26 THE FISHING-ROD ; 



of the rod should not be more than 12 or 18 

 inches, or many a fine bite will be missed on 

 striking, as it will also if any portion of the 

 line be hanging slack at the moment of a 

 nibble. Koach sometimes bite very fine, par- 

 ticularly the heavy fish; and the proper way 

 in roach angling is, to strike at the very instant 

 of the least nibble. 



Be careful to keep the top of your rod always 

 over the float, and the slightest jerk upwards 

 will hook a fish. Keep as much out of sight as 

 possible when fishing for roach ; and on hook- 

 ing a fish, raise the top end of the rod and keep 

 the butt end down close to the ground ; play 

 the fish under the point of the rod, and if a 

 heavy one, and your line be single hair, a land- 

 ing net will be required to land it. 



Let the young roach angler remember that 

 his success in taking large fish will depend 

 very much on the fineness of his tackle. A 

 very good roach line may be made with double 

 hair down to the float, or a few inches below it, 

 and the rest single hair ; the object of which 

 is, that in the event of the line breaking, the 

 breakage would take place on the single hair, 

 and thus the float would be saved. 



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