40 



thp: roach. 



in the water, thus causing some little annoyance when he 

 has a quick^ shy bite. Very often this drowning of the 

 line results in missing the fish, whereas if the line floated on 

 the surface the strike from the rod point would be sharp 

 and effective. All sorts of fancy things have been recom- 

 mended for this purpose, but after many trials I find noth- 

 ing to beat a little bit of composite candle, not the old- 

 fashioned tallow candle, bear in mind, but the composite 

 candle of commerce, sold by any grocer at a halfpenny each. 

 An end half an inch in length can be easily carried in a 

 little tin box in the bag or basket ; rub this down the line 

 as far as you think it will be wanted, while the said line is 

 dry, and the silk will float for hours. Streams fishermen in 

 the Nottinghami style should have a small collection of care- 

 fully selected floats always ready for any emergency. For 

 roach fishing in water that ranges from eight to ten feet deep,' 

 where the flow is moiderately fast, and a curling eddy every 

 few yards, a fair-sized pelican quill that will carry some eight 

 or ten B.B. split shots will be the best and safest to use, and 

 these shots must not be crowded all together about a foot 

 or SO' from the hook, because this plan will cause the 

 tackle and line between the float and' the shots to belly and 

 bag when in use ; but they must be distributed at irregular 

 intervals all down the gut tackle, a good deal the same as 

 I recommended for chub fishing. I like these split shot 

 put on the tackle in pairs, each individual shot forming a 

 pair, being about an inch apart ; the bottomi pair should be 

 no nearer the hook than fifteen inches ; six inches above 

 those another pair can be put on, and then nine inches 

 higher up another pair, and so on until the eight or ten are 

 fixed, the last pair being about six inches from' the loop of 

 the four foot long tackle ; and I strongly recommend a tackle 

 to be at least that length when fishing a deep and strong 

 stream for roach. If the water is no more than from, four to 

 five feet deep, and the streami not quite so fast, a smaller 

 float must be used, and in this case it can be a small swan 

 quill, and half a dozen split shot distributed as before will 

 be ample ; or if the stream is slow, but still a streami, bear 

 in mind, then a goose quill and four shots will be quite suffi- 

 cient, but in this case, instead of putting the shot on the 

 tackle in pairs, they must be put on singly. 



