MUSINGS OF A BUSH RIDE 67 



never to be lost ; it requires a dexterous hand to pilot 

 a dace safely out of a rapid current that is to say, 

 a dace of two or three to the pound. 



And the dace is deserving of respect because it will 

 honestly take the fly. True, the roach does so too, 

 occasionally ; but the dace, any time between June and 

 September, rises regularly. We used to get them in 

 the Colne considerably over Ib. in weight, and an 

 afternoon's perseverance and a little wading would, in 

 favourable weather, put from twenty to thirty fish 

 into your basket. But it is questionable whether this 

 can be done now. Many a pleasant evening have I 

 spent by Thames-side, beginning at Ham Lane and 

 working upwards, or crossing the river below Richmond 

 bridge ; fishing always with fine tackle and a black 

 gnat somewhere on the footline. 



The finest bit of sport I had with dace was in a mill 

 stream a couple of miles out of Norwich. It was 

 specially welcome because quite unexpected. We were 

 on a pike-fishing excursion, and the fly rod was put 

 into the dog-cgrt to provide bait for the party. The 

 great mill wheel was revolving, and the pool swirling and 

 foaming, when we arrived, and a few small fish could 

 be detected in the shallow water. The general outlook 

 was not inviting, but the apparatus was put together 

 on the chance of things proving better than they looked. 

 Chance favoured us. The first cast produced a dace 

 on each hook, and in a quarter of an hour I had whipped 

 out a good supply of bait for the trollers and spinners. 

 So long as the dace were rising all the pike in the river 

 could not tempt me to accompany them. I stuck to 

 the whipping, and only left off when I was too tired 

 to wield the rod any more. 



But enough. It would not be difficult to call up 

 best-day memories of gudgeon, of bleak, and even 



