VI. 
ROACH AND RUDD. 
I HAVE just been indulging in an hour’s delicious 
laziness, dreamily watching a shoal of silvery- 
sided roach rising and falling towards the warm 
sunlight. It is hard to understand why anglers 
should call the roach a “coarse” fish, as he 1s 
a very Beau Brummel of the waters. Coarse 
he may be as compared with salmon and trout, 
but in no other sense. The character of the 
fish in the water is in keeping with his aristo- 
cratic appearance out of it. All his movements 
are slow and studied. Whatever he does he 
does gracefully, He is never in a hurry, and 
rarely commits himself. Jsaak Walton says you 
may take notice that, as the carp is accounted 
the water-fox for cunning, so the roach is ac- 
counted the water-sheep for his simplicity or 
foolishness. For our part, we have never found 
the roach as stupid as he is reputed. Let your 
float be too big or too brightly coloured, too near 
the bottom or the top, your bait not to his taste, 
