202 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



nevertheless tell you, that camphor,* put with moss into your 

 worm-bag with your worms, makes them, if many anglers be 

 not very much mistaken, a tempting bait, and the angler more 

 fortunate. But I stepped by chance into this discourse of 

 oils and fishes smelling; and though there might be more 

 said, both of it and of baits for roach and dace and other float 

 fish, yet I will forbear it at this time ; t and tell you in the 



* All scented baits are now justly repudiated. Perfuming a worm or any 

 other bait will do harm and not good. ED. 



t Roach delight in gravelly or sandy bottoms ; their haunts, especially as 

 winter approaches, are clear, deep, and still waters : at other times they lie in 

 and near weeds, and under the shade of boughs. They spawn about the latter 

 end of May, when they are scabby and unwholesome, but they are again in 

 order in about three weeks : the largest are taken after Michaelmas, and their 

 prime season is in February or March. The baits for roach, not already men- 

 tioned, are cad-bait and oak-worms for the spring ; in May, ant's-eggs, and 

 paste made of the crumbs of a new roll, both white and tinged with red, which 

 is done by putting vermilion into the water wherewith you moisten it ; this 

 paste will do for the winter also. The largest roach in this kingdom are taken 

 in the Thames, where many have been caught of two pounds and a half 

 weight ; but roach of any size are hardly to be come at without a boat. The 

 haunts of dace are gravelly, sandy, and clayey bottoms ; deep holes that are 

 shaded ; water lily leaves, and under the foam caused by an eddy : in hot 

 weather they are to be found on the shallows, and are then best taken with an 

 artificial fly, grasshoppers, or gentles, as hereafter directed. 



Dace spawn about the latter end of March, and are in season about three 

 weeks after ; they are not very good till about Michaelmas, and are best in 

 February. Baits for dace, other than those mentioned by Walton, are the oak- 

 worm, red-worm, brandling, gilt-tail, and indeed any worm bred on trees or 

 bushes, that is not too big for his mouth : almost all kinds of flies and cater- 

 pillars. Though dace are often caught with a float as roach, yet they are not 

 so properly float-fish ; for they are to be taken with an artificial gnat, or ant- 

 fly, or indeed, almost any other small fly in its season ; but in the Thames, 

 above Richmond, the largest are caught with a natural green or dun grass- 

 hopper, and sometimes with gentles ; with both which you are to fish, as with 

 an artificial fly ; they are not to be come at till about September, when the 

 weeds begin to rot ; but when you have found where they lie, which in a warm 

 day is generally on the shallows, 'tis incredible what havoc you may make : 

 pinch off the first joint of the grasshopper's legs, put the point of the hook in at 

 the head, and bring it out at the tail ; and in this way of fishing you will 

 catch chub, especially if you throw under the boughs. It is true, there is less 

 certainty of catching in this way than with a float or ground-bait : for which 

 reason, I would recommend it only to those who live near the banks of that 

 delightful river, between Windsor and Isleworth, who have or can command a 

 boat for that purpose, and can take advantage of a still, warm, gloomy day; 

 and to such it will afford much more diversion than the ordinary inartificial 

 method of fishing in the deeps for roach and dace. In fishing at bottom for 

 roach and dace, use for ground-bait, bread soaked about an hour in water, and 

 an equal quantity of bran ; knead them to a tough consistence, and make them 

 up into balls, with a small pebble in the middle; and throw these balls in 

 where you fish ; but be sure you throw them up the stream, for otherwise they 

 will draw the fish beyond the reach of your line. Fish for roach within six, 

 and for dace, within three inches of the bottom. H. 



[The remarks contained in the above note, written upwards of sixty years, 



