342 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



the right of fishery, not more than two can boast of anything 

 like success, and their method is entitled to be designated the 

 fine art of roach- fish ing. The fact is that these fish are edu- 

 cated, and rendered habitually suspicious and shy. Once or 

 twice, perhaps, in the course of the summer they lose caution, 

 and bite ravenously at the baits which they have steadily 

 refused for the rest of the season, yielding, as it seems, to a 

 caprice which cannot be explained. Otherwise, they must be 

 circumvented by sheer skill on the part of the angler, a skill 

 that may almost be said at times to partake of the nature of 

 inspiration, so impossible is it of acquirement by many imi- 

 tators. Knowledge of the habits of the roach, of the peculiari- 

 ties of the particular river fished, and of the food incidental 

 thereto, is a primary essential as I have already indicated, but 

 to this must be added a masterly use of the finest tackle, an 

 infinite patience, and a readiness to bring into the service in- 

 numerable wiles that shall meet the changing circumstances of 

 the hour. 



' He's a born roach-fisher' is a saying you sometimes hear ; 

 and I am not at all sure that, with some experts, it is not a 

 perfectly warrantable expression. To such a man innumerable 

 touches of skill come by intuition. But I have generally 

 noticed that these 'past masters' in the craft of roach-fishing, 

 the fine artists, do not arrive at their stage of excellence by any 

 royal road. They have devoted themselves to the study and 

 practice of roach-fishing. All the angling propensities they 

 have are concentrated upon that one humble branch of the art 

 which Walton, with roach-fishing in his mind, no doubt, spoke 

 of as the contemplative man's recreation. I am acquainted 

 with men, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, somebodies and 

 nobodies, who have a passionate attachment to the pursuit. 

 The higher kinds of rod-and-line work have no joys for them. 

 You may battle with your salmon in a rushing Spey pool, 

 craftily take a Test three-pounder with floating dun on ooo 

 hook, and be an adept with spinning apparatus for all they 

 heed or care : give them their camp-stool and roach rod over 



