26 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



or it is not manageable, as quick striking is the order of the 

 day with this very nimble fish. The flies should always be 

 dressed upon as large hooks as the angler can afford to dress 

 them on, as the fish rising often in very sharp streams are 

 apt to break off from any slight hold. In the eddies of a 

 sharpish stream, over a shallow, by the side of a bank of 

 weeds is a sure find for them. Choose for your sport a day 

 that is cloudy and warm, and without much wind ; as if 

 there be much wind you cannot see the rises, and when you 

 feel them it is too late to strike dace, as they reject the fly 

 with great quickness ; hence the use of the gentle, or bacon 

 rind, to make them retain their hold. They are very quick 

 of sight, and on a too sunny day the angler will experience 

 the disappointment of seeing fish after fish, and often two or 

 three at a time, follow his fly for yards without taking it ; 

 when this is the case, try a smaller fly and finer tackle, and 

 don't forget the bacon or gentle. 



All the methods, and arts, and tackle, recommended for 

 catching roach, are applicable to dace, and the hooks are of 

 a similar size, only as the dace is rather more carnivorous, 

 the angler will find worms, greaves, and gentles preferable 

 to farinaceous food ; and although roach and dace for the 

 most part bite in the same swims, yet, if the angler desires 

 more particularly to fish for dace, he must choose a rather 

 swifter and heavier swim ; dace bite rather quicker and 

 sharper than roach, and the slow suck down, that so often 

 betrays a good roach, is not so common in dace-fishing. One 

 good plan of attracting small dace is to rake the bottom, as 

 in gudgeon-fishing, when little or no ground-bait will be 

 needed. 



When fly-fishing for dace, be cautious and quiet, as they 

 are easily alarmed, and a slight wave, or unusual ripple on 

 the water, will instantly stop their rising. There is no bait 

 so good for taking dace as a red worm, or the tail of a small 

 lob worm ; next to that, I give the preference to gentles and 

 greaves. 



Dace are a troublesome fish to get into a trout stream, 

 as their habits and food being similar to that of the trout, they 

 take much of the food from the trout, and being a restless 

 hardy fish, and, moreover, in the height of condition when 

 the trout are spawning, they pick up a vast quantity of the 

 eggs shed by the trout, and owing to these and other causes 

 they soon considerably outnumber and override the trout. 



