PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 453 



or never taking bait except on the bottom of the river. It 

 does not follow, however, that roach in the great heats of 

 the summer do not take flies and insects on the surface of 

 the river, because they will do so beyond all question. So 

 will they also take baits presented at mid-water, or off the 

 bottom, at times. They affect two different classes of water 

 during the summer and winter. Some of the best roach 

 swims in the more pleasant portion of the year are almost 

 invariably found near large beds of weeds, at sharp swims at 

 the tails of mill streams not too sharp for the travel of an 

 ordinary roach-float or where the water runs smartly with- 

 out too much stream by old camp-shedding. There the roach 

 will easily be found during the summer months. It is very 

 frequently the practice during those months, and particularly 

 during great heat seasons, when it is almost impossible to 

 catch fish on the bottom of the river, to fish for them by 

 means of dipping or daping with the live natural insect. 

 Then there is another very killing method called blow-line 

 fishing, That is effected in this way. The operator is 

 armed with a long, light, pliable rod, to which is attached a 

 line somewhat longer than the rod itself, made of floss silk. 

 The angler has his back to the wind, and having found out 

 where the fish are lying he waits for a breeze. His tackle 

 consists of a little length of the finest possible gut at the 

 end of a long length of floss silk. To the gut link is 

 attached a small hook which he baits with a natural grass- 

 hopper or blue-bottle fly. With the rod held aloft, the baited 

 hook in the left hand, he waits for a breeze. Presently 

 it conies and bellies the floss silk line out in a long grace- 

 ful curve which blows right over the water. He watches 

 his opportunity until it gets directly over where the roach are 

 possibly lying, and then, drops the baited hook gently as a 

 bit of thistle down on the surface. That is a very killing 



