206 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Of Roach and Dace, and how to fish for them ; and of Cadis. 



Venator. Good Master, as we go now towards London, be still 

 so courteous as to give me more instructions ; for I have several 

 boxes in my memory, in which I will keep them all very safe, 

 there shall not one of them be lost. 



Pisc. Well, Scholar, that I will ; and I will hide nothing from 

 you that I can remember, and can think may help you forward 

 towards a perfection in this art: and because we have so much 

 time, and I have said so little of roach and dace, I will give you 

 some directions concerning them. 



Some say the roach* is so called from rutilis, which, they say, 

 signifies red fins : he is a fish of no great reputation for his dainty 

 taste, and his spawn is accounted much better than any other 

 part of him. And you may take notice, that as the carp is ac- 

 counted the water-fox, for his cunning : so the roach is accounted 

 the water-sheep, for his simplicity or foolishness. It is noted that 

 the roach and dace recover strength, and grow in season, in a 

 fortnight after spawning ; the barbel and chub in a month : the 

 trout in four months : and the salmon in the like time, if he gets 

 into the sea, and after into fresh water. 



Roaches be accounted much better in the river than in a pond, 

 though ponds usually breed the biggest. But there is a kind of 



• The roach {Cyprinus Bntilus of Linnaeus and Cuvier) derives his scien- 

 tific name from the shining redness of his fins. Though Walton charac- 

 terizes him as a foolish fish, the later English books on Angling say that he 

 requires as much skill in the taking as larger fish. Many angle for this 

 fish only, and the finer the tackle the better is the chance of success, so that 

 the best amateurs use only a single hair at the hook. The roach has at- 

 tained to five pounds' weight, but they are generally not a quarter of that 

 size. Those in this country are small, and utterly unworthy the angler's 

 attention, except sometimes as baits for larger fish. — Mm. Ed. 



