PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 449 



nice round fine gut line is as good a tackle as one could 

 possibly use. Roach-floats are invariably made from either 

 quill or reed, and they are selected as a matter of course 

 with regard to the depth and character of the water which 

 it is intended to fish. Nicely shaped wooden floats are 



favourites also, but, carrying little shot, they are only suit- 



ij 

 able for swims of medium depth. There is a considerable 



amount of difference in the manner in which the roach-float 

 is shotted, as against other floats used for other purposes. 

 For instance, it matters very little if the perch or chub- 

 float wants the completing shot to effect its perfect balance, 

 but the roach-float cannot possibly be shotted- too deeply 

 down, so long as the immediate tip of the float, which I 

 may explain is the top of the white quill and the cap, 

 swims steadily and nicely over the surface of the stream. 

 That is the very best character that a roach-float can 

 possibly assume. It should be shotted down to the point, 

 when three or four shot corns more, over and above the 

 weight of the bait itself, would assuredly swamp it. 



I will now go to the question of baits. For roach-fishing 

 they are few in number and very simple, and without 

 touching upon the question of pearl barley, wheat, shrimps, 

 wasp grubs, silk weed, or any other of the many various baits 

 which kill at certain times, I think I may say that one of 

 the best kinds of bait one can possibly use, is a paste 

 made of stale crumb of bread just moistened, and worked 

 up in the palm of a cleanly hand. A very excellent paste 

 is likewise made of an arrowroot biscuit, from which the 

 outside brown crust has been scraped off, until the inner 

 and white interior only is left. Slightly moistened with 

 fair water, this biscuit works up into a capital white paste, 

 which is at times especially killing. Gentles, again, during 

 the winter time, are a capital all-round bait, and the same 

 VOL. III. H. 2 G 



