328 



THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



the little Ouse fairly black with them, with occasional sheen of 

 silver as a fish would dart aside at some bit of food. It spawns in 

 May or June, and in July and August goes in shoals to the shallows. 

 Any small fly may be used, and is made more killing by the addi- 

 tion of a gentle, or, less troublesome, a bit of white kid glove on 

 the hook. Mr. Francis Francis says : " I have found the inner rind 

 of a scrap of stringy bacon answer the purpose better, perhaps, 

 than either, being a kind of compromise between the two ; that is, 

 something to taste and not liable to be whipped off." 



You must strike quickly when fly-fishing for dace, and if you can 

 see the rise, do not wait until you feel it, for dace detect the deceit 

 at once, and no sooner have they taken the fly within their mouths 

 they blow it out again, apparently before it has had time even to 

 tickle their lips. The dace scarcely reaches a pound in weight. I 

 have seen and caught very large ones in the Severn, when trout 

 fishing in the streams ; but I have never seen any over a pound. 



