ROACH-FISHING AS A FINE ART. 343 



the dark water that moves slowly above a clear bed, and they 

 ask no more. The best roach fishermen I have ever met have 

 possessed strong concentrated tastes of this nature. 



It is not necessary in this chapter to enter at length into the 

 thousand and one instructions which have been written for the 

 roach-fisher's guidance. One man has this plan and another 

 that. Fishers of every grade sometimes agree to differ, and 

 some do not ' agree,' but differ all the same, and none more 

 perhaps than the knights of the roach. The field of dispute is 

 limited, to be sure ; nevertheless, I have known fierce contro- 

 versies rage respecting a bit of paste, jealousies aroused by 

 advocacy of a maggot of too mature an age, and friendships 

 endangered through a split shot. Many of the theories enter- 

 tained on the question are good for nothing mere fancies that 

 satisfy nobody, least of all their authors. Therefore I shall say 

 nothing as to the respective merits of Thames style, Lea style, 

 or Trent style, though, if I did pronounce an opinion, I should 

 not place the Lea artists second. It has been the custom, 

 because one or two angling writers years ago, with a pardon- 

 able partiality for their own beloved river, pronounced the 

 Thames anglers cock of the walk, to give them the premier 

 place. For myself I should, taking experts from the three 

 rivers, be inclined to bid them toe the line, and shake hands 

 on absolutely equal terms. There are anglers from each who 

 have elevated roach-fishing to a fine art. 



The commonly accepted principles governing the sport may 

 be perhaps most conveniently indicated in an imaginary visit to 

 a river. The stream which I select has been already suggested 

 on a previous page as being full of big shy roach. It actually 

 exists, and there are doubtless some readers who will recognise 

 it. It will serve our purpose as well as any other, as a peg 

 whereon to hang a string of hints. Here then we have a 

 meadow with river frontage of about 300 yards. At the upper 

 end the water enters from a canal passing at one right angle, 

 with a tributary brook arriving from another. On the meadow 

 side the stream is too swift for steady roach-fishing ; across. 



