58 WATERSIDE SKETCHES. 



that is always serviceable advice for an angler, although, in 

 this instance, I must add a reservation. Let the chub not 

 go into the bank or under the roots of a tree; should he 

 accomplish that, invariably his first impulse, the chances are 

 fifty-two and a quarter to one in his favour. The chub, 

 nevertheless, is a chicken-hearted brute. He soon gives up 

 the fight, and comes in, log-like, without a grumble. 



PRACTICAL NOTES ON ROACH, DACE, AND GUDGEON 

 FISHING. 



I have selected these three well-known white fish for such 

 few practical, remarks as may be made to supplement the 

 foregoing chapter because they are best known to Thames 

 anglers, especially such amateurs as in the summer months 

 make angling a peg upon which to hang a water picnic, and 

 because they are "the masses" of the Thames population. 

 Barbel, chub, and bream will be treated of in a subsequent 

 chapter. 



Roach soon clean themselves in the Thames, and 

 scarcely ever fail the angler who fishes for them with dili- 

 gence and care. To do this the finest tackle is necessary, 

 and drawn gut is now made considerably finer than the old- 

 fashioned single hair. The strong probabilities of a lusty 

 barbel, however, seldom allow of the finest tackle being 

 employed, and in the Thames this is seldom so essential as 

 in bank fishing, where the current is weaker and more even. 

 We have long since got over the notion that the roach is a 

 sheepish fish that any schoolboy may take. A skilful 

 roach-fisher is not made in a day, and of a hundred anglers 

 taken at random as they arrive at the waterside there shall 



