COARSE-FISHING MEMORIES 



a long time it was doubtful what had been hooked. Only 

 when the fight was half over did the gleam of a broad, bright 

 side five or six feet down in the dark clear water reveal the 

 presence of a roach weighing a pound or more. 



One day I had what seemed to me an unusual experience 

 in a mill pool higher up stream. I had been fishing for roach 

 in the orthodox way close to the bottom without any result 

 worth mentioning. A good distance out in the pool, from 

 twenty to thirty yards, some fish were priming and splashing 

 after the manner of bream or rudd, and it occurred to me that 

 these must be the roach I was after, for at that time there were 

 neither bream, rudd, nor chub in that part of the river, though 

 there are chub nowadays, I believe. Accordingly I put on a 

 heavier float, more lead, and a big piece of paste, and hurled it out 

 in the direction of the fish, coiling line on the bank Thames- 

 fashion for the cast. The float for some reason refused to 

 cock, so I pulled it in towards me to see what was the matter. 

 The matter was that a roach had seized the bait almost as it 

 fell and was swimming about with it ; the lead had no chance 

 to act on the float at all. I took the hint, as well as the roach, 

 lowered the float to within a few inches of the shot, and fished 

 just as one does for rudd with the bait only about eighteen 

 inches under the surface. This suited the fish admirably, 

 and, despite the splash made at each cast, they bit furiously. 

 A person accustomed to regard roach as shy would have been 

 seriously astonished at the fish that day. They were not small 

 ones either, but ran from | lb. up to a good i| lb. 



On another occasion I had some rare sport among Stour 



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