21. 
THE EISTIING GAZETTE 
[January 11, 1893 
'J'HE BOOK OF THE IlOACIT. 
Ry the Late John Gkeville Fennell. 
Kdited and Revised by John Bickebdyke. 
{^Continued from page T.OS). 
CHAPTER VII. 
FI.SHING TN THE LE.A—TACKLE, GROUN'I) HATT, ETC.— 
tidal waters—NORFOLK BROADS—1‘ONU FISHING 
— FLY-FISHING FOR ROACH—THE NOTTINGHAM 
STYLE. 
[Fishing in the Lea. —The method of roach 
fishing, which may have originated on the Lea, 
and still is often called the Lea style, is now 
followed by roach fishers all over the country. It 
must be one of the oldest forms of angling still 
extant, for its peculiarity lies in the absence of 
running tackle. Fierce and terrible wordy war¬ 
fare sometimes rages between the advocates of 
the Nottingham and the Lea methods. 1 ven¬ 
ture to assert that neither style is better than 
the other, but that each is suited to particular 
kinds of swims. With the Lea tackle, in which 
the float is kept just under the point of the rod, 
the slightest bite can be observed, and can be 
followed by the quickest possible strike. Un¬ 
doubtedly, therefore, this method is the better, if 
the water is not very rapid and of such a depth 
that the shadow of the rod on the water is un¬ 
noticed by the fish. But if the swim be shallow, and 
the water more or less clear, then it is obviously 
of the greatest importance to be as far from the 
fish as may be reasonably possible, and this the 
Trent method enables one to do. The Trent 
angler will catch roach out of swims in 
which the Lea fisherman would rightly 
consider it useless to fish; but on the 
other hand, in a deep, quiet swim, a good 
Lea fisherman will catch many more fish 
than the man from the Trent. There¬ 
fore to discuss which is the better 
method borders on the ridiculous. Both 
methods are most artistic, and require 
considerable skill, and each has its 
appropriate occasions.—J. B.] 
The Rod.—“ The rod for the purpose 
of Lea roach fishing should be made ex¬ 
pressly, and kept exclusively for this 
sport. The material should be cane, or 
very light bamboo, it should not be more 
than fourteen feet long, the whole not 
weighing many ounces.* It should be 
when in use as but one piece, and so 
constructed that it shall be very stiff, 
and yet very pliable. The superiority 
of such a rod Yvill be seen in many 
respects. . First, it will be very light in 
the hand, and with it you will be able to “ ^ 
strike your fish with the greatest quick- than the 
ness and precision. Secondly, when 
you strike, it will not break your hair line, as a 
heavy one would be likely to do; and thirdly, 
when you have hooked your fish, it will sc give 
to its pulling that your line will not break, though 
it should be a roach of the greatest weight they 
Fun.”— The Rev. Jas. Marlin, in his time the king 
of river Lea anglers. 
Lea Fishing. — The following instructions 
from “Martin’s Angler’s Guide” (1854), in refer¬ 
ence to Lea roach fishing, are so good, and agree 
so thoroughly with our own notions and experi¬ 
ence, that we cannot do better than transcribe 
them. 
“ Suppose that you have the proper tackle, and 
have made the ground bait, you go to the place 
where you intend to fish. Don’t stand over and 
look into it, to see if you can perceive any fish, 
neither let any other person do so, if you can help 
it; lor very often, by acting thus imprudently— 
especially if the bank be high and the water clear 
you will drive all the roach out of the swim, 
and it may be a considerable time before you 
entice them back again. Having pitched upon 
your place, go to it cautiously and quietly, and 
immediately take your seat, and if the ground be 
damp take care to have a piece of cork or board j 
to sit on.f Being seated, put your rod together, 
beginning with the top joints ; then loop on your 
* Spanish roed is mucii u.-^ed for Ijcu roach rods, which 
usually made larger than the one mentioned by 
Mr. Martin. I cannot distinguish between “ bamboo ” 
and “ cane.” See Chap. IV.—J. B. j 
t Bank anglers now almost invariably sit on a box ' 
which contains tackle, &c., or a basket made box shape. 
”“J. B, 
line, hook on your plummet, and try the depth, 
and be sure you do it as gently as possible. Vour 
line must be just so long as to allow about 
fifteen inches between the rod point and the 
float. If, therefore, you find it too long, you 
must shorten it, if too short, lengthen it, and in 
no case fish with it in any form and think it will 
do, because it will not. Having your line the 
precise length, and your float in the exact place, 
keep your plummet on, and let your line soak in 
the water [at one side,'away from the swim — 
J. B.] while you make your bait as before 
directed; this is a good plan, because a hair line 
unsoaked is very tender. Your bait being well 
made, take off your plummet, bait your hook, and 
cast in, taking particular notice which way your 
float rides in the water, and then throw in 
your ground bait according to your be.-t 
judgment. Some will throw a lot of ground 
bait in first, and then, when they begin to fish, 
find that they cannot keep the float for a second 
in the place where it is. Let all your movements 
be gentle, neat, and clever; bearing in mind that 
making no disturbance in or about the water, and 
the use of very fine tackle, are most essential. 
