THE EOACH. 81 



Eoach are very fond of a lazy eddy by the side of a swift 

 stream, and being a bulky fish are not found much in very 

 strong and rapid waters. They like the slow, lazy curls 

 under bushes, or the slow streams by the side of flags, rushes, 

 &c. ; quiet lie-byes or corners away from the main stream are 

 very much affected by roach ; streams that flow at the rate 

 of not more than two miles an hour ; or in the curls and eddies 

 in the vicinity of a weir, or in the neighbourhood of an old 

 wooden bridge, and sometimes they are found in the shallows 

 of a mill tail. These are the places where roach are princi- 

 pally found, and it is in such places as those that the suc- 

 cessful roach fisher pursues his quarry. The food of roach 

 consists of grubs, flies, grasshoppers, worms, cad baits, weeds 

 and water insects, gentles, bread, paste, rice, pearl barley, 

 creed malt, wheat, &c., &c. The last few that I have men- 

 ♦tioned are the very best hook baits you can have. Indeed, 

 to put it correctly, gentles stand first, cad baits second, worms 

 next, then paste, pearl barley, creed wheat, and malt. These 

 baits, if they are properly used, are all that is required by 

 the bottom fisher for roach. 



As a fish for the table, they are a little better than chub 

 and barbel. Nicely fried, a good roach out of a gravelly 

 stream, during the autumn and winter months, is not to be 

 despised, and is a very palatable addition to the breakfast- 

 table. " The Freshwater Fisheries Act of 1878 " seems to 

 me to be hardly satisfactory as far as roach are concerned, for 

 on the 15th of March, these fish are in the very best condi- 

 tion, and could very well be taken for another month — that 

 is, as regards the Trent; while on the 15th of June they 

 have not all of them done spawning, and for another month 

 at least they are slimy, lumpy, and in a generally wretched 

 state. I think, therefore, that anglers ought not to take them 

 before the middle of July. 



Having looked at the roach and his habits, we will turn to 



G 



