88 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE ROACH. 



To be a successful roach fisher is the highest attainment in 

 the bottom fisher's art. He must be possessed of great skill, 

 patience, and ingenuity, and also a thorough knowledge of 

 the habits of the fish. Further, he must be able to detect 

 the places where roach are likely to be found, and know 

 what places they avoid ; he must pay particular attention to 

 a number of the most minute details, a good swim must be 

 selected, and then must be fished at the exact depth. A 

 very fine tackle must be used, and in hooking a roach, the 

 angler must have a regular roach trick, that is, he must do it 

 without a jerk of any kind, simply in a moment by a single 

 turn of the wrist. Walton says, " When you fish for roach, 

 you must have a email hook, a quick eye, and a nimble 

 hand." Walton, too, says that the roach is " accounted the 

 water sheep for his simplicity or foolishness ;" but roach now- 

 a-days are not so foolish and simple as they were in old 

 Izaak's time. 'Tis true the roach in a pond, where they are 

 small and half-starved, and where they seldom see the 

 presence of an angler or a rod, might be foolish, and allow 

 themselves to be caught by any sort of bait and tackle (and 

 I know that roach in our well-fished river, during the latter 

 part of May, are perfectly reckless, and will allow themselves 

 to be caught by dozens with the cad bait, when the spawn 

 and milt has been running from them) ; but the well-fed, 

 good-conditioned, and aldernianic roach of our well-fished 

 river are not to be caught by any tyro during August and 

 the following months, for they are amazingly shy of the 

 hook. They seem to me to be highly educated then, and 

 pretty wide-awake to the angler's proceedings. A reckless 



