148 COARSE FISH. 



roach is a deep, plump, hard-fighting fish, and a 

 summer roach is not to be compared with him for 

 condition or sport. Winter fishing is, therefore, 

 eagerly sought after by the best roach fishers, many 

 refusing to try before September. My early efforts 

 at roach-fishing were conducted under very favour- 

 able circumstances ; I had permission to fish a 

 river in Norfolk where a line was seldom wetted ; 

 the roach were large and plentiful, and the jack in 

 the river were small, very few indeed being ever 

 seen or caught. So large were the roach, that our 

 difficulty was to catch one small enough for a jack- 

 bait ; my grandfather fished the river for over thirty 

 years, both for jack and roach, and the largest 

 jack he ever caught in that stretch of water only 

 weighed a little over eight pounds, while many of 

 the roach weighed a pound and a half, a few going 

 .y^ . . a pound and three-quarters, and a very few 

 of going yet a little over that. I do not remem- 

 roach ^^^ getting one that weighed two pounds ; 

 for, whatever may be said to the contrary, a two- 

 pound roach is rare, even in the best waters in the 

 Kingdom. You may catch thousands of roach 

 before getting one that weighs a pound and three- 

 quarters ; it is all very well to " judge " the Weight, 

 but putting the fish in the scales is very disap- 

 pointing work. Alas ! my Norfolk fishing was 

 recently spoilt for years to come ; the wheel or 

 machinery at the mill " went wrong,'' the water 

 was run down, and all the large fish were killed or 

 poached ; since the catastrophe, I have neither seen 

 nor taken a single large roach there. 



It is astonishing how difficult it is to find out 

 fishing ; there is a little village in Norfolk called 

 Heacham, being the station before Hunstanton is 



