It is best to let a perch take the float well under water, giving a second or two before hitting the fish, when a bite is perceived; and then, keeping

a moderately taut line, but not holding the fish so hard as to tear the hook out of the thin and

tender cheek. If the water is very bright and perch are quite off feed, take away the float and substitute a small perforated bullet for a sinker ; throw out the worm across and rather up the swim, and draw it up and down the water slowly towards you, with a motion similar to spinning; a brace or two of fish may be taken this way when they are very dainty.

Where there are deep, slow eddies without much stream, some of the largest perch, and now and again fine chub, are captured by using a gut bottom 2 or 3 feet in length attached to a fine Nottingham or Derby silk line. Before attaching the gut bottom fit up a cork float on the line, with a small perforated bullet below it, the hole in the bullet being smooth and large enough for the line to run casily and freely. Then, having looped on the gut bottom, a split shot is fixed on the line just above where the gut is tied or looped on, so as to prevent the bullet running over the loop in the line on to the gut. The float must be so arranged on the line that the bullet just touches the bed of the river; and the proper depth of the place selected to be fished being obtained, select a flat and nicely scoured lobworm; put the point of the hook in an inch below the head of the worm, and carefully thread the worm until the shank of the hook is just covered. Worms put on this way are much more attractive than when looped up on the hook. Then having cast out the bait, when the bullet has reached the bottom draw it a little towards you, so that the gut lies straight between the bullet and bait, and hold the float back a little, especially if there is any current, the line being clear of the water from point of rod to the float. Do not be in a hurry if a

dip of the float indicates a bite; for it is likely to be a big fish, and a more cautious one than the smaller of its tribe. Wait rather until the float goes clean out of sight, then strike, but not too hard; look out for some good sport, and carefully play the fish to the landing-net.

"Roving" a minnow for some distance alongside an overhanging bank hollowed out by the wash of the stream, is another capital method, and easily accomplished on running-tackle by the Nottingham mode of fishing.

I have often thought it would be a comfort to anglers if livebait, say minnows and small gudgeon,

worms of two kinds, i.e. "lobs," red-worms, or brandings and gentles, could all be carried in separate compartments in one handy "lock-up vehicle to the lake or riverside. Bearing this in view, I have invented aerating combination baitcans, which fulfil the advantages enumerated. give an illustration on the previous page. The usual application has been made for provisional patent.

Dead-bait fishing for perch is not much practised, but sometimes a large one will take a dead gorgebait when the angler is pike-fishing; in fact, I have known big perch to seize a bait which in size was fit for a 15 lbs. pike, and never leave hold until it succeeded in getting the bait half-way down its throat, when of course the perch was hooked, played, and landed. An instance of this occurred when I was fishing near Glynde (February 23rd, 1882) with a companion who caught a 3 lbs. perch, which took and gorged a gudgeon bait, five inches (at least) in length. In hot weather, on bright and calm days, I have known perch to take artificial flies rather readily. A fly, sunk to mid-water, by pinching a split shot on to the gut, close up to the head of the fly, will usually ensure the capture of a few brace; and the most killing flies are the large Wickham Fancy, Red Ant Fly, Soldier Palmer, and small Alexandra or Halcyon.

CHAPTER X.

SPORTING FISH OF THE PERCH FAMILY.

HE pike-perch, called Sandra in German,

THE and "glass-eye" in the United States, be

The

Pike

Perch (Perca lucio

perca)

longs to the Percida, and is found in most of the rivers and lakes of Russia, where it is caught in the spring in large quantities, and dried as an article of food. It has been calculated that a quantity exceeding 45,000,000 are captured annually in the Delta of Kuban and the Sea of Azov, from which there is a large export of the roes of these fish, made into a kind of caviare, and sent principally to Greece and Turkey. Oil made from the fat of the fish is used on fast days as a substitute for vegetable oils; also in the preparation of sturgeons' roes. Pike-perch are not plentiful in the Elbe and Oder; are unknown in the Rhine and Weser; but grow to a large size in the Bothkamper lake, SchleswigHolstein, where they are said to attain (as in some other European lakes) a length of 3 ft. and upwards. In outward aspects they have a strong resemblance to pike, with many characteristics of