AFTERNOON AND EVENING. 41 



and anything of ilb. or more is worth stuffing. In 

 most rivers fish of Jib. are worth keeping ; there 

 are a few streams where they run big, and where 

 f -pounders are common, but these streams are only 

 few. No fish is more dependent for its growth on 

 plenty of food and good water than the dace. 

 Another bite soon follows a slower, more cautious 

 attack, which ends, however, in the float going 

 under. It is a bigger fish this time, and, though 

 not so active as the last, it gives some trouble 

 before it can be netted. Here is yet another 

 species, silvery like the dace, but deeper, red-finned 

 and golden-eyed. This is a ilb. roach, and a good 

 example. Roach grow up to about 2^1b.; a 2- 

 pounder is a " specimen/' and a J-pounder does a 

 basket no discredit. 



Now that it is safe in the creel, let the novice 

 note those little bubbles coming up in strings here 

 and there in the still water to the right, and, having 

 noted, let him drop his float in among them, for 

 they argue a shoal of bream a-feeding. It may be 

 some time before he gets a bite, and he has leisure 

 to look round him. Over at the far end of the pool 

 on the shallows are many quiet rings being made, 

 with an occasional wave as a big fish moves along 

 near the surface. Those are signs of chub rising, 

 as they always do on a warm evening when the 



