Izaak Walton

“ And to take the Roach and Dace, a good bait is the young brood of
wasps or bees, if you dip their heads in blood; especially good for
Bream, if they be baked, or hardened in their husks in an oven, after the
bread is taken out of it; or hardened on a fire-shovel: and so also is the
thick blood of sheep, being half dried on a trencher, that so you may cut
into such pieces as may best fit the size of your hook; and a little salt
keeps it from growing black, and makes it not the worse, but better: this
is taken to be a choice bait, if rightly ordered. ”

“ 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 ”

“ But when you fish with it, you must have a small hook, a quick
eye, and a nimble hand, or the bait is lost, and the fish too; if one may
lose that which he never had. With this paste you may, as I said, take
both the Roach and the Dace or Dare; for they be much of a kind, in
manner of feeding, cunning, goodness, and usually in size. And
therefore take this general direction, for some other baits which may
concern you to take notice of: they will bite almost at any fly, but
especially at ant-flies ”