23T 



Dace swim together in immense shoals, often covering 

 extensive shallows where the water is clear, and rather 

 gentle ; or laying on the scours, where they snap at 

 every tiling that falls into the water. 



Hence they are easily taken with the fly ; for which 

 purpose you may have a stretcher made of a red-spinner, 

 or a very small double-winged fly ; and two, or even 

 three dippers (or droppers) at about a yard, or less, from 

 each other, die whole on a good tapering gut line, which 

 should be thrown so that the flies, especially the stretcher 

 (or end fly) may light in the water (but without the 

 smallest splash or agitation), a foot or two above where 

 you perceive the leading fishes to lay. 



I have paid great attention to this point, and have found 

 that the leading fishes, by which I mean such as lay at 

 the head of the shoal, are, for the most part, the largest 

 and keenest. When they have declined my fly, it has 

 always been a bad omen j for I generally found the rest 

 treat it with indifference j or, if they did approach, it 

 was so deliberately, as to convince me they did not intend 

 to bite. 



The best flies for dace, at all seasons, I have found to 

 be the small black ant-fly, or the gnat-fly, on .a hook 

 No. 8, or No. p. Your single droppers must be on 

 short pieces of gut, not more than three inches in length ; 

 so as not to entangle on your line, as they would inevi- 

 tably do if longer : loop them on above knots ; which 

 ''should always be well tied down., with very fine dark 

 brown silk, properly waxed. 



You will sometimes find the very large dace in the 

 deep strong waters, among the gravlings, and trouts : 

 in such places they bite very sharp, and struggle with 



great 



