HOW TO TEMPT THEM. 27 



and the point coming out at the small end or head, and 

 thus you may delude a few more. Ofttimes, too, when 

 they find that the ground-bait is rather a dangerous 

 neighbourhood, or when perhaps they may see the punt 

 too clearly, they will remain below the ground-bait, 

 catching the atoms as they sail by. The best fish nearly 

 always do this, and rest quite at the end of the swim. 

 Then cast your ground-bait a good way off down the swim. 

 Let out a few yards extra of line and fish farther off, and 

 you will often get sport in that way when the fish will 

 scarcely bite at all close to the boat. All these dodges, 

 and any more which may suggest themselves to the angler, 

 should be employed when the fish are biting shyly. A 

 change of bait will often procure a fish or two, and should 

 never be neglected. In fact, a judicious changing back- 

 wards and forwards in this respect will be found highly 

 necessary to tickle the jaded appetites of the well-fed 

 aldermanic roach, and by one means or the other some- 

 thing like a take may generally be made, provided the 

 fish are there. 1 Many of the above plans, it will be seen, 

 are equally feasible in bank-fishing. The following plan 

 is an ingenious one : it was communicated to me by an 

 old roach-fisher, who declared it to be a great patent. I 

 have never tried it myself, but the angler can do so if he 

 chooses. 



It often happens that when the water is clear and low 

 the fish are difficult to attract, whereas, if you could dis- 

 colour the water a little, you would not only coax the fish 

 to come to your swim, but would induce them to take well. 

 The readiest means, it would seem, is a rake, but however 



1 Anyone can catch some roach when the big fellows are sucking down 

 the float quietly at every swim, just under the rod-point, and when you 

 have nothing to do but to strike and hook a fish ; but the artist in roach- 

 fishing alone will make a fair bag on an indifferent day. The above hints 

 are, of course, unnecessary save for the tyro. 



