80 SINKING AND DRAWING. 



feeding on worms, and the large roach will often in 

 winter take the tail of a lob worm very ravenously. 

 Caddis bait is also a favourite bait with roach, but it is a 

 bad substitute for gentles. The diminutive bloodworm, 

 found in the muddy deposit at the bottom of stagnant 

 waters, is held to be a great attraction for roach, but it 

 requires a fine hook and great care to bait it well. 



Mr. Fennell speaks highly of the silk weed (conferva 

 rivularis) as a bait for roach when they are vege- 

 tably minded. This weed is rolled and lapped round the 

 hook, and, as he tells us, forms a very attractive bait ; and 

 as the roach undeniably does feed on weed, this is per- 

 haps almost the only way in which this object of its 

 choice could be presented to it with a hook in the midst. 

 Mr. Fennell chronicles several good takes made with it. 



SINKING AND DRAWING. 



Sinking and drawing with a blow-fly on a small hook, 

 and one large shot, is a killing way of fishing in warm 

 weather. It is, too, a scientific way, as the angler has to 

 trust a good deal to the sense of feeling for knowing when 

 he has a bite, as no float is used and the bait is often 

 several inches under water. The method is to let out some 

 ten or twelve yards of light silk line, at the end of 

 which is some six feet of fine gut with a small hook baited 

 with a large blow-fly or a wasp-grub, or even a gentle may 

 be used in the same manner ; about a foot above this is a 

 shot or two, according to the strength of the stream. Let 

 the bait sink almost to mid-water by dropping the point 

 of the rod, and then draw it to the top by raising the 

 point, and so keep on falling and raising the point of the 

 rod alternately, gradually following your bait down stream ; 

 strike gently, but quickly, at the least symptom of a bite 

 or a touch. In this way you will also kill dace and 



