254 



MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



.1 



ROACH AND RUDD. 



Roach and Rudd are distinct species— Points of difference and simi- 

 larity. Hybrids amongst fish doubtful. Distinguishing characte- 

 ristics of Roach and Rudd, and how to be identified. A ne^ 'va- 

 riety of Rudd — Habitats of Roach and Rudd. Spawning season. 

 Best baits and ground baits in running and stagnant (waters, and how 

 - to use them. Tackle. Other species of the Roach genus. 



Where Rudd are found it is almost invariably in waters 

 which are also inhabited by Roach (although the con- 

 verse of the proposition by no means holds good), and 

 as the two species closely resemble each other both in 

 habits and in the method of fishing for them, baits, &c., 

 I have bracketed them together. 



Roach and Rudd, indeed, have so many striking 

 points of resemblance that the latter were formerly con- 

 sidered by writers on ichthyology to be a ''bastard 

 Roach," bred betwixt the true Roach and the Bream — 

 an opinion held by, if not originating with, Izaac Walton, 

 who also considered the White Bream or Bream-flat, a 

 cross between the same species. Modern science has, 

 however, exposed the fallacy of this notion, and the three 

 fish are now always recognised as distinct species. 



