THE ROACH. I3 



can swim his float if there is a gentle current a few yards 

 lower down stream, where very often the biggest roach lie. 

 This reel need not be very large, nor yet very expensive : a 

 plain, easy-running wooden one about three inches in dia- 

 meter, and costing no more than from two to three shillings, 

 will be plenty good enough ; but one thing the tyro ought to 

 observe, and that is, the reel should have a strong crossback 

 to it ; the brasswork on the back should be fitted right across 

 and in four opposite directions. This arrangement prevents 

 the wooden back under the brasswork from twisting, warp- 

 ing, or sticking, and helps to keep the reel in proper running 

 order. Twenty yards of line will be ample, and this should 

 be of undressed silk, plaited, and fairly fine in substance. 

 This line is, of course, wound on the barrel or centre portion 

 of the reel just noticed. The next articles our roach fisher- 

 men require are a few lengths of good gut, and I recommend 

 most strongly for this purpose drawn gut lines, two yards in 

 length, tapered from one X at the top end dowTi to three X 

 at the bottom end. There is a loop tied at each end of these 

 gut lines, that at the stoutest end being to fasten the silk 

 line to, and the one at the finest end to loop the gut hook 

 itself in, as already indicated in previous chapters. 



With regard to hooks for roach fishing, anglers are not 

 agreed as to which is or is not the best shape. Some swear 

 bv sneck bends, others by round bends, while others again 

 favour the crystal bends. Personally, I prefer the latter, 

 as I find by careful practise that they hook and hold their 

 fish much better than either round bends or snecks. This 

 class of roach fisherman would do well to procure three dozen 

 of these hooks tied to the very finest drawn gut, say a dozen 

 No. II (Redditch scale), on four X drawn gut for creed 

 w^heat and paste fishing; another dozen No. lo on three X 

 drawn gut for maggot fishing, or small red worms ; and an- 

 other dozen No. 9 on two X dra\vn gut for tail end of lob- 

 worm, when water is a trifle flooded. A box of split shot, 

 a few porcupine floats, a light plummet, and a disgorger, 

 completes his outfit. 



On second consideration of the above lines, I fancy it 

 will hardly be advisable for the young tyro to invest in these 

 very finest four X drawn gut hooks for a start ; they are so 



