Over the last few years, with the decline in barbel fishing on stretches of my local rivers, I have spent much more time float fishing for silver fish, such as dace and roach.
For me, watching a brightly-coloured float tip run downstream and then disappear under the water is addictive, and pulling out a heavy keepnet of shimmering fish at the end of the day is my reward for a busy day on the bank.
In this article, I will explain what I have learned about catching large nets of dace. I’ll give you my tips to help you ‘bag up’.
The dace is a species of freshwater and brackish-water ray-finned fish from the family Cyprinidae that is native to Europe.
It’s scientific name is Leuciscus leuciscus.
The dace is a relatively small fish that can be found in rivers and streams in large shoals.
When located, it is possible to catch large numbers of fish during a fishing session.
In days gone by, the dace was also known as the ‘Dart’.
The dace is a slim, active fish, with silver scales on its flanks and a green-grey back.
It is sometimes misidentified as a small chub (chublet). However, a quick way to distinguish dace from chub is to look closely at their anal and dorsal fins. The fins of a dace curve inwardly (concave-shaped), and a chub’s fins curve outwards (convex-shaped).
Dace typically ranges from 1oz-4oz in weight. Fish over 8oz are regarded as good specimens, and fish over 1lb in weight are very rare in most waters.
The British Rod Caught Record Dace (Leuciscus leuciscus)
1lb 5oz 2drms (0.599kg) 2002 Simon Ashton, River Wear, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear.
At spawning time, in March and April, they migrate up stream to lay their pale yellow eggs on shallow gravel beds in fast flowing streams, the eggs attach to gravel and stones.
They produce up to 9,500 eggs.
They are usually found in moderately swift streams and rivers, and sometimes in lakes or in brackish water at the mouths of rivers.
Dace are omnivorous; their natural diet is invertebrates, fish eggs, plants and seeds.
In the rest of this article, I discuss how to catch large nets of dace. These are my suggestions when trying to catch several hundred fish, which can result in a net of up to 40lb or more of dace.
These large weights of dace are achieved by catching lots of fish in the 2-6oz category.
On my local River Ribble, dace nets of 60lbs are possible on the hotspot swims and in the right conditions.
When float fishing, I look for sections of the river or stream with a steady flow (as a guide – a pace of between a quarter of walking pace to full walking pace) where you can trot your float unhindered down the swim for many metres.
I avoid very fast-flowing water and water that is churning and boiling, as this makes feeding and presenting bait difficult.
I also tend to avoid very shallow sections, and instead look for depths of between 3 and 8 feet. These are comfortable depths for float-fishing.
During the winter, deeper sections of the river can hold large shoals of dace.
Large dace shoals can also be found in the slacks and inside of bends when the river is in flood.
During these times, a swim can be full of fish, but the swims on either side of it can be devoid of dace.
As you learn and gather information about a section of river (which takes time), this knowledge will tell you where these dace hotspots are located.
When you are aiming to catch large nets of dace, it is important that you are positioned comfortably and that your fishing gear is laid out and well organised.
This ensures that you fish efficiently, which is essential when aiming to catch 200-350 fish in a session.
I like to start loose-feeding as I am tackling up. This introduces a steady trickle of bait into the swim and builds the fish’s confidence.
Typically, this will be a small pouch of hemp and around 15 maggots every 3–4 minutes.
I will continue this feeding routine throughout the day.
Feed continuously!
If you have located a large shoal of dace, you are likely to get an instant bite.
On other occasions, you will often have to feed the swim for around an hour to catch your first fish.
There have been several occasions where I have been biteless for 2-3 hours, but continued feeding and the dace shoals have arrived, resulting in fast and furious action and a twenty-plus pound net of fish in the last couple of hours of the session.
Catching large numbers of fish, typically 2-3 dace per minute, requires you to be efficient and get into a regular rhythm.
You need to have everything to hand and minimise unnecessary movements.
Catching large nets of dace takes a good deal of concentration. It gets very tiring!
My own method for this (and other types of ‘speed fishing’) is to use a ‘clicker’ to tally up how many fish I am catching.
I set myself a target of catching one hundred fish, and then 150, 200, and so on. It keeps me motivated.
In order to catch 200-350 dace, you need to have a ‘bite zone’ close to you.
If your float needs to travel 15-25mtrs (or more) downstream before you get a bite, this takes time, resulting in a slower catch rate.
Get your bite zone near to you, a few metres downstream of your position, and you will catch more quickly.
