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Information on the Roach fish for fishing.
Roach Fish The roach is a handsome fish either in or out of the water. It inhabits many of our deep still rivers, delighting most in quiet waters. It is gregarioixs, keeping in large shoals. It delights in gravelly, sandy, or a kind of slimy marl bottom, under a deep gentle running stream ; in summer they often frequent shallows near the tails of fords, lie under banks among weeds, under the shades of boughs, and at or opposite the mouth of a rivulet or brook, that empties itself into a large river. In winter they like to get into clear, deep, and still waters. The tackle for roach must be fine and strong, a six-feet rod and a five-feet line, a porcupine float, and hooks No. 11 or 12. The bait, gentils, red paste, boiled wheat or malt. The ground bait should be boiled malt or bran mixed with clay, in which are a few dead gentils. In fishing for roach in ponds, chew and throw in white bread, baiting with one large gentil. The hook should be No. G, and the bait either touch the bottom or lie within one inch of it. The season for roach fishing in the Thames begins about the latter end of August and continues through the winter. To London Bridge and among the shipping below it, numbers of roach return in June and July, after having been up the river to spawn, and many of them are taken by means of a strong cord, to which is fastened a leaden weight, more or less, according to the strength of the current ; a foot above this lead a twine twelve feet long is joined to the cord, and to this twine at convenient distances are tied a dozen hair links, with roach hooks at the ends ; these are baited with white snails or periwinkles, the fisherman holds the cord in his hand, and easily feels the biting of the fish, which is a signal to pull up, and frequently five or six are taken at, a haul.
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