In fact, neatness is everything in fishing, 
especially for roach. The bait employed must be 
a gentle,* and the tackle almost of an impercep¬ 
tible nature, and then you will catch them, but 
not under other circumstances. A clumsy 
angler, with a heavy rod, a coarse line and hook, 
a large float, a good parcel of large .shots, and a 
bait nearly as large as the top of your finger, will 
drive all the roach away from him, just as a large 
deep, quiet swim, a good Lea fisherman will catch manj’ more fish 
man from the Trent.” 
dog drives a flock of sheep, notwithstanding the 
very great desire he may have to catch some of 
them. If the fish are on the feed, and ymur 
tackle is rightly adjusted, you will have a bite 
very soon after you begin to fish. Strike the 
moment you see the float affected, letting the 
movement be made with the hand only, from the 
wrist, not from the arm, and turning the point 
of your rod upwards. Don’t wait until you 
think the fish has sw’allowed the bait, because as 
soon as he finds it is attached to something he 
will blow it out of his mouth, unless he be very 
hungry, which is not often the case; and re¬ 
membering that your float cannot be affected by 
him unless he has your bait between his lips. 
Do not forget, also, that the largest fish gene¬ 
rally bite in the most cautious manner. As soon 
as you have hooked a fish, little or big, keep a 
tight line on him, your rod being raised directly 
over him. If he lie large and pull well, don’t be 
afraid of him, for if you keep your rod over 
him he must pull tremendously to break you, 
though your tackle be of such a delicate order. 
Your hair, when well soaked, is elastic, and your 
rod is very pliable, and if your judgment be good 
all his endeavours to get away will be unavailing. 
The grand thing, especially in a young angler, 
is not to be in too great a hurry. Hundreds of 
good fish have been lost for want of a little time 
and patience. Keep your rod over him until he 
is quite still, and if you do not use a landing net, 
lift him out of the water as gently as you 
* “ Mast,” and yet many most successful roach fishers 
use and prefer paste.—J. B. 
possibly can, with the rod in your right hand, 
letting him hang his whole Avoight. Then very 
cautiously swing him to your left hand, and as 
cautiously get him within your grasp, and hold 
him so fast that he shall not stir, while you take 
the hook out of his mouth. All this care is 
really necessary, for if yon pull out (piickly a 
fish of only four or five ounces, and let him 
flounder about in your laji, or on the ground, it 
is ten to one that your hair gets broken long 
before you get the hook out. We have seen it 
done many many times. If your fish is above 
four or five ounces, it is always best to use your 
landing net. Never at any time attempt to lay 
hold of .a fish when it is in the water, neither 
suffer any other person to do so for you ; for in 
that case you will be pretty sure to lo.se j'oiir 
fish, and have your line broken into the bargain. 
[Unless the water is very deep and the line 
between rod point and hook consequently very 
long, it would appear impossible or at any rate 
awkward and difficult to bring the fish witliin 
reach of the landing net when a lengthy roach 
pole is used. The difficulty is overcome by taking 
off the butt of the rod, and if needs be, another 
joint, just before landing the fish.—J. B ]. 
“Always keep your seat while you are killing 
and landing your fish, unless it be upon any 
critical occasion, for rising up suddenly, and 
moving about your,swim, if the water be clear, 
will drive all the fish clean out of it, and you 
may have to wait no little time before they come 
back again.” 
One of our reminiscences of the Lea somewhat 
differs from the above injunctions of a 
close adhesion to one seat, not that we 
in any way advocate other than the 
keeping to one place, provided the roach 
conlinue on the feed, nor do we agree 
with the old veteran that the swim was 
i , %. disturbed at each capture, provided he 
did nothing contrary to the injunctions 
but now so ably set forth. 
Ground-bait. —Old Corbett, a Penin¬ 
sular veteran, used to bring heavy 
baskets of roach from the Lea, and 
finding him upon one occasion at Ware, 
in Hertfordshire, we watched him closely 
from a respectful distance. He was 
seated upon a cane box, made by him¬ 
self, to hold his_tackle in the one half, 
and his fish were dropped through a slit 
in the other, without his having to quit 
his scat. This box he moved from swim 
to swim. “ Why,” we inquired, “ do 
you shift your swim? You have just 
taken a good-sized roach at the last, and 
yet you leave it.” “ Yes, your honour, 
I have five ])itches here within thirty 
yards, and I always make it a rule to 
to another swim after taking a fish.” As 
this was somewhat new to us we asked his 
reason. “ Why, you see, your honour, I have 
ground-baited each of these five swims, and 
I have found by experience that the noise and 
tussle made in landing a fish at one place, 
drives the lot olf, and they go to the others, 
where, if I throw a little fresh ground - bait 
in, I get them about me again.” Upon this 
the veteran cast in a lump of ground-bait, not 
bigger than a hazel-nut, and had scarcely got his 
hook down when he struck, and shortly landed 
another plumper. There was something, we 
thought, odd about this ground-bait; we there¬ 
fore picked up a small piece he had let fall, and 
asked him bluntly what it Avas composed of. He 
frankly told us it was nothing but oatmeal—that 
pollard Avould do—browned over the fire in a 
frying-pan, and then mixed into a paste with 
treacle or molasses. He had learned this from 
his colonel (Williamson), a very expert and suc¬ 
cessful roach fisher, and he found it the most 
attractive ground-bait he had ever used. “ Lord 
bless 3 'ou,” said he, after accepting an ounce of 
birdseye, “ I could tell you lots o’ them dodges I 
learned from Colonel Williamson. I used to go 
a-fishing Avith him wherever we Avere quartered.” 
And he did, certainly, tell us one or two some¬ 
what marvellous things, Avhich Ave must test 
before Ave retail them ; but as they in no wa^' 
concern our especial subject, they can easily be 
dispensed Avith here. 
The best ground-bait, when roach fishing in the 
Lea, is bread and bran. Take about a pound of 
bread of any kind, and soak it in water until it is 
move 
