30 LONDON ANGLER'S BOOK, 



fishing, and where you do not expect other fish, a run- 

 ning line may be dispensed with, you can then strike 

 much more certain. Roach are likewise taken with- 

 out a float; this manner of fishing is only to be 

 practised with a very short stiff light rod, and a swan 

 shot placed on the line about six inches from the hook, 

 letting the shot touch the bottom, then gradually 

 raising it to the required depth : this way is generally 

 practised round the piles of bridges, and from wood 

 work, or from a barge or boat. In the above manner 

 a Brother Bob, at the Rye House in old Shepherd's 

 time, once caught so many Roach against the piles of 

 the bridge, that the old man, seeing them lying on the 

 bottom of a barge that was moored close by, expressed 

 his fears lest some unfair method had been used to 

 take them, never having seen this way of fishing 

 before. My companion sat astride one of the beams 

 of the bridge, that projects over the water, and many 

 of the finest fish were lost, by his not being able to use 

 a landing net. 



To reach some of the best swins in the Lea, a rod 

 twenty or twenty-four feet long is requisite, made of 

 the lightest materials, so that it is straight and strikes 

 true. 



THE DACE. 



The Dace resembles the Roach very much, but the 

 scales &re smaller, and fins not red, and in make not 



