66 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



and in this capacity the dace is sometimes used 

 for trout. The success of the fish as a live bait is 

 probably owing to the silvery sheen of its flashing 

 sides. The dace is small, and rarely attains to 

 more than nine inches in length. I have spoken 

 of the fish as taking the fly ; but Walton recom- 

 mends that it should be fished for with paste made 

 from a " pure fine manchet." And then he wisely 

 adds, that when you fish with it you must have 

 a small hook, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, or 

 the bait is lost, and the fish, too if one may 

 lose that which he never had. " With this paste 

 you may, as I said, take both the roach and the 

 dace or dare, for they be much of a kind in matter 

 of feeding, cunning, goodness, and usually in size. 

 And therefore take this general direction for some 

 other baits that may concern you to take notice of. 

 They will bite almost at any fly, but especially at 

 ant-flies." 



The gudgeon is a gregarious fish, usually 

 swimming in shoals, and found in rivers and 

 streams having gravelly beds. Among the stones 

 and pebbles the little fish love to rummage, and 

 here they obtain their food. The parts of the 

 shallow streams which they best love to haunt 

 are where the water is "thin" and rippling, or 

 the " reaches " between deep dubs. Although 

 gudgeon are partial to fresh streams, they also 



