Fish and Fishing in America. 



187 



of the shiners. These old fellows, be- 

 cause of their apparent unsociability, 

 were irreverently dubbed ' curmud- 

 geons ' by my witty school-girl compan- 

 ion, but she was astonished that same 

 evening at the hotel on hearing one of 

 them sing, with great pathos and sweet- 

 ness, that fine old Scotch song, ' Lovely 

 yoimg Jessie, the flower of Dumblain ' — 

 the young lady bears herself the sweet 

 name of Jessie." 



I have been somewhat puzzled to 

 identify the typical fish among the many 

 so-called " roaches " of American w^aters. 

 Several of the recognized chubs have 

 the local name of " roach," and the three 

 names — chub, roach, dace — are used 

 very generally for one and the same 

 fish, but the roach of my boyhood out- 

 ings was the fish now most commonly 

 called the golden shiner or bream, and I 

 find, from investigation, that this is the 

 fish that Norris, and other early Ameri- 

 can writers on angling, designated as 

 the roach. In appearance it resembles 

 more the bream of Europe, and it bears 

 that name generally among the resident 

 fishermen south of the vState of Mary- 

 land. It ranges from New England to 

 Minnesota and southward, and grows to 

 a foot in length and a weight of one 

 and a half pounds, and, as will be seen 

 by the drawing given, it resembles the 

 shad in shape, and may be readly 

 known by its long anal fin, which 

 contains from thirteen to fifteen 

 rays. 



Abramis crysoleiicas is the scientific 

 name of the roach — abrauns, an old 

 term for the bream, and the specific 

 name from two Greek w^ords signif3'ing 

 " gold " and " white." It is of a beauti- 

 ful green color on the upper parts of 

 the body, with silvery sides and bright 

 golden reflections ; th6 fins are yellow- 

 ish, and the tops of the lower ones 

 slightly orange in breeding males. In 



the rivers of the South Atlantic States, 

 where it is abundant, a varietal form 

 occurs, Abramis crysolcucas bosci, 

 which also growls to a length of twelve 

 inches, but may be known from the 

 typical fish described above by its larger 

 scales and longer anal fin. Its color is 

 pale olive with a silvery luster, and its 

 dorsal fin is short and shaped like a 

 sickle. Another form, y^. gardoiieus, is 

 said by Jordan and Evermann to be 

 probably a hybrid between y3. crysolcu- 

 cas and some other fish. It has ten dorsal 

 and nine anal rays, and by this peculiarity 

 it can be readily distinguished from the 

 above-named forms, as both of them 

 have eight dorsal and from thirteen to 

 fifteen anal rays. 



Fishing for roach is not indulged in 

 as a pastime by American anglers. It 

 is a boy's fish, one that excites the in- 

 cipient taste for angling during " pin- 

 hook and minny " days. It is unfit to 

 eat until the frost-months set in, and 

 although caught sometimes in quanti- 

 ties, when one is fly-casting for black 

 bass, it is looked upon as a pest. In 

 late October and November it is a good 

 pan-fish, and when taken, as it often is, 

 through the ice, its flesh is savory and 

 fleecy. It should be fished for with 

 extremely light tackle, and the float 

 should be discarded, although every 

 English and American writer on roach- 

 fishing advised, and some of them still 

 do so, that a quill float should be used 

 in roach-fishing, because they assert 

 this fish to be a very delicate biter, a 

 fact which upsets their theory and 

 practice ; all experienced anglers have 

 found that they can " strike " quicker 

 and with greater success on feeling the 

 "pluck" of a fish, than they can after 

 seeing the motion of the float, and that 

 the resistance of the tip of a light, 

 springy rod to the pull of a small fish is 

 no greater, particularly if a good angler 



