a Series of Instructive Articles 
on the Life and Habits of Common Fish 
By ROBERT PAGE LINCOLN 
T HERE is no fish so common to 
our northern and eastern water 
as the yellow or banded perch, 
scientifically known as Perea flaves- 
cens. It is the fish of our youth; the 
fish that ushers us into the angling- 
world and gives most of us the first 
great thrill of our lives. 
You can all remember the day you 
caught you first large perch; it was a 
red-letter day. It is likely that you 
had been fishing for blue-gills and luck 
had been only fair, when suddenly you 
felt a queer, rippling bite. Something 
was toying with your bait, your line 
began to move out slowly and deliber¬ 
ately. Your nerves were jumped, your 
heart raised into your throat. What 
could it be! You jerked the line 
nervously and up came the largest 
perch you had ever seen. It was close 
to a foot in length and bright yellow 
with the cross-bars standing out with 
remarkable distinctness. What a fish! 
Was there ever another like it? You 
could wait no longer, you gathered up 
your angling equipment and a moment 
later, a breathless, barefoot boy was 
beating it down the road to show his 
prize to his mother. 
The perch family is well distributed 
all over the world. Jordan notes that 
the Europen perch (Perea fluviatilis) 
is placed by Culver at the head of the 
fish, series, as representing in a high 
degree the traits of a fish, without sign 
of incomplete development—on the one 
hand, or of degradation on the other. 
The range of distribution of the 
yellow perch in America is 
from the New England states 
in the east to the Ohio and 
Missouri river valley in the 
west, thence north to the 
Dakotas—and into Manitoba. 
It takes in the Great Lakes 
region and Canada east to 
Quebec and down to Maine. 
In the area described you 
will find the perch in more 
or less of an abundance; but 
nowhere will you find them 
so finely colored or so large 
or so numerous as in and 
about the Great Lakes. In 
fact, to see a perch at its full weight, 
and in its full coloration, one must 
see one of these Great Lake beauties. 
They measure from 7 to 12 inches in 
length and weigh from a half pound 
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 
“The school-boy loves them well. No 
sluggish pond 
Where clangs and toils the churning 
water-wheel, 
No darksome pool beneath the leaning 
dam, 
No brimming river and no crystal brook 
Where range the dazzling perch, are 
unexplored.” 
—McLellan. 
iiiiniiiiiiiiiiniiiiniiiiBiiiuiiiiiaiiiiiim 
to three pounds. Their rich olive and 
gold background with five or six deeply 
colored cross-bands standing out there¬ 
on, is a sight for the angler’s eyes and 
wins his ready acknowledgment that 
it is one of the more beautiful of fishes. 
The more southern the range of the 
perch, the smaller they run. South of 
the Great Lakes regions it is unusual 
to catch one that weighs over two 
pounds and in its southern habitat the 
largest perch caught seldom weighs a 
pound. 
The large size of the perch in our 
northern waters, is a matter of sur¬ 
prise to those people who have fished 
only in waters where perch of seven 
inches is considered of good size. I 
remember an incident of the kind at 
a northern resort. A gentleman from 
a state further to the south (Ohio, I 
believe) had caught a yellow perch of 
close on three pounds while casting for 
bass with fly and spinner. His amaze¬ 
ment was amusing, for never had he 
seen a perch like it, although he had 
THE PERCH 
caught perch all of his life. His con¬ 
tention was that it was not a perch 
but a sauger, or sand-pike ( Stizested - 
ion canadense) a fish closely related to 
the wall-eyed pike-perch. This point 
was argued away of course; but the 
angler was not satisfied. He brought 
the fish home with him, consulted a 
fish hatchery man, and found out that 
it was really a remarkable yellow 
perch. He wrote me a letter that he 
had the fish mounted; and that it was 
touched up with colors, so that it 
could not be told from life. 
I was surprised one time, on one of 
the wild streams of the northern 
peninsula of Michigan, to catch about 
as fine a mess of yellow perch as I 
have ever landed. At this point the 
stream flowed through a series of small 
lakes, or ponds, three to four acres in 
area. We had made camp for the 
night! the shelter tent was up; my 
partner had stretched the canvas for 
our “tablecloth” and was getting fire¬ 
wood ready; I was to furnish the fish. 
There was a pool where the stream 
dipped into the lake. It looked ex¬ 
tremely inviting and I rounded the 
shore to reach it, believing that here 
I would pick up some small-mouthed 
bass, for I knew they were in the 
stream. I had fixed on a spinner and 
my favorite bass fly, the Yellow Sally. 
I cast toward a calm place off from 
the edge of the pool. No sooner had 
the fly sunken deep enough and was 
twirling than there was a flash—and 
a fish had hold of it. I set the hook 
and the rush of water brought the 
fish out into the lake where I played 
it to shore. Imagine my surprise to 
find it a perch of about two pounds in 
weight. I cast again to the same place, 
hooked another and played 
him the same way. I was 
successful thus in landing a 
half dozen of the beauties, 
ranging from one to two 
pounds. They were very 
deeply colored, and full of 
vim and vigor. I still recall 
the larger one with his flash¬ 
ing eyes and broad, spreading 
fins, with a pronounced 
“hump” on his back, forward 
of the dorsal fin. We had 
perch that evening, dipped in 
cornmeal and fried in bacon 
grease, nor do I ever recall 
that I have enjoyed a fish more. You 
may speak of your brook trout pre¬ 
pared in olive oil, and all that, but if 
such a thing is possible, give me some 
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