CHAPTER XII. 



TEE RUDD. 



Habits and Haunts — TacMe and Baits — Flies and Fly -fishing. 



DOUBT if there is a more handsome coarse 



fisli than the rudd — 



A kind of roach all tinged with gold, 



Strong, broad, and thick, most lovely to behold, 



as an old writer hath it. E-udd differ from 

 roach in being deeper, more glorious in 

 colouring — resplendent with silver, orange, 

 gold, and red — in the under lip projecting, 

 while that of the roach overhangs; and in the position of the 

 dorsal fin, which begins on the back, slightly behind the anal 

 fin, while in the roach the dorsal fin is almost over the anal fin. 

 The tail is more forked than that of the roach. It has been sup- 

 posed — wrongly, I believe — that rudd are hybrids between roach 

 and bream. 



Rudd sometimes attain a weight of 41b., but are not often 

 caught over IJlb. in English waters. Fishing with a fly one 

 summer's morning in Lough Derg, I had the good fortune to 

 take twenty-nine rudd, which weighed exactly 291b., and among 

 them were several varying from 2|lb. to 31b. Rudd are called 

 roach in Ireland. They are widely distributed in the United 

 Kingdom, breed prodigiously fast in ponds and lakes, and are 

 also found in many rivers. They are plentiful in the Norfolk 

 Broads, Slap ton Ley, several Irish lakes, and in many ponds. 

 There are some in the Thames, but that river cannot suit 

 them, as they do not seem to increase. 



