SPECIALISING. 57 



and as light as it can possibly be made. Lightness 

 is usually the difficulty, and the only kind of rod I 

 have ever found really to meet my purpose has 

 been one of the cheap Japanese canes. A good 

 one can be made into a first-rate roach-rod by 

 being fitted with rings and winch fittings, and by 

 the addition of a new top in place of its own flimsy 

 one. It is not easy to find just the right cane, but 

 being found such a rod is a treasure, and even with 

 the additions specified it need only cost a few 

 shillings. There is a kind of rod known as the 

 roach-pole, a hollow cane affair, very long, very 

 stiff, very big in the butt, rather expensive, and, to 

 my mind, very cumbersome. I should recommend 

 the novice to have nothing to do with it, as its use 

 is a science in itself, and needs a special appren- 

 ticeship. 



Another requirement for further pursuit of roach, 

 and sometimes of bream, is finer gut. So far the 

 novice has been using what is known as undrawn 

 gut. This is, as a rule, good enough for perch, chub, 

 bream, and nearly all fish except roach and dace. 

 But for roach nearly always, and other fish some- 

 times, it is well to have finer tackle in reserve, and 

 to keep a stock of " drawn " gut casts and hooks. 

 Drawn gut is gut which has been made fine by 

 artificial means, and, of course, it is not nearly so 



