158 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



very large one carefully put on one side as a " weigher in 

 for the specin^n dace prize. Dace are found in swifter, shal- 

 lower water as a rule than roach, although they are very often 

 taken with the roach ; indeed, I question if an angler fishing 

 in a roach swim on the Trent can make a bag of roach 

 without there being a dace or two with them. In the 

 months of May, June, and July, dace are found on the 

 shallow streams, the eddies by the side of a swift stream, in 

 the water at a mill-tail, over a bank of weeds, or in the 

 streams from a weir ; and they are there sometimes in very 

 great numbers, and may be caught with a cad bait or a 

 gentle. As the summer advances and the days begin to 

 shorten the dace retire into deeper swims, and are then 

 caught almost exclusively by bottom fishing. Sometimes 

 they get into a barbel swim, and will insist on swallowing a 

 big bait intended for the barbel, and it has often struck me 

 as being strange that a little fish like the dace can get such 

 a big bait and large hook in his mouth. When a swim is 

 baited for barbel and no barbel are attracted therein, the 

 dace get possession, and the angler has a fine time of it, for 

 dace can take the barbel hook and bait. This question was, 

 however, discussed in the chapter on barbel. 



Dace fishing is a branch of sport that is a good deal 

 followed by many Nottingham anglers, indeed some of them 

 make a speciality of it and are very successful ; using cad 

 baits and gentles during the early summer, tail end of lob 

 during the autumn, and cockspurs and red worms during the 

 winter, fishing for them during the hot weather in the shal- 

 lowish streams that run moderately fast, and ground-baiting 

 with gentles or lob-worms clipped up very small. A good 

 place for dace down the lower Trent is in a nice little shallow 

 eddy by the side of a rattling current ; although I have 

 found them in all sorts of swims and places. It will only 

 be a repetition and a waste of time to give any instructions 

 in dace fishing, as the general directions in the chapter on 

 roach are about the same in stream fishing for dace. 



During the winter the dace pass into the deep quiet holes, 

 and are then caught with the roach, fishing with cockspur 

 worms. They spawn early in April, and for a week or two 



