ROACH-FISHING 131 
cousins the rudd and bream, the results being frequently seen 
in hybrids. As above mentioned, like all the carps, roach are 
grievously afflicted with internal parasites. In June, 1902, Mr. 
Boulenger, on opening the visceral cavity of a roach taken in 
the Serpentine, found a disproportionately huge inmate in the 
shape of Ligula simplissima, the larval form of Ligula 
digramma, a flat band-like worm. The fish measured only 
five inches long and two and a half deep, while the parasite 
was seven inches long and half an inch broad. 
Mr. Wheeley, than whom nobody is more competent to 
pronounce an opinion, declares that roach-fishing is “‘ without 
Angling for doubt the most popular branch of coarse fishing.” * 
cach. Ye had expressed his meaning with greater precision 
had he said “fishing for coarse fish” instead of “ coarse 
fishing,” because, albeit the roach is numbered among what 
anglers class as coarse fish, great delicacy is required for success 
in the art of taking them, at least in such waters where much 
fishing has made them sly. Experts, it seems, are divided in 
opinion about the proper rod, some recommending the long 
or Lea rod, others the short Nottingham or Sheffield rod. 
The Lea rod, or roach pole, as it is called, is made of light 
cane, from sixteen to twenty-one feet long, with a single ring 
at the point, to which the line is made fast. The fisherman 
follows the float with his rod-point, keeping the line almost 
tight between the two. Every time he wants to land a fish, 
or even to bait his hook, he has to unship the butt ; and, 
although it behoves one who is no roach-fisher to speak with 
deference of so high a mystery, I feel bound to say that the 
Nottingham style of fishing and apparatus seem far less likely 
to cause disappointment. To fish with very fine tackle without 
a reel and running line is to court disaster of a peculiarly bitter 
kind ; for although a man may expect nothing more powerful 
than a roach of a pound weight, who shall warrant him against 
hooking a lusty perch, or a headstrong barbel?—either of which 
* Coarse Fish, by C. H. Wheeley, p. 146. 
