36 ANGLING. 



are few trout streams where they are not more or 

 found. In such places they are decidedly a nuisance, and 

 it is desirable that they should be kept down by the net as 

 much as possible, or in time they will interfere with the 

 trout. On the Thames and its tributaries in suitable 

 places dace take the fly well at times, and in a good day 

 the angler may capture several dozen of them. They 

 require quick striking, however ; indeed, many of the most 

 successful fly fishers for dace keep on casting quickly, and 

 strike every time whether they see a rise or no, allowing 

 the fly to dwell but a short time on the water ; for they 

 take and reject the fly very quickly, and have a nasty habit 

 of following the fly without taking it. It is a common 

 practice to tip the fly with a natural gentle or a bit of thin 

 under-rind of bacon, or even a scrap of washleather to 

 make the fish take a better hold. Although the fly should 

 be small, it is as well to have a pretty good-sized hook, as 

 they contrive to get off very often. Any small bright, red, 

 black, blue, or yellow fly does, and a couple of turns 

 of tinsel improves it. 



For float fishing much the same plan must be pursued 

 as is used for roach, though in the summer a shallower and 

 sharper stream will often be found desirable. The dace, 

 too, has less liking for paste and farinaceous baits than the 

 roach, preferring first the red worm, and next the gentle. 

 They bite rather quicker than the roach, and require 

 quicker striking. They rarely run above Jib. in the 

 Thames, though in some of its tributaries as the Colne 

 and elsewhere they reach fib., and sometimes close on 

 lib., and in the Kennet over lib. The best take I ever 

 had on the Thames was thirteen fish that weighed 

 Tib., and this was after my companion had had his pick of 

 the take. They were taken with lob worm when barbelling 



