THE COMPLETE ANGLER 213 



prepare your tackling ; concerning which I will, for 

 sport-sake, give you an old rhyme out of an old fish-book 



at other times they lie in and near weeds, and under the shade of 

 boughs. They spawn about the latter end of May, when they are 

 scabby and unwholesome, but they are again in order in about three 

 weeks : the largest are taken after Michaelmas, and their prime 

 season is in February or March. The baits for roach, not already 

 mentioned, are cad-bait and oak-worms for the spring ; in May, ants' 

 eggs, and paste made of the crumbs of a new roll, both white and 

 tinged with red, which is done by putting vermilion into the water 

 wherewith you moisten it ; this paste will do for the winter also. 

 The largest roach in this kingdom are taken in the Thames, where 

 many have been caught of two pounds and a half weight ; but roach 

 of any size are hardly to be come at without a boat. The haunts of 

 dace are gravelly, sandy, and clayey bottoms ; deep holes that 

 are shaded ; water lily leaves, and under the foam caused by an 

 eddy : in hot weather they are to be found on the shallows, and are 

 then best taken with an artificial fly, grasshoppers, or gentles, as 

 hereafter directed. 



Dace spawn about the latter end of March, and are in season about 

 three weeks after ; they are not very good till about Michaelmas, 

 and are best in February. Baits for dace,other than those mentioned 

 by Walton, are the oak-worm, red-worm, brandling, gilt-tail, and 

 indeed any worm bred on trees or bushes, that is not too big for his 

 mouth : almost all kinds of flies and caterpillars. Though dace are 

 often caught with a float as roach, yet they are not so properly float- 

 fish ; for they are to be taken with an artificial gnat, or ant-fly, 

 or indeed, almost any other small fly in its season ; but in the 

 Thames, above Richmond, the largest are caught with a natural 

 green or dun grasshopper, and sometimes with gentles ; with both 

 which you are to fish, as with an artificial fly ; they are not to be 

 come at till about September, when the weeds begin to rot ; but 

 when you have found where they lie, which in a warm day is gener- 

 ally on the shallows, 'tis incredible what havoc you may make : 

 pinch off the first joint of the grasshopper's legs, put the point of 

 the hook in at the head, and bring it out at the tail ; and in this way 

 of fishing you will catch chub, especially if you throw under the 

 boughs. It is true, there is less certainty of catching in this way 

 than with a float or ground-bait : for which reason, I would recom- 

 mend it only to those who live near the banks of that delightful 

 river, between Windsor and Isleworth, who have or can command 

 a boat for that purpose, and can take advantage of a still, warm, 

 gloomy day ; and to such it will afford much more diversion than 

 the ordinary inartificial method of fishing in the deeps for roach 

 and dace. In fishing at bottom for roach and dace, use for ground- 

 bait, bread soaked about an hour in water, and an equal quantity 

 of bran ; knead them to a tough consistence, and make them up 

 into balls, with a small pebble in the middle : and throw these balls 

 in where you fish ; but be sure you throw them up the stream, for 

 otherwise they will draw the fish beyond the reach of your line. 

 Fish for roach within six, and for dace, within three inches of the 

 bottom. H. 



