ALTHOUGH THE dace is a river fish which likes to dart through the fast-flowing upper layers of water, the biggest I have ever come across were in a stillwater. To be exact, they were at Llandegfedd Reservoir, the Welsh home of the British pike record, and they averaged a whopping 10oz (280g), which by all accounts is specimen size. These fish probably came from the nearby River Usk and they illustrate the adaptability of the smallest of our ‘serious’ coarse fish.Dace can be found anywhere in the river system from the fast, bubbling, upper brook stretches downwards, although they do prefer clear, clean, oxygenated water. Although dace are quite roach-like at first sight, you can distinguish them quite easily. Dace have yellow eyes, rather than the red eyes of the roach, and their bodies are slimmer and their heads narrow and pointed - streamlined to cope with the power of fast-flowing water. Small chub also look a bit like dace, but chub and dace of the same length can easily be told apart by looking at the chub’s mouth. It is twice as large and boasts a strong pair of rubbery lips. Tactics
Swim selection is easy in summer, as you can usually see shoals of dace in the clear water just by wearing a pair of polarized glasses, which cut out surface glare. In these circumstances it pays to move some way upstream and fish at a distance, because if you are able to see the fish, they can see you too. On days when you cannot see any fish, choose well-oxygenated swims, such as weirpools or river confluences. Where there are no such obvious features, pick a swim where a deep hole is beginning to shallow off; these are classic swims as food will naturally build up on the bottom, attracting fish. Dace have small mouths, and although the bigger fish will gobble up a lobworm or a big piece of breadflake without any trouble, a safer bet is to fish maggot or caster, loosefeeding little and often to keep the fish interested. | TACKLING UP
A 13ft (4m) waggler rod coupled with a fixed-spool or closed-face reel loaded with 2lb (0.9kg) line is ideal. The float size depends on the depth and speed of flow (a No 4 stick float would be a good starting point) and hooks should be fine wire in sizes 18-22. |
The real key to success is in the presentation of the bait, as dace are fast-biting fish and are equally quick to drop a bait once they feel any resistance. This makes them a worthy adversary despite their lack of size.The best, and most rewarding, way of fishing for dare is to use a stick float attached both top and bottom. Set the rig at around a foot (30cm) in excess of the depth of your swim and string out No 8s shot equally down the line in what is termed ‘shirt button’ fashion. This shotting pattern is vital, as it creates a steady, slow, natural-looking descent of the bait through the water. The way to make the most of this method is to cast in so that the rig lands in a straight line beyond the float, and then to hold back hard against the flow of the river. You are trying to fool the fish into thinking that your hookbait is just another item of loosefeed, so expect the bait to be
intercepted on the way down and expect bites to be fast. Be ready to strike at any movement; the float may only shudder slightly, but rest assured that a fish has taken hold of your bait. A similar presentation can be achieved in slowflowing or still water with a bottom-end-only waggler float, but in medium to fast-flowing water, the stick float is essential as this gives you far more control over the behaviour of the hook bait. |
