THE YOUNG ANGLER. 



261 



any kind of paste will do. What would scare away any other fish 

 draws the gudgeon to the spot, and that is stirring up the bottom 

 of the brook or river with a ground-rake. It is better than all 

 ground -baiting. 



THE DACE 



Is a beautifully- 

 shaped fish, and is 

 rarely found more than 

 nine or ten inches long, 

 mostly in shoals, like 

 birds of a feather that 

 flock together. The 

 tail is forked, the body 

 slender., the head small. 

 In colour it is dusky on the back, varied with olive- green patches, 

 with sides and belly of a bright silver hue, fins red, but not so deeply 

 dyed as those of the roach. It prefers swift, gravelly streams in 

 which there are plenty of weeds, and is found everywhere. The dace 

 is a very strong fish for its size, and when hooked, struggles as hard 

 as the trout to escape. Both dace and roach are fished for in the 

 same way, and with the same tackle. A light stiff rod seventeen or 

 eighteen feet long, so that the angler may stand so far back as not to 

 show himself, and yet be able to drop his bait gently in the water. 

 A line very fine down to the swan-quill float, below the float single 

 hair or fine gat, the knots unwhipped to be invisible. No. 10 or 12 

 hook, baited with gentles, paste coloured with vermilion, worms well 

 scoured, grubs or salmon-roe. 



THE ROACH. 



The roach, as every 

 boy knows, has a funny- 

 looking, round, leathery 

 mouth, and may be a 

 good whistler, though we 

 never heard him ; his 

 teeth are placed in his 

 throat, so that he has the pleasure of first tickling his palate, then 

 enjoying his food in his throat, and bolting it afterwards at his lei- 

 sure. His beautiful large scales have a pale golden tinge, which 

 almost deepen to brown on the back, while his fins and iris are red 

 as a summer rose, or richly stained verbena. He is a fine, deep fish, 

 and is sometimes found to weigh as much as two pounds, and more 

 than that, it is said, in the rivers on the Continent. Infishing for the 

 dace we have described all that is necessary to be known in roach- 

 fishing. 



THE CHUB, 



Though a strong fish, is very timid, and retreats into the deepest 

 hole it can find, when apprehensive of danger. It is short, thick, 

 and high-backed, has large scales, has a greenish-brown back and 



