96 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



are sometimes vegetarians I know because I have opened 

 roach that have had some half-digested weeds in their in- 

 sides, though catching roach with a weed bait is a branch of 

 sport I have yet to learn. Ledgering for roach is not often 

 practised on the Trent, but sometimes during a thick, heavy- 

 water it is tried with success. It resembles what I have 

 described in ledgering for barbel, only the lead is smaller, the 

 tackle finer, and the hook is a l^o. 8. The bait is of course 

 a worm. 



The wind comes in for a fair share of odium, when the 

 angler is only having indifferent sport, and east winds I know 

 are not good for roach fishing, although I have known good 

 catches to have been made when the wind is in the north, 

 which I have heard some anglers say is a much worse quarter 

 than the east. Roach can be caught when the wind is settled 

 in any one quarter ; it is when the wind is shifting about to 

 all points of the compass in a few hours, that it is fatal to the 

 success of the roach fisher. A rough wind is not good for the 

 roach angler, and if we could have it as we liked, a west, or 

 a south-west wind is the best of all. A morning when the 

 rime frost hangs about everything should be carefully avoided 

 by the roach fisher. If the sun should manage to struggle 

 out and lick the rime off, then the angler might venture to 

 go towards noon, with some chance of success. I remember 

 that an old friend and I were once roaching on the Trent ; 

 it was very cold, and the snow was falling fast. We were 

 fishing with bread paste, and yet we managed to take a bag 

 of fish, though the wind was in the east. I must confess, 

 however, that in the winter roach fishing is very uncertain. 

 More often have I been disappointed than I have taken fish, 

 but nevertheless, as I have before said, roach are to be taken in 

 the depth of winter, if you know their winter haunts, and the 

 day is anything like fair. Snow broth is fatal to your chance 



