32 



THE ROACH. 



they naturally have a tendency to heat and sweat them- 

 selves. They need not be kept in the cold water very long, 

 nor yet very often ; a few hours now and again will be quite 

 sufficient. The gentles bred from^ fish are, in my opinion, 

 capital baits for roach during the winter months in these 

 deep still waters, especially if the weather is somewhat cold, 

 and the water clear. At this time roach are found in the 

 deepest and quietest holes, and the bait, which need not be 

 more than a couple or three of those maggots, should be as 

 near the bottom of the river as possible. The hook can 

 be a size larger than recommended for the same fish during 

 the summer, say a No. lo, and the gut line itself can be, 

 if the angler likes, a little thicker and stronger than recom- 

 mended for use during the hot summer months. While I 

 am' on Avith the subject of gentles. I may say that they can 

 be bred and fed from nearly anything besides fish ; a sheep's 

 head, a lump of liver, a dead rabbit, or anything of that 

 kind; but one thing is certain, and that is, it does not 

 matter what they are first bred in, nothing beats a few fish 

 to feed them, up with quickly and to a great size. For the 

 hot summer months the procedure is the same as just des- 

 cribed, except that then the maggots change into chrysalis 

 very quickly, and must be used within a week or ten days 

 after putting them among the sand. It takes about three 

 days among this sharp sand to render them, fit for the hook ; 

 they clean thmselves during that time, and then look bright, 

 white and clear from that nasty black patch they wore when 

 first taken from their food. 



A good change bait for these still waters during the win- 

 ter will be a bit of bread paste made from the white crumb 

 of a two days' old loaf. I recommend a piece about the size 

 of two of your fingers, dipped in clean cold water, then 

 squeezed so that some of the water is wrung out, and worked 

 up well with clean hands till it is of the consistency of soft 

 putty. A teaspoonful of " King's Natural Bait " (a white 

 sweet-smelling powder this is) should be added, and worked 

 up together till the paste is white, tough and stiff. Parti- 

 cular care must be taken that no dirt or tobacco ashes find 

 their way into this paste ; well washed and scrubbed hands 

 are a necessity. I like my paste rolled up in a bit of clean 



