CHAP. XVII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 291 



belief; and knowing men that know their difference, 

 call them Ruds : they differ from the true Roach, as 

 much as a Herring from a Pilchard. And these bastard 

 breed of Roach are now scattered in many rivers : but, 

 I think, not in the Thames, which I believe affords the 

 largest and fattest in this nation, especially below 

 London-bridge *. The Roach is a leather-mouthed fish, 

 and has a kind of saw-like teeth in his throat. And 

 lastly, let me tell you, the Roach makes an angler ex- 

 cellent sport, especially the great Roaches about Lon- 

 don; where, I think, there be the best Roach-anglers. 



* I know not what Roaches are caught bdoiv bridge; but, above, I am 

 sure they are very large; for on the 15th of September, 1754, at Hamp- 

 ton, I caught one that was fourteen inches and an eighth from eye to 

 fork, and in weight wanted but an ounce of two pounds. 



The season for fishing for Roach in the Thames, begins about the latter 

 end of August, and tontinues much longer than it is either pleasant or safe 

 to fish. It requires some skill, to hit the time-of-taking-them exactly ; 

 for, all the Summer long, they live on the weed, which they do not for- 

 sake, for the deeps, till it becomes putrid, and that is sooner or later, ac- 

 cording as the season is wet or dry; for you are to know, that much rain 

 hastens the rotting of the weed. I say it requires some skill to hit the 

 time; for the fishermen who live in all the towns along the river, from 

 Chiswick to Staines, are about this time nightly, upon the watch, as 

 soon as the fish come out, to sweep them away with a drag-net : and our 

 poor patient angler is left, baiting the ground, and adjusting his tackle, to 

 catch those very fish which, perhaps, the night before had been carried 

 to Billingsgate. 



The Thames as well above, as below, London-bridge was, formerly, 

 much resorted to by the London anglers ; and, which is strange to think 

 on, considering the unpleasantness of the station, they were used to fish 

 near the starlings of the bridge. This will account for the many fish- 

 ing-tackle shops that were formerly in Crooked-lane, which leads to the 

 bridge. In the memory of a person, not long since living, a water- 

 man that plied at Essex stairs, his name John Reeves, got a comfort- 

 able living by attending anglers with his boat ; his method was to watch 

 when the SHOALS of Roach came down from the country, and when he 

 had found them, to go round to his customers and give them notice. 

 Sometimes, THEY settled opposite the Temple; at others, at Black- 

 friars or Queen-hithe, but most frequently about the Chalk-hills, near 

 London-bridge. His hire was two shillings a tide. A certain number of 

 persons who were accustomed, thus, to employ him, raised a sum suf- 

 ficient to buy him a waterman's coat, and silver badge, the impress 

 whereof was, " Himself, with an Angler, in his Boat ;" and he had, an- 

 nually, a new coat to the time of his death, which might be about the 

 year 1730. 



Shepperton and Hampton are the places, chiefly, resorted to by the 

 Londoners ; who angle there in boats; at each, there is a large deep, to 

 which Roach are attracted by constant baiting. That at Hampton is op- 

 posite the church-yard; and in that cemetery, lies an angler upon whose 