As you will be constantly holding your rod throughout the day, a light rod of between 12ft and 14ft is my ‘go to’.
Some people prefer longer rods, in order to aid float presentation, but I find these rods too heavy for a full day’s dace fishing, and instead opt for shorter, lighter rods.
I prefer a tip-action rod, which will pick up line quickly when striking at bites.
I like small, light reels, again in order to minimise weight. Small, closed-face reels are ideal, as they can be used one-handedly.
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If you can get the feeding zone close enough to you, then a whip can be used, which will enable you to catch dace very quickly.
I have found that when you are aiming to catch large nets of dace, you don’t need to fish with a very fine line.
This is because hungry dace, in large numbers, aren’t particularly ‘tackle shy’. Also, your line needs to be robust enough to continually strike and land lots of fish in quick succession.
I use 3lb (0.16mm) main line for my dace fishing, and I would only fish with a lighter line if I was fishing with a very light stick float, as this will be more suitable for casting this type of float and presenting the rig.
When aiming to bag up on dace, hooklinks must also be robust and avoid tangles and twists.
If you fish with too light a hooklink, you can encounter these problems as well as breakages as the hooklink becomes damaged.
Typically, I use hooklink in the 2.5lb-3lb (0.12mm-0.14mm) range and will opt for the stronger material whenever I can get away with it.
Hooks need to be medium wire with a longish shank. The medium wire helps them keep their shape, and the long shank makes unhooking quicker and easier.
I like to use a size 16 hook for double maggots and an 18 for single maggots.
I would only reduce hook size if bites were hard to come by.
Another crucial factor is a micro-barbed hook. This will significantly reduce the number of fish you loose.
My preference is to fish a stick-float whenever possible. This is a float that is attached ‘top and bottom’ on the line and allows you to control the float through the swim.
I take a large array of stick-floats already set up on winders and choose the one that suits the swim and conditions.
I also have some large Avon floats and a few Bolo floats set up, for deep swims or faster flowing water.
If I need to fish further out or there is a strong wind, I will opt to fish a waggler float. This enables me to punch out the float without worrying about tangles.
Because the shotting patterns of waggler rigs tend to be less complicated than stick-float rigs, I normally set them up on the bank.
If you are new to river float fishing, I’d recommend using a waggler float when starting out. Wagglers are easier to cast in all conditions.
I have had most success fishing with red maggots, as either single or double hookbaits.
I’d normally take two-three pints of maggots with me. Sometimes, I might only feed half of these; at other times, I will use them all.
I have also had decent catches on white and bronze maggots but have more confidence when red ones.
Hempseed is a vital feed bait. I feed this all year round, as I believe that dace are attracted to the sound of hemp hitting the water. It also has an attractive aroma, is heavy and creates a bed of bait over which dace feed.
I normally take a pint or two of hemp on a session.
Casters are another excellent hook-and-feed bait. However, my preference when aiming to catch several hundred dace, is to use maggots. You can catch multiple dace on the same maggots, but casters usually need replacing after every fish, so slow down your catch rate.
Sweetcorn is also worth taking along as a ‘change bait’, to try on the hook. This can sometimes attractbigger dace or a bonus chub or big roach.
Traditionally, on my local river, anglers targeting silverfish would normally loose feed only.
Nowadays, dace and roach have become used to barbel anglers feeding with groundbait and pellets and are attracted to this.
I will top this up every half an hour or so.
Feeding with groundbait is now a very effective way of attracting fish into your swim and a good way of ‘pinning down’ fish into a bite zone.
At the start of a session, I will normally put into the swim three tangerine-sized balls of a heavy, sticky mix of goundbait laced with maggots and hempseed.
I’d recommend experimenting with using groundbait on your own river in order to find out how effectice it is.
I have discovered that if you are ‘sat’ on a big shoal of dace, without many anglers around you, then you can get away with feeding much less bait.
My theory is that the dace are ‘happy’ where they are located, so you don’t need to attract them from large distances downstream, or from other anglers.
You need more bait if the shoal is ‘spooky’ or other anglers are attracting your fish with their feeding.
I hope that you have found this article about catching large nets of dace useful
Dace fishing is a very active way of fishing, that can keep you busy all day.
Dace will often feed in cold, winter conditions (when conditions are stable).
Finding dace hotspots takes time, exploration and research.
Get comfortable and organised before you start fishing.
Feed continuously, and keep going even if you don’t initially get bites. A biteless first hour (or longer) doesn’t mean you won’t catch. Bites can come thick-and-fast when the dace arrive.
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