FEBRUARY 51 



crisp, frosty air inhaled, while a sense of well-being 

 steals over one. The morning is spent trying here and 

 there, by various methods, with varying success, seek- 

 ing for specimen roach, especially that chimera of the 

 coarse fisher, the three-pounder. With what zest is 

 the mid-day lunch eaten, and with what alacrity is the 

 pursuit resumed, even although one is obliged occasion- 

 ally to knock off for a while and take a stroll along the 

 bank to warm the feet and stretch the legs ! And 

 when the shades of evening begin to gather and the 

 mists to resume their nightly dominion over the water 

 meadows, one packs up and punts, drives, or trudges 

 back to the inn, better content to live, and fitter to 

 perform one's daily duties in the mill of life. During 

 this and the next three months, however, on most of our 

 Southern rivers, the weeds interfere sadly with sport as 

 will be seen in the succeeding narrative. Therefore the 

 writer suggests that, though an occasional day in an 

 occasional position may be enjoyed, still the best sport 

 with heavy fish may be most surely counted upon in 

 February when the weeds are gone and the keen short 

 evenings find us, after a day of bending rod and singing 

 line, trudging home with a creel of roach all over one 

 pound apiece. One thing is only needed to produce this 

 full creel, viz., fish, and these, alas I are getting fewer 

 and harder to catch. 



Further and further afield one goes in pursuit of large 

 roach, while smaller and more beautifully less grow the 

 results. Few rivers now contain the average of large 

 fish for which they were once renowned. Take, for 

 example, the Thames and the Lea. The weekly report 

 is " ten dozen of roach and dace," any mention of the 

 individual size and weight being carefully omitted. 

 On one occasion a curious reader made inquiries, and 

 found that a catch of this description weighed, if my 

 memory serves, 201b. Think of it, less than 2|oz. per 

 fish. Occasionally, good fish are captured; thus, 

 eighteen weighing 201b., and one of 2Jlb., were this 

 year reported from the Lower Thames. But such 

 sizes are not only exceptional, but phenomenal on our 



