344 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



the bed has silted up, forming a pronounced shallow. Right 

 away down to the end of a meadow, where a weir and tumbling 

 bay radically alter the character of the river, the depth is an 

 even four feet in the middle, with but slight difference towards 

 shore. As it is the keeper's business to see that certain swims 

 are cleared out, the fisherman is saved the trouble of prospecting 

 up and down with his plummet in search of a favourable place. 

 Upon the general character of swims I shall have something to 

 say presently, my object at present being to indicate the tackle 

 used, and the way in which it is handled. 



Mr. A. is a consummate roach-fisher ; so is Mr. B. ; and we 

 have them both approaching the water. Both begin by throw- 

 ing in ground bait, A. a ball as large as an orange, pitched into 

 the centre, B. several balls of walnut size pitched here and 

 there. Both of course cast their material well above the station 

 upon which the seat will be. Notice the hushed style of their 

 procedure. They move as if in a sick room ; by force of habit, 

 they stand back into the meadow and put together their rods. 

 Cautiously stooping, they app:oach to plumb the depth, creating 

 a minimum of disturbance in lowering the lead to the bottom. 

 Upon this operation A. and B. evidently hold different opinions, 

 for the former adjusts his float so that the bait shall dot and 

 carry one upon the bottom as it travels, while the latter gives a 

 fair two inches of free space. Had they not known that the 

 fish were there or thereabouts, they would have done wisely to 

 cast in their ground bait two or three hours before they began, 

 and in the case of still water, where the stuff should be scattered 

 in loose handfuls, and not in balls, ground-baiting overnight 

 would have been attended to. But the roach being somewhere 

 in the neighbourhood will soon espy the bran particles float- 

 ing clown, and will head up to see whether bulk and sample 

 correspond. 



Our friends A. and B. have divers tastes as to rods, you 

 will also observe. A. uses a 2o-foot cane rod, finely balanced, 

 and though delicately tapered, rigid in the strike. This is the 

 prime necessity of a roach-rod, and an essential often missed 



