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THE Roach is not looked on as any delicate Fish at all; if there be any thing prizable, it is his Spawn.
The Roach is a very silly fish, being every whit as simple as the Carp is crafty. They are more to be esteemed which are found in Rivers than in Ponds, although those that breed in the latter are of a much larger size; yet the Thames below Bridge abounds with very large fat Roach, such as I may confidently affirm exceed in magnitude all others either in Ponds or Rivers.
The Roach is a Leather-mouth'd-fish, having his Teeth (as I said before) in his Throat, as all Leather-mouth'd Fish have.
In April the Cads or Worms are proper Baits to angle for Roaches; in Summer fish for them with small white Snails or Flies: but note, they must be under water, for he will not bite at the top. Or, take a May-fly, and with a Plumb sink it where you ima∣gine Roaches lie, whether in deep water, or near the Posts and Piles either or Bridge or Wear having so done, do not hastily, but gently pull your Fly up, and you will see the Roach (if any there) pu sue and take it near the rim of the water lest by flight it should escape.
In Autumn you may fish for them with Paste onely made of the crums of sine White-bread, moulded with a little water and the labour of your hands into a tough Paste, colour'd not very deep with Red-Lead, with which you may mix a little sine Cotten or Lint, and a little Butter; these last will make it hold on and not wash off your Hook. With which you must fish with much circumspection, or you lose your bait. In like manner in Winter you may angle for Roach with Paste; but Gentles are then the better bait.
Take these next Observations experimentally tried by some of us, viz. There is another excellent bait either so: Winter or Summer, and that is this: Take an handful of well dried Malt, and put it into a Dish of Water, and then having grubbed and washed it betwixt our hands till it be clean and free from Husks, put that water from it, and having put it into a little fresh water, set it over a gentle Fire, and let it boil till it be pretty fest; then pour the Water from it, and with a sharp Knife, turning the sprout-end of the Corn upward, take off the back-part of the Husk with the point of your Knife, leaving a kind of inward
Husk on the Corn, or else you spoil all: then cut off a little of the sprout-end, that the white may appear, and also a very little of the other end for the Hook to enter. When you make use of this bait, cast now and then a little of it into the water; and then, if your Hook be small and good, you will find it an ex∣cellent bait either for Roach or Dace.
Another good bait is the young brood of Wasps or Bees, if you dip their Heads in Blood. So is the thick blood of a Sheep being half dried on a Trencher, and then cut into such small pieces as will best fit your Hook: a little Salt will keep it from turning black, and make it the better.
Or you may take a handful or two of the largest and best Wheat you can get, boil it in a little Milk till it be soft, then fry it gently with Honey and a little beaten Saffron dissolved in Milk.
The Roach spawns about the middle of May; and the general baits by which he is caught are these: small white Snails, Bobs, Cad-baits, Sheeps blood, all sorts of Worms, Gnats, Wasps, Paste, and Cherries.
The way of fishing for Roach at London-Bridge is after this manner: In the Moneths of June, and Ju∣ly, there is great resort of those Fish to that place, where those that make a trade of it take a strong Cord, at the end whereof is fastned a three-pound weight; a foot above the Lead they fasten a Pack∣thread of twelve foot long to the Cord, and unto the Packthread at convenient distances they add a dozen strong Links of Hair with Roach-Hooks at them, bait∣ed with a white Snail of Perriwinkle; then holding the Cord in their Hands, the biting of the Fish draweth the Packthread, and the Packthread the Cord, which admonisheth them them what to do: whereby some∣times they draw up half a dozen, sometimes less, but commonly two or three at one draught.