CARP, DACE AND MINNOW. 429 
Lenciscus rutilus, the Plotze 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 other 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 popularity 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 erythrophthalmus, 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. 
