THE ROACH AND RUDD 

 but even in big rivers, like the Kennet and the Hampshire Avon and Stour, 

 famous for the best and biggest roach and chub, the roach at times will 

 bite in this curiously delicate way — although, as a rule, the inch of float 

 goes nearly, or quite, under. 



In using the tight line (no reel) and long roach rod, of course it is neces- 

 sary to take off the butt joint when you have hooked and played your fish, 

 otherwise with an eighteen or twenty foot rod and a line of only half the 

 length, you would find it awkward to bring the fish to the landing net. 

 With the line fastened to the rod, and no reel, if you hook some big barbel 

 or chub, as is often the case, the chances are if he makes a long rush that 

 your fine drawn gut or single hair will be smashed, so I prefer always to 

 use a reel. But your genuine old-style roach-pole purist disdains a reel, 

 and would rather take his chance of being broken occasionally than use 

 one. In using a reel with the long rod it is easy to have it with a silent check, 

 and then, with half an inch of match tied in your line at any point you wish, 

 you can wind] up until the bit of match is tight against the top ring, and 

 so fish with the tight line, which, by many, is considered such an advantage 

 in quick striking in this style of fishing. The strike must be done while 

 the float is depressed, showing that the bait is held in the fish's mouth, 

 it must be done instantly, but gently, by depressing the butt under your 

 arm as you tip up the point of the rod for a foot or so — ^it is the upward 

 move of the springy top joint which tightens the line held by the fish and 

 hooks it. 



Another interesting, and often killing, way of using the long rod is 

 to plumb the depth, then fix the fioat a foot higher up the line — ^for instance, 

 if the water is four feet deep, you have five feet of line between float and 

 hook — squeeze a bit of your ground bait, the size of a walnut, round the 

 shot, swing this out carefully so it rests on the bottom a little below the 

 point opposite you, hold the rod so the float is, as it were, leaning against 

 the stream with the point of the float out of the water pointing towards 

 the end of the rod. The ground-bait, if properly made, will flake off 

 gradually, and the fish will follow the bits upstream, and so find your 

 hook bait resting a foot or ten inches below the shot on the bottom. 

 I have often had good sport in this way, and also by burying the hook 

 bait, gentle, or bit of paste, etc., in a small lump of ground-bait, and 

 holding it in this way — only, in this case, you must not be in a hurry to 

 strike at the first movements of the fioat, but wait until there is a decided 

 double knock. 



KK 249 



