THE ROACH. 7 



is sharp and at once direct from the point, so that if a cun- 

 ning old roach, who is endeavouring to quietly suck a bait 

 from the hook without moving the float, makes the very 

 smallest of errors and betrays his presence by only a tiny 

 quiver of the said float, he is himself sucked in in conse- 

 quence of the strike of the rod top being so prompt and 

 accurate. The wooden reel also used by these men is a 

 very light three-inch one, fairly easy running; the plaited 

 silk line is nearly as fine as can be procured, the float in 

 many cases is only a little porcupine quill, carrying not more 

 than three very small split shots. Sometimes this float is 

 only a tiny crow quill, with one shot, while the bottom, 

 tackle itself is a yard of the very finest drawn gut, hardly 

 visible to the naked eye when held a few yards away, and 

 yet the ease and certainty that pound roach and upwards 

 are played and landed on even that frail tackle is something 

 marvellous to the uninitiated. Another class of roachers 

 operate on the more streamy, shallower rivers by what is 

 known as the Nottingham style. This style requires a 

 heavier set of tackle than the one just noted, and is in my 

 opinion the very style par excellence for killing roach in the 

 heavier streams, where the water runs somewhat faster than 

 it does in the generality of fenland rivers. The tackle used 

 by these men is nearly as fine as can be ; when I said just 

 now that it was a little heavier, I meant the float was a little 

 bigger one, say a small swan quill carrying some half a 

 dozen mediunvsized shots on the tackle. This style of 

 fishing also requires a light and stiff rod, about eleven feet in 

 length will be the best, and it must also be smart and prompt 

 in its actions, so that it would respond promptly at the will 

 of the user, and hook a roach in an instant, even if the 

 angler's float happened to be twenty yards away down stream. 

 The roach that inhabit these streamy places, where the 

 water runs with a rather swifter current, take a bait somewhat 

 different to their brethren in the very quiet waters. As just 

 hinted, these latter are sly and cunning to a very remarkable 

 degree, robbing the hook of the novice time after time with- 

 out so much as giving him the slightest hint as to their pre- 

 sence. Stream roach, on the other hand, must of necessity 

 betray their bite ; the baited hook is gliding down the stream, 



