FISHING FOE KOACH. C9 



they are to be sought for in deeper water. When bottom- 

 fishing for dace, use ground-bait of a hard tough nature. 

 Oatmeal, browned over the fire, mixed with treacle, and 

 then made up into smaU hard balls, I have found the best. 

 In hot weather they bite freest in the morning and evening ; 

 in colder weather in the middle of the day. For practising 

 the young angler in the details of the gentle art, I thiijk 

 dace fishing holds the very highest place, though he does 

 not rank high in the kitchen. 



The EoACH has long been the shy object of the bottom- 

 fisher's art, and roach-fishing demands special skill and 

 special appliances. The line must be of the finest gut, 

 stained to the colour of the water ; the hook must be 

 of the smallest, with a short shank, and whipped with 

 fine silk of a light pink or white colour, and attached to a 

 link of a single hair or very fine gut. The sinkers should 

 be fixed far above the bait, which should be but an inch 

 or two above the level of the ground. The float should be 

 of the lightest quill, and so weighted that only the tip 

 appears above the surface of the water. The rod should 

 be long and light, and those made of Spanish cane are the 

 best I have seen, as they permit the fish to be delicately 

 and promptly struck. When roach-fishing, the water 

 should be plumbed and ground-baited the evening before. 

 If about to fish with paste, the meal ground-bait before de 

 scribed will be the best. The oatmeal and treacle ground- 

 bait, described in dace-fishing, may also be used with efiect 

 when angling, if made into balls of a small size, and thrown 

 near the float. Eoach do not generally lie in rapid streams, 

 but in the autumn months — and they should not be fished 

 for at any other time, as they are out of condition until 

 the middle of July — love the gravelly bed of a softly- 



