THE ROACH. 53 



" sider it nothing unusual to pick a dozen fish out of one 

 **' catch, that would weigh as many pounds. In the winter 

 *• and in coloured water our roach prefer the gentle to the 

 " worm. During the early autumn I use wasp grubs when 

 " I can get them, but I found Mr. Roach could get tlijse 

 " grubs off the hook without moving the float, so I u?ed to 

 " put a grub on the bend of the hook and a ojg i gen:-. 3 nii 

 " the point to keep it on, and got them, then (a very good tip 

 " this, Sam). I like to fish for roach with the vei'y iinest cf 

 " tackle, but on the other hand I have taken them with the 

 " coarsest ; it all depends on how they are on the feed, when 

 * ' well on ' I don't think that it makes a lot of difference about 

 " the gut, if the bait is all right, and you strike at the right 

 " time ; which is just when the float is going down, you must 

 " not wait till it comes up again or you will be a lot to late, 

 " stream fishing in the Nottinghami style is n y favourite 

 " plan. I find it answers well on our waters, especially on 

 " the river Frome." This is a very interesting and useful 

 letter. Mr. Harvard's remarks about taking roach on the 

 very thickest tackle, will perhaps come as a revelation to 

 many roach anglers. I have only one experience of the 

 kind myself, that I can just now remember. A lad and I 

 were one afternoon roaching from a punt in a baited swim 

 on the Ouse; I used the very finest 4X drawn gut, he used 

 very coarse tackle, and yet managed to take two fish to my 

 one all the afternoon. I could not help thinking then that 

 the fishermen are sometimes a lot more particular than the 

 fish. That afternoon's experience was however, utterly at 

 varience with my usual practice, because I generallv could 

 well hold my own at roach fishing, no matter who I had for 

 a companion, and in nine cases out of ten I found the very- 

 finest tackle to be the most successful. 



I think I have, in the foregoing four chapters, given 

 instructions for roach fishing in most of the styles known to 

 bottom fishermen in the various districts where this fish is 

 found, except the special style adopted by the Lea roacher ; 

 and as this style seems to me to be confined exclusively to that 

 river a ver}' few words will suffice. The rod most generally 

 used is a white cane one 18 feet in length, without either rings 

 or reel fittings. It is built remarkably thick at the butt end ; 



