^8 THE ROACH. 



has been successfully accomplished, and the float rights it- 

 self, the angler changes the rod into his left hand, srill 

 keeping hold of it close to the reel, and with the finger and 

 thumb of his right hand pays out the line gently and con- 

 tinuously as fast, or nearly so, as the stream will carry it. 

 It will be as well to hold the float a little back, however ; 

 that is, don't let it go quite so fast as it wants to do ; by 

 this means there will be no slack or drowned line between 

 the float and the rod top; at any rate, this is the way to 

 prevent too much slack line being out. After the float 

 and tackle has travelled down the entire length of the swim 

 as far as he thinks the groundbait is distributed,, the line 

 is wound back again on the reel, and the cast repeated. A 

 little practice, and above all proper tackle, as described, 

 will soon enable the novice to successfully follow this deadly 

 method of stream, fishing in the Nottingham style. 



The tail-end of a well-scoured lobworm is at times a very 

 ^ood stream bait for roach, particularly during the late au- 

 tumn and early winter, and more so when the water is slightly 

 tinged with colour. Ledgering for roach is also another 

 plan ; no float is required for this. The ledger is a small 

 bullet with a fair-sized hole through the centre of it, this 

 hole being large enough to allow the knots of the tackle to 

 pass through. This bullet can be about two^ feet from 

 the hook; a shot on each side of the tackle allowing it a 

 play of eight or nine inches ; the hook for this can be a 

 No. 8 Carlisle round bend, tied on 2x drawn gut, the bait 

 being generally about an inch from the tail-end of a lob. 

 This plan of ledgering is adopted if the angler finds a dif- 

 ficulty in keeping his bait well on the bottom,. Speaking 

 about keeping the bait well on the bottomi, I am, reminded 

 of a curious experience that came under my own obser- 

 vation. One day down the lower Trent, in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Sutton Holmes, I came across a couple of 

 anglers trying to fish a capital swim for roach. Subse- 

 quent conversation told me that the men were strangers, 

 and used to waters of a far different character. They told 

 me that they liked the look of the place so much that dur- 

 ing the two or three days past they had put a nice lot of 

 groundbait in. The current in many places down the 



