138 ANGLING 



very small onej a bit of quill an inch long is quite 

 sufficient. One small shot, No. 7, will sink the gut 

 without drawing down the float, and this timid fish will 

 be unable to distinguish it from a straw on the surface 

 of the water. 



Morning and evening are the best parts of the day 

 for roach-fishing in the ordinary way ; but the angler 

 who uses flies, alive, or dead, or artificial, will find all 

 hours of the day pretty much alike. The Londoners 

 angle for this fish with tackle of the finest possible 

 description — even with lines made of a single horse-hair ; 

 and many of them are very clever and successful 

 performers with this frail material. But where is the 

 good of it 1 Gut is fine enough, and the roach that 

 breaks it, when in the hands of a skilful rod-fisher, 

 must be of extraordinary dimensions. 



Ground-bait is recommended for this fish ; but when 

 fishing for him with flies or insects of any kind, this is 

 entirely unnecessary. 



There is a fish of the roach species called in England 

 the E.T7DD, which is very numerous in many Continental 

 waters. It is called in France the Egach-Carp. 

 "Walton is inclined to think the rudd lies between the 

 roach and the bream. Other writers consider it to be a 

 distinct fish altogether ; but the probability is that it is 

 a true cross between the roach and the carp. In France 

 this fish attains to a great size. He is mostly found in 

 the fosses round fortified towns. He may be angled for 

 in precisely the same manner as for the roach. 



Note to Chapter X 



Blakey scarcely does justice to the chub as a usefal fish for the 

 fly-fisher, nor does he put its maximum weight high enough. A 

 four-pound chub is of course not caught every day, but fish of 

 five, six, and seven pounds are frequently taken in our British 

 waters. They are of little use when taken ; but there are numbers 

 of rivers, such as the Thames, Midland Ouse, Severn, and Trent, 

 where exciting sport is found in the summer by dropping down 

 stream in a canoe drifting quietly at some twenty yards parallel 



