The _Pearch_ grows slowly, yet will grow, as I have been credibly informed, to be almost two foot long; for my Informer told me, such a one was not long since taken by Sir _Abraham Williams_, a Gentleman of worth, and a lover of Angling, that yet lives, and I wish he may: this was a deep bodied fish; and doubtless durst have devoured a _Pike_ of half his own length; for I have told you, he is a bold fish, such a one, as but for extreme hunger, the _Pike_ will not devour; for to affright the _Pike_, the _Pearch_ will set up his fins, much like as a _Turkie-Cock_ wil sometimes set up his tail. But, my Scholer, the _Pearch_ is not only valiant to defend himself, but he is (as you said) a bold biting fish, yet he will not bite at all seasons of the yeer; he is very abstemious in Winter; and hath been observed by some, not usually to bite till the _Mulberry tree_ buds, that is to say, till extreme Frosts be past for that Spring; for when the _Mulberry tree_ blossomes, many Gardners observe their forward fruit to be past the danger of Frosts, and some have made the like observation of the _Pearches_ biting. [Illustration of a Pearch] But bite the _Pearch_ will, and that very boldly, and as one has wittily observed, if there be twentie or fortie in a hole, they may be at one standing all catch'd one after another; they being, as he saies, like the wicked of the world, not afraid, though their fellowes and companions perish in their sight. And the baits for this bold fish are not many; I mean, he will bite as well at some, or at any of these three, as at any or all others whatsoever; a _Worm_, a _Minnow_, or a little _Frog_ (of which you may find many in hay time) and of _worms_, the Dunghill worm, called a _brandling_, I take to be best, being well scowred in Moss or Fennel; and if you fish for a _Pearch_ with a _Minnow_, then it is best to be alive, you sticking your hook through his back fin, and letting him swim up and down about mid-water, or a little lower, and you still keeping him to about that depth, by a Cork, which ought not to be a very light one: and the like way you are to fish for the _Pearch_ with a small _Frog_, your hook being fastened through the skin of his leg, towards the upper part of it: And lastly, I will give you but this advise, that you give the _Pearch_ time enough when he bites, for there was scarse ever any _Angler_ that has given him too much. And now I think best to rest my selfe, for I have almost spent my spirits with talking so long. _Viat_. Nay, good Master, one fish more, for you see it rains still, and you know our Angles are like money put to usury; they may thrive though we sit still and do nothing, but talk & enjoy one another. Come, come the other fish, good Master. _Pisc_. But Scholer, have you nothing to mix with this Discourse, which now grows both tedious and tiresome? Shall I have nothing from you that seems to have both a good memorie, and a cheerful Spirit?