CARP, DACE AND MINNOW 



429 



Leuciscii-, rutilus, the Plotzc of the Germans, and the Rosse of the 

 French. 



THE EUROPEAN ROACH OR RED DACE, 



" The Roach," said Piscator, " is a fish of no great reputation for his 

 dainty taste ; and his spawn is accounted much better than any part of 

 him. And you may take notice, that as the Carp is accounted the water- 

 fox for his cunning, so the Roach is accounted the water-sheep for his 

 simplicity or foolishness." 



It has, however, gained in ])opularity in England since the days of 

 Walton. "The Book of the Roach," by Greville Fennell, is one of the 

 standard works, and William Senior ("Red-spinner") has written an 

 essay upon " Roach-fishing as a Fine Art,"* which is commended to all 

 who go-a-fishing for cyprinoids in American waters, for the methods 

 described by him will apply to many of our fishes. 



Senior thinks that Roach-fishing requires special qualifications of mind 

 and heart. " I am acquainted," writes he, "with many rich and poor, 

 learned and ignorant, somebodies and nobodies, who have a passionate 

 attachment for the pursuit. The higher kinds of rod-and-line work have 

 no joys for them. Give them their camp-stool and Roach rod over the 

 dark waters that move slowly above a clear bed, and they ask no more." 



The " Rudd or Red-eye" of England, Scardinius erythrophthabnus, the 

 Rothauge or Rotengle, is a rather important fish, resembling the Roach 

 in its habits, and used by English pond culturists to stock new-made 

 waters with bait for pike, and by those of Germany in feeding trout 

 and pike perch. 



* See "The Badminton Library," p. 343. 



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