THE ROACH. 147 



best when the water is clear and the fish shy ; he 

 will then find what a wily fish the roach is, and 

 what great skill is required to capture him. The 

 novice has no chance, save by the merest luck, of 

 making a better bag than an experienced hand 

 fishing under similar conditions. Nicety of striking, 

 adjustment of tackle, baits, and methods of baiting, 

 the knowledge of groundbaits, the play of fish, &c., 

 can only be acquired by long practice ; therefore 

 let no one despise roach-fishing or fishers ; many 

 study roach-fishing for a lifetime, and then con- 

 sider there is a little "something" more to learn 

 even when very old age compels them to abandon 

 the sport. My very happiest recollections of an- 

 gling are of roach-fishing ; my first lessons were 

 from my grandfather, when I was quite a child ; 

 and the success the old gentleman met with, 

 and his earnest and kindly endeavours to in- 

 struct me in the art tended to make me an enthusi- 

 astic angler at a very early age. Before I was ten 

 years old, I had caught hundreds of roach, many 

 of them on single hair lines ; and now, after 

 Thames trouting, chubbing, or what not, I gladly 

 welcome the autumn and winter roach-fishing, for 

 there is nothing more enjoyable in angling than a 

 really good day with the roach in the later season, 

 when the fish are in prime condition. If ever we 

 have a new Act regulating the close season, close 

 it would be well to allow roach-fishing in the time 

 Thames till the end of March, but to prohibit it 

 till the middle or end of July. Some of the best 

 roach-fishing is lost by closing the season on the 

 1 5th of March, while the roach that are taken in 

 June are not worth catching, being mostly rough, 

 flabby, and out of condition. A winter or spring 



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