Fishing for Pike and Other Coarse Fish - The Perch

H. Cholmondeley-Pennell

Description

The common perch is 'good fysheing and good eating' according to an old writer. This great little book contains much information on the subject of perch fishing. Includes notes on where is best to fish for perch, how to best transfer fish, aspects of the perch's life cycle and anatomy including the spines of perch, fishing for perch with the paternoster and additional notes on minnow fishing with floats. A fine little addition to the bookshelf of anyone with a keen interest in fishing.

Sujets

• Sport
• Autour du sport
• Histoire du sport
• Autres sports
• Sports de plein air
• Sports
• Fishing
• Recreation

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 31 mai 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781473382213
• Langue: English

Extrait

FISHING FOR PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH
THE PERCH
BY
H. CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL
Contents
THE PERCH. (Perca fluviatilis)
PERCH FISHING WITH THE PATERNOSTER
MINNOW FISHING WITH THE FLOAT
WITH THE WORM
THE PERCH . ( Perca fluviatilis .)
Not a nibble has ruffled my cork, It is vain in this river to search, then;
I may wait till it s night
Without any bite,
And at roost time have never a perch then!-H OOD .
T HE common perch is, to quote an old writer, both good fysheing and good eating, and has an especial claim on the notice of the tyro as owing to his combined pluck and greediness he very frequently falls the first victim to their bow and spear. In fact, in many cases he requires hardly any art whatever to catch him, and, being a pond as well as a river fish, and spread pretty generally over the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, offers special facilities for being found. This distribution, however, although, as observed, very general, is by no means equal. In Wales, for example, the perch is almost rare and confined principally to stagnant waters. In Ireland it is more widely diffused but still somewhat unequally, and in Scotland, whilst very common south of the Firth of Forth, it becomes comparatively scarce to the north of it, and ceases entirely amongst the Sutherland and Ross-shire waters, or where observed is supposed to owe its introduction to very recent times.
Of the British perch, so far as my experience extends, the Thames produces the best in the matter of quality; Windermere and Slapton Ley, the greatest show as to quantity; and the Kennet, from Hungerford to Reading, the finest specimens for general size and weight. In this latter river, near Kettering, Mr. Francis Hughes and myself took on one occasion several dozen perch, averaging more than a full pound weight each, and the largest fish considerably exceeded two pounds. A few large ones are to be found in the Hampshire Avon, where I once caught one weighing nearly 2 3/4 lbs. The numbers of perch existing in Windermere and Slapton Ley, Devonshire, are almost incredible; but their size is insignificant, rarely passing a few inches, and more commonly being still less.
Even in the Thames, after the first flood has swept them into the eddies and mill tails, I have caught them literally as fast as I could drop in a paternoster. I remember once when fishing behind Temple Mills above Marlow, with Mr. Henry R. Francis and the late Tom Rosewell, we caught upwards of twelve dozen in this way, besides some jack, in a few hours on a late autumn or winter afternoon, and my remembrance is that we only stopped catching them for want of bait.
The perch of the Thames, which is also noticeable for its fine colouring, probably owes its superior gastronomic attractions to the great purity of the stream above the locks, as well as to the wide range in the choice of food, spawning-ground, c., which it affords; but in whatever waters the fish breeds, it is seldom other than palatable as well as wholesome, and it is on this account a frequent item in the invalid s dietary. Izaak Walton, indeed, mentions a German proverb which would give it a very high place as a comestible,- More wholesome than a pearch o Rhine, -and quotes a learned authority to the effect that it possesses a small stone in the head thought to be very medicineable, and which was at one time an ingredient in our Pharmacopoeia.
The perch lives long out of water (resembling in that respect the carp and tench species), and if carried with care, and occasionally moistened, will in cold weather exist for several hours in this condition, not unfrequently undergoing a journey of thirty or forty miles without serious injury. Yarrell says that perch are constantly exhibited in the markets of Catholic countries, where they are a popular article of fast diet; and on these occasions, when not sold, they are taken back to the ponds from which they came, to be reproduced at another opportunity.
The best mode of transferring perch, as well as carp and tench, which possess the same amphibious qualities in common, is to place them loosely among wet sedgy grass, in a coarse wicker basket, through the interstices of which the air can circulate freely. By this means specimens may be conveyed by fast train from London to Inverness, or for any similar journey, without injury, as Mr. Stoddart states, to their vital functions. The only precautions necessary to be observed are that they must not be too closely packed, that is, not too many between the same layers of wet grass, and that fresh water should be sprinkled over them every now and then to keep the consignment cool. As minnows are one of the most common and killing, perhaps the most killing, perch bait, it may be well to refer here to the instructions for carrying live baits given at pages 42-7, all of which are fully applicable to minnows. A dozen or two may, however, be carried in a common soda water bottle for several hours by frequently changing the water; the bottle should not be more than three parts full. When the minnows begin to exhibit symptoms of distress, which is known by their rising to the surface of the water, it is a sign that a fresh supply is needful. In an emergency they may, however, be partially restored, without changing the water, by simply extracting the cork and shaking the contents of the bottle so that the water may be re-aerated. Another plan mentioned by Mr. Stoddart, who was an adept in minnow fishing for trout, was to carry them loosely wrapped up in well-wetted grass or moss in the corner of the fishing basket, by which expedient, the vitality more or less, and the consequent freshness of the minnows may be preserved throughout an entire day; and the same treatment will be found successful when applied to loach and sticklebacks.
I am not prepared to say that they will be as lively at the end of the day as when first put into the moss, but if care is taken to carry out the instructions given and sprinkle the moss or grass frequently, they will, at any rate, preserve a certain amount of vitality and freshness, which will fit them admirably for spinning.
But to return: such is the extraordinary hardiness and longevity of the perch, according to authorities, that there is one of the perch genus, Perca scandens or Climbing Perch, a native of several parts of the East, which not only travels over