452 PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 



and is always founded upon the midland fisherman's 

 excellent theory of fine and far off. It is questionable, 

 however, whether this is quite so good as the Lea style. 

 Roach-fishing on the Thames at any rate is practised from a 

 punt by fishing with a long light line and a short rod. The 

 punt angler on the Thames almost invariably uses running 

 tackle, but in the Lea and most other rivers I think the 

 best anglers use that class of tackle which experience 

 tells them is the most useful, viz., a long rod with a tight 

 line, and that I am well assured is the finest and most 

 artistic principle of roach-fishing. 



Now, with regard to the rivers in which roach are found. 

 I think the finest roach I ever saw or heard of came 

 respectively from the Avon and Stour, one being a Dorset- 

 shire and the other a Hampshire river. The Lea, in days 

 gone by, was also a famous roach stream, although in later 

 years I think its angling capacities have not been quite so 

 good. There are also excellent roach in the Mole, a 

 beautifully quaint little stream, its banks teeming with 

 thoughtful associations with the works of dead and gone 

 poets, while the Colne also is a charmingly productive 

 stream whose fish are strikingly handsome specimens. 



One word now upon swims, and then I will close this 

 branch of freshwater fishing. 



It is likely enough to strike even the most unreflective mind, 

 that there should naturally be a great difference between 

 the swims selected for almost any class of fishing during the 

 heats of summer, and those picked out during the rigours of 

 the winter season. Some men there are, however, who never 

 learn. Others, who do, soon gather together the fact that 

 there is a considerable difference in the style of water which 

 should be selected by rodsters at various times of the year. 

 As a matter of fact, roach are ground-feeding fish, seldom 



