Piscator. 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 rutilus, 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 accounted 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 bastard small
Roach, that breeds in ponds, with a very forked tail, and of a very small
size; which some say is bred by the Bream and right Roach; and some
ponds are stored with these beyond belief; and knowing-men, that know
their difference, call them Ruds: they differ from the true Roach, as
much as a Herring from a Pilchard.
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