THE ROACH. 23 



addition of a penny packet of Thorley's cattle food ; it seems 

 to give a little scent to it, and I fancy improves its attractive- 

 ness. The quantities just quoted will make from; two dozen 

 to thirty balls of ground bait the size of oranges, and will be 

 quite sufficient for any swim in these quiet waters. It is a 

 mistake to dump in the huge puddings of grains, bread, bran, 

 wheat, clay and all other sorts of mixtures that I have seen 

 some anglers do, even up to a good-sized sack full. In quiet 

 or semi-quiet waters this ground bait ^vill sink without any 

 addition to it, but if there is a stream, and the angler fancies 

 his bait will be carried out of his reach, then the addition 

 of a little clean yellow clay will improve it. Clay can gene- 

 rally be found close at hand on the banks of these quiet 

 waters, but failing to find any, then a few pebbles the size of 

 walnuts will come in handy. A ball of ground bait tightly 

 kneaded round one will carry the said ball of bait quickly 

 to the bottom of the s\\'im,, but, speaking generally, eight 

 swims out of ever}^ ten can be managed nicely without any 

 .addition to the ground bait. As soon as the angler has satis- 

 fied himself that he has selected a likely swim, and found out 

 by a judicious use of his plummet that the bottom; is clean 

 and tolerably level, he puts in, say, from six to ten of his 

 balls of bait. He can, if he likes, divide each ball into three 

 portions, squeeze each portion tightly together, and cast ^'t 

 at the head of his swim the exact distance he intends to fish 

 from; the bank. Before he throws in this bait he should 

 carefully plumb the depth ; take a preliminary swim or two, 

 to see that all is clear, and get everything in proper going 

 •order, so that after his swim is baited he will make no more 

 disturbance than he can help. If he has conducted his 

 •operations properly the roach should, if all is favourable, 

 come on the feed in about an hour, or an hour and a half, 

 from the time of baiting. If the fish are biting moderately 

 well, use your remaining ground bait very sparingly. I 

 believe in giving the swimi nearly half the bait to start with, 

 and after waiting, say, a couple of hours give the remainder 

 little and often. A small handful every ten minutes or so 

 will keep the fish in the swimi, and give themi confidence ; 

 but whatever you do, don't throw a lot of bait in of the same 

 -quality that you use on the hook. I might add that the total 



