| About 20 years ago I was window shopping in | | | | fish stocks. |
| the lovely little village of Long Melford in | | | | |
| Suffolk, England. The mile long main street | | | | Unlike the stuffed one I saw originally, |
| of mainly Georgian shops is an antique | | | | which had yellowed with age, the Nile Perch |
| collector's heaven. Towards the top of the | | | | is silver in colour with a blue tinge. They |
| village is a specialist shop selling stuffed | | | | can grow to over two meters and weigh over |
| animals, birds and fish which are not usually | | | | 200Kg (440 lb). As food the Nile Perch is a |
| my type of thing. | | | | very important fish and is raised in |
| | | | aquaculture for this reason, as well as being |
| My eye was caught by a gigantic stuffed fish | | | | avidly fished for by local fishermen. They |
| which I did not recognise, so I had to go in | | | | are a bit oily which makes them difficult to |
| to have a look. The inscription on the very | | | | dry, but have a pleasant and distinctive |
| old glass case showed that this rather ugly, | | | | flavour. |
| but immense fish was a Nile Perch of 124 lb | | | | |
| in weight, and caught by Ernest Hemmingway | | | | Many of Africa's large river basins and lakes |
| himself. Having hooked this monster it took | | | | support this fish including Lake Maryut in |
| him over two and a half hours to land it on | | | | Egypt which has brackish water, and Lake |
| the shore of the Nile, the boat he was in | | | | Nasser. Many people catch the biggest fish of |
| being too small to safely land it in any | | | | their lives in Lake Nasser and it is |
| other way. | | | | considered a centre of sporting excellence by |
| | | | big game fishermen the world over. The |
| My imagination being caught up with this | | | | largest recorded Nile Perch caught from Lake |
| amazing creature, which looks rather like a | | | | Nasser weighed 176 kg (392 lb) and fishing |
| cross between a fat pike, a perch with | | | | from the shore with a lure can bring in fish |
| enormous and sharp teeth and a freshwater | | | | of 20 to 100 lb. |
| shark, I could not but help myself | | | | |
| researching into this phenomenon of the Nile. | | | | The larger Nile Perch tend to be in the large |
| | | | Egyptian lakes if you are a keen specimen |
| I discovered that this fish, native of | | | | hunter, however one of these days I hope to |
| Africa, is one of the most sought after by | | | | catch one of these incredible fish on the |
| anglers, it being easily the largest | | | | River Nile itself, just like Hemmingway's |
| freshwater fish in the world, with only the | | | | Nile Perch in Long Melford, Suffolk, but I |
| rare manseer in India and Mekong catfish | | | | suspect my own Nile Perch will be a mite |
| reaching anything like the size of the Nile | | | | smaller than his. |
| Perch. This fish is a voracious predator, and | | | | |
| when introduced into Lake Victoria in the | | | | Interested in this subject? |
| 1960`s it decimated 95 per cent of the local | | | | |