208 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



young anglers, than those that can be gone through in fishing for roach 

 and dace. He that succeeds in "bottom -fishing well for roach, and in fly- 

 fishing for dace, will soon, if he have amhition, be able to cope with the 

 largest of the carp tribe, with the salmon, and his numerous family, from 

 the sea-trout to the grayling. I cannot conceive why Walton should 

 have written, " that the roach is accounted the water-sheep for his sim- 

 plicityjand foolishness." In my opinion, the roach, next to the carp, is 

 the " 'cutest" member of the race. Under water he is tormentingly shy, 

 and unless you tempt him with the most delicate baits, and the very 

 finest tackle, you will have no chance of alluring him. Roach fishing 

 requires the smallest hooks, the thinnest foot-line, and a very long, very 

 light, and moderately elastic rod. Your float of prepared quill should 

 yield to a next to imperceptible nibble. See what the late Mr. Elaine 

 says of this bashful and pretty fish. " The best season for roach fishing 

 is from autumn until the following spring. In May they usually spawn; 

 occasionally it is both earlier and later : after they have spawned, they 

 continue out of season for several weeks, hardly recovering until the latter 

 end of July, which is not to be wondered at when we consider the debili- 

 tating effect of such a quantity of ova, the grains of which, in a single 

 fish, have been reckoned, and were found to amount to fifty-four thousand, 

 which must consequently require a very copious supply of milt from the 

 male to fecundate. Roach angling offers much interest to the piscatory 

 zealots, who are shut out from the higher pursuits of fly-fishing. The 

 roach is an elegant fish when taken, and we have shown that it requires 

 some skill to deceive it, while its game qualities are such that it contests 

 the matter with the angler to the last, so as to yield no small triumph 

 when landed. We have seen a roach of a pound weight in a strong 

 current in the Thames, raise the blood to the face of an angler of fair 

 fame. They also, when in condition, bite freely ; but we consider the 

 principal hold they have, or ought to have on the angler, is, their great 

 plenty, the numerous methods that may be employed to take them, to 

 which may be added, the time of the year that sport may be obtained 

 with them, which is, when few other fish yield any. From the bottom 

 of the water, every inch of the way up to the surface, they may be fished 

 for in various manners; and when they are sunning themselves at the top, 

 they will take a fly with the best. No fish whatever exerts the capabilities 

 of the angler so much as this : even the grayling (whose versatility in 

 yielding sport is great also) must nevertheless give place to the roach, a 

 precedence which, we think, will always rank it as a distinguished mem- 

 ber in the piscatory list ; and this opinion, from one devotedly fond of 

 fly-fishing, may be considered as something in favour of its tribe and 

 qualities." The best baits for roach are, clean simple or sweet pastes, and 

 good small gentles; and in the spring months, small well-scoured brand- 

 lings and little red worms. In summer and autumn they will take arti- 

 ficial flies, little red, brown, and black hackles, small duns, the black gnat, 

 and red and brown artificial ant-flies. They will take these flies best, if 

 they be sunk four or six inches under water. A thin strip of light yellow 

 kid leather, wound from the tail of the artificial fly, nearly as far as the 

 barb of the hook, will be an improvement. Foot-lines for roach are fre- 



