ROACH-FISHING 19 



his heart's content, as did dear old Father Izaak in days of 

 yore. Here is the eddy he loved, and there the bunch of 

 water flags, and yonder the honeysuckle hedge, but little 

 changed these two hundred years or so. 



The means usually pursued in roach-fishing have already 

 been described in bank and punt-fishing. The rods and 

 tackles requisite in the sport are such as are there set down. 

 The hook, if the water be full and the fish biting freely, should 

 be a No. 9, to carry two gentles. If the water be very clear, 

 and the fish shy, a No. 10 or n hook, to take only one gentle, 

 will be found preferable. Two dead gentles jammed together 

 in the fashion in which the hook is usually baited, are not a 

 common spectacle to the fish when the angler is using gentles 

 as ground-bait, and they are therefore rather liable to challenge 

 suspicion than otherwise. In roach-fishing, it is very customary 

 with some anglers to use the short-shanked hooks I have 

 spoken of previously ; but they are bad hooks for striking, 

 and do not strike true on the point of the hook. Let the 

 angler take one, fix the point of the hook against any substance, 

 and then pull the gut, and see what ensues. Let him note 

 the angle formed by the hook and gut, and indirect action of 

 the point, and he will recognise the justice of my remark. By 

 lengthening the shank slightly, the evil is mitigated. 

 !" In fishing with gentles, it is very common to find the gentles 

 blown by the fish up the shank of the hook, and often an 

 inch or two up the gut. Now, when you are using very fine 

 gut, to have to tear the gentle off it time after time is cal- 

 culated to wear and fray the gut, which, as it is often drawn 

 gut, is especially liable to such injury ; and when one is using 

 two gentles, the one blown up is usually comparatively un- 

 injured, and might be drawn back on the hook with advantage, 

 the gentle at the point being the only one renewed. A good 

 deal of trouble in rebaiting is thus often saved, which in 

 very cold weather, and when the fish are biting rapidly, is 

 very desirable. To facilitate the return of the gentle, it is 

 advisable to take two or three turns of the trying silk on the 

 gut above the shank, and this also preserves the gut at the 

 very point it is most liable to injury. The constant wear and 

 tear of the binding in roach hooks, renders it necessary that 

 the tying should be well varnished, and that the hooks should 

 be prepared some time before use, that the varnish may be 

 thoroughly dry, hard, and impenetrable. Always use the 

 very neatest tackle which you can afford for roach* Let 



