THE ROACH. 147 



best when the water is clear and the fish shy ; he 

 will then find what a wily fish the roach is, and 

 what great skill is required to capture him. The 

 novice has no chance, save by the merest luck, of 

 making a better bag than an experienced hand 

 fishing under similar conditions. Nicety of striking, 

 adjustment of tackle, baits, and methods of baiting, 

 the knowledge of groundbaits, the play of fish, &c., 

 can only be acquired by long practice ; therefore 

 let no one despise roach-fishing or fishers ; many 

 study roach-fishing for a lifetime, and then con- 

 sider there is a little " something " more to learn 

 even when very old age compels them to abandon 

 the sport. My very happiest recollections of an- 

 gling are of roach-fishing ; my first lessons were 

 from my grandfather, when I was quite a child ; 

 and the success the old gentleman met with, 

 and his earnest and kindly endeavours to in- 

 struct me in the art tended to make me an enthusi- 

 astic angler at a very early age. Before I was ten 

 years old, I had caught hundreds of roach, many 

 of them on single hair lines ; and now, after 

 Thames trouting, chubbing, or what not, I gladly 

 welcome the autumn and winter roach-fishing, for 

 there is nothing more enjoyable in angling than a 

 really good day with the roach in the later season, 

 when the fish are in prime condition. If ever we 

 have a new Act'regulating the close season, close 

 it would be well to allow roach-fishing in the *™e 

 Thames till the end of March, but to prohibit it 

 till the middle or end of July. Some of the best 

 roach-fishing is lost by closing the season on the 

 15 th of March, while the roach that are taken in 

 June are not worth catching, being mostly rough, 

 riabby, and out of condition. A winter or spring 



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