PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 451 



the bait down, and I believe sucks it in as it goes down 

 the stream, taking hold of it with the peculiarly shaped 

 prehensile upper lip. That upper lip of the roach is pre- 

 cisely like the hood of a perambulator. I believe those big, 

 aldermanic fellows, sly and wary as courtiers, cautiously pro- 

 trude their upper lip, and, hunger getting the better of them, 

 suck the bait in. But the instant they get the bait into 

 their mouths, and they detect that there is anything foreign 

 about it, that instant they reject it. That shows the im- 

 portance of the float being shotted down until the very 

 lowest depth of its floatability has been secured. You see 

 it will hardly bear one corn more shot, and when these 

 artful old roach follow the bait down-stream, when they 

 look at it even, to stretch one's imagination a little, much 

 less touch it, instantly the float gives way, and there is a 

 little sharp dip. Now, the good roach-fisherman is mar- 

 vellously quick in hooking his fish, and from start to finish 

 it is a bit of finished wrist-action entirely. He fishes with 

 this long 1 8-foot rod which I have attempted to describe 

 to you and it is curious and beautiful to see the accuracy 

 with which a crack roach-fisherman will hook fish after fish 

 with merely a little upward jerk of the wrist. The line is 

 very short ; indeed, from the point of the float to the top 

 of the rod, it is usually not more than a couple of feet in 

 length, and consequently, this short length being kept taut 

 throughout the float's downward journey, the slightest 

 upward stroke is sufficient to hook the wariest old roach, 

 so long as it is done at the proper moment of time. Miss 

 that moment, and one might just as well not strike at all. 



There is a considerable difference between the various 

 styles adopted upon the three rivers, viz., the Lea, the 

 Thames, and the Trent That upon the Trent is called 

 " stret pegging " in some cases, " tight corking " in others, 



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