CHAPTER XXIX.
How to Attract Perch.—Perch-fishing.—Pike.—Good Sport.—Plaster Casts.—Model Eggs.
"I say," said Frank, "you remember when the minnows ran at the caddis-worms in their transparent cases, but could not eat them?"
"Yes."
"And you know what shoals of perch there are about the broad, and how difficult it is to drop upon them, because the water is so shallow and clear?"
"Yes."
"Then what would you say to putting a quantity of minnows in glass bottles, and sinking them in the broad, in a good place, for two or three days? I think a lot of perch would collect together and prowl about trying to get at them, and then we could go and catch any quantity of them, live baiting with minnows."
This project was agreed to unanimously, and after a day or two, the boys were busily engaged in collecting wide glass bottles, or wide-mouthed jars, and in fishing for minnows, of which they got a considerable number by diverting the current of a brook, and baling the water out of a pool in it.
They had managed to obtain about a dozen large glass bottles or jars. They filled these with water and put a number of minnows in each, and then corked them up, making holes through the corks to admit fresh water and air to the prisoners. These bottles and jars were conveyed to a spot where perch were in the habit of congregating,—near an island of reeds, where the water was about five feet deep, with a fine gravelly bottom such as perch delight in. The large shoals of perch which roamed about the broad were very often to be met with here, and it was a favourite fishing place of the boys.
One Friday night they took the yacht to this spot and moored her there in a convenient position, sinking the bottles and jars from six to twelve feet distance from her, so as just to be within easy reach of their rods. Leaving the yacht there they rowed back in the punt. The yacht was pleasanter to fish from than a small boat, and they took her there overnight to avoid making a disturbance in the morning.