HAUNTS OF ROACH IN STILL WATERS. 61 



nothing better than the one recommended on page 35. It 

 should not be made into balls, but should be thrown in loose, 

 and only a small portion should be thrown in at one time. 

 If nicely-scoured gentles are used on the hook, a few unscoured 

 ones should be thrown in round the float every quarter of 

 an hour, or oftener. When paste fishing, a few pellets of 

 paste should be cast in as ground-bait, and the same principle 

 carried out whatever the bait on the hook. 



All the precautions as to keeping quiet, and out of sight 

 of the fish, of taking the tackle in and out of the water 

 slowly and gently, of choosing a pitch facing the sun, of 

 not over ground-baiting, of baiting the hook with clean 

 hands, of landing the fish as quietly as possible — all these 

 should be borne in mind as much in pond or lake as in river- 

 fishing. Plumbing the depth should be done very carefully ; 

 and if the float when in use projects a quarter of an inch 

 out of the water, the depth will be right when the plummet 

 is on the bottom and top of the float is just level with the 

 surface of the water. 



" But where am I to fish in these still waters F " the beginner 

 may very likely ask. The reply is that the fish will be found 

 near the spots most abounding in their food, and also 

 near where they can take shelter — on the edge of weeds, 

 close to camp-shedding, under deep hollow banks, under 

 trees which overhang the water, and particularly in those 

 places where anglers are in the habit of fishing, and where, 

 consequently, much ground-bait is thrown in. The depth is 

 not nearly so important as in river-fishing, but in cold weather 

 the fish will be found in deeper water than in summer, A 

 gravel or sandy bottom should always be preferred to a 

 muddy one, but few indeed are the ponds through which 

 no stream flows in which the bottom is clean. In very large 

 lakes which run deep towards the centre, the roach will 

 be found near the shore, among or on the edge of the reed- 

 beds, if there are any; but it must be borne in mind that 

 the larger the piece of water, the more difficult it is to find 

 the fish, and the angler will do well to choose a suitable 

 spot, and throw in fish-food every morning for several days. 



