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Targeting dace next river season


tiddlertamer

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I must confess I spent nearly all of the last river season caught up with cycling training ... until with a week to go before the end of the season I ventured out to the River Avon near Salisbury... and how I missed it...

And whilst I,caught bigger fish on the day, the 11 ounce dace, a new personal best, was the most rewarding.

I've decided to get back onto the river bank again next season and target a new dace personal best.

I believe some of the people that use this site - Chris Plumb take a bow - have caught dace over a pound. Respect.

Whilst some anglers disdain dace, they surely are the smallest but pluckiest fish species that anglers enjoy catching.

 

I don't expect any details on swims. LOL!

But any advice on which stretches of southern rivers throw up good specimens and tips on tactics would be appreciated.

I tend to use trotted double red maggot with a fixed spool reel. Way to go?

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days without taking a fish. (Hemingway - The old man and the sea)

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I love dace. My biggest is 10oz which looked big, a pound+ dace must look other-worldly. I doubt very much I'll ever see one. In fact, I know I won't!

 

There's a small river near me with some good dace fishing. Autumn seems to be the best time, as long as there's water in the river. That shouldn't be a problem this year, but lack of water for the previous few years is what's kept me from it. Hopefully the dace are still there, I'm looking forward to going back this season.

 

TT, if you fancy a day or two there once the rivers open, let me know :)

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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I too have a new found respect for this little species and have spent a good number of hours on the Kennet being outwitted by them. As regards locations it’s unfortunate that the best dace stretches are estate game fisheries with only privileged access (no access in most cases). Barton Court day ticket water is flanked by two such venues both of which are capable of producing 1lb fish but BC itself doesn’t seem to have the same potential anymore which is very frustrating, it wouldn’t take much a for a few of the larger specimens to cross boundaries surely.

 

All is not lost however, I can still find great sport on one of my TAA club stretches so as with Anderoo if you do decide to make the journey let me know and I’ll arrange a guest ticket. You can crash at my place to avoid travelling back and get a full day’s fishing.

It's never a 'six', let's put it back

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Excellent book, very much essential reading if you are going to be chasing dace next season....good luck !

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TT - owing to an injury (tennis elbow) to my left elbow, I spent last year targeting the dace on the Kennet - I couldn't net anything bigger!

 

So I spent many a happy afternoon up to my rude bits on the TAA waters trotting for them off a pin - all the fish coming to hand, so no net needed. My biggest is 12oz which is a huge fish (caught on a fly) and I take my hat off to anyone who has topped the magic 16ozs. I have found a couple of venue's in Hampshire that meet Rusty's criteria (trout streams) which I plan to fish next autumn mainly for roach, but I suspect will turn up decent dace and grayling.

 

I find that a pin is an easier tool to use than a fixed spool as you've got better control - but I use a 506 on the navigable parts of the Kennet which aren't so pacey. I also find that the navigable parts of the kennet produce more and larger Dace than the streamier bits - for me anyway. My methods are nothing special, stick float, bulk shotted about 18" from the hook and a 4 about 6" from the hook - double red maggot on a 14/16 hook - 18/20 in the winter and I find that I get the best results holding back (really hard in the winter - an inch at a time) and I've invested in a 14" rod to help with this - the extra foot makes all the distance. I feed mag and a pinch of hemp at least every cast but cut back in really cold weather.

 

Anywhere along the kennet is worth a punt, also check out some of the clubs with water on the hampshire avon, or the frome or the stour - such as salisbury and district.

 

Hope that helps.

 

M

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I catch my dace trotting too, on my little stream (a fast flowing tributary of the Thames) they prefer the shllow, gravelly, pacy water - often bits that are shallow enough for me to stand in the middle in just wellies! Pods of fish hold up in little depressions, and trotting a maggot or two down the fast water with a pin is a lovely way to catch them. The odd trout and chub can liven things up a bit on light gear, but I find dace a really hard fighters anyway. Imagine if they grew to 5lb!

 

I'm looking forward to the little rivers again this year :)

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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I'm lucky as far as dace fishing goes, the rivers round here have a good head of them and i've caught lots of very nice specimines. To be honest though, they do bore me to tears after a short spell, they just don't put enough bend in the rod for me. Trotting with a pin is my favourite method :).

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I think the Avon is the best bet of my local rivers. Not that long ago the Frome had plenty of good dace but in the last two years I haven't seen a single one which considering I've fished it since 1970 is alarming, even in 2009 I was catching a fair few to 10oz. In the early 70s it had incredible dace fishing though I had too little experience to take advantage of the best of the dace fishing; one group of London anglers had a match one day with 8" size limit and a top weight of 56lbs, bottom weight 20lbs. In later years I had catches to 50lbs with fish to 14oz and won the Wareham cup many times always with fish around 11.5oz. There were odd 1lb dace in those 1970s days something I've yet to get though have heard a few tales claiming such but unauthenticated. As for the Piddle; lucky to find a dace in there now, yet I had many huge catches from it in the 70s, again to 50lbs. The Stour has gone down the same pan; a fair few small ones from below Wimborne but even 8oz ones at a premium on the tidal. I hope to find them this summer but we'll see. The fantastic dace fishing of the middle Avon has largely gone apart from odd sidestreams and Britford is one of the better places.

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Hi TT - welcome back - long time no see! I think most of its been covered by the above! I'm fortunate enough to have had 7, 1lb+ dace in my angling 'career' - so not quite Dennis Flack levels of big dace but pretty pleasing all the same. 5 of those were from a venue where I no longer get access to (and 3 of them including a pb of 1-02 on the same day!) I remember my 1st one like it was yesterday - from the lower reaches of the River Lambourn back in Jan 1989 - I well remember being completely shocked by the size of it (a 1lb dace is a foot long!)

 

The dace book is well worth getting - I learnt loads about the species by reading it - and don't believe everything you hear about Barton Court - I know some years back a well known angler claiming BIG 1lb+ dace from BC when in fact they were caught downstream (I even know the swim). Having said that it should have the potential for them - Paul and I caught big dace last winter (11/12) 'just' below BC....;)

 

C.

"Study to be quiet." ><((º> My Blog

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