2 THE ROACH. 



in the twinkling of an eye. Dame Juliana Bemers, writing 

 of this fish., says : " the roche is an. easy fysshe to take." 

 Perhaps it might ha,ve been four hundred years ago when 

 that good old lady wrote of fish and fishing. Even com- 

 ing down a little later, we find Izaak Walton, speaking of 

 the roach in these terms : " he is accounted the water sheep 

 for his simplicity or foodishness." The;se two odd writers 

 were perhaps justified in making those remarks, but nowa- 

 days the well-fed, good-conditioined, and aldermanic roach 

 of any well-fished river are not toi be caught by any tyro', 

 as soon as August gets in, at any rate. They are then 

 amazingly shy of thei hook, and appear to bei pretty wider 

 awake, perhaps taking stock of the angler and his proceed- 

 ings. They seemi to be very highly educated during the 

 autumn months, and cannot stand a reckless stamping by 

 the angler up and down the bank, or splashing about with 

 heavily-weighted tackle. To' be a successful roachi fisher- 

 man, the motto must be " Fine and far off." Keep out 

 of sight as much as possible, use' suitable tackle, proper 

 baits, and be in a, good swim, and if the; roach are not what 

 you co'uld call well on the feed, you still stand a, chance of 

 deceiving a few of themi ; even when, they are' " on," it is 

 necessary tO' pay attentioo to- a number of minute details, 

 or else they will very soon be driven " off." Roach., in 

 ai pond wherei they are small and ill-fed, migjit perhaps 

 allow themselves tO' be caught by any sort, of bait and 

 tackle; even river roach during June are sometimes per- 

 fectly reckless, allowing themiselves to* be caught by dozens 

 with the cad-bait when the milk has been running from 

 them ; but these cases are exceptions. 



The roach is onei of the most plentiful of all freshwater 

 fishes. Hardly any stream, lake or pond (of any size) but 

 what contains it; indeed, it not infrequently happens that 

 there are quantities of themi in some: sheet of water where 

 even their very existence! was not known, and if by any 

 chance the fact was discovered, the: owner of the water was 

 at a loss to account for their presence. In connection 

 with this question I once read a very remarkable instance. 

 A writer, in one of the sporting journals said : " I know of 

 a small lake that was emptied of water and fish. The lake 



