Re: DACE
we arrived on the river before first light the morning was still no wind no frost to freeze the rod rings and the water temp was really warm for the time of year,,,i had a quick cuppa made by Ronnie and started to sort out my gear i made up 3 x 13ft match rods all armed with close face reels( my favourite )method 2,5 main line 1,7 hooklenghts and three ultra stick floats around 7 no 4s broken down into no 6 and 8 shots fished shirt button style which i could always alter if necessary the floats all carried 1 rubber at the top and three down the stem incase of breakage the last rubber i always prefered to over hang the end of the float by up to half an inch this was to reduce the splash on the retrieve the only difference in the set ups were hooksize one size 18 1x 16 1 x 14 more about this later,,,,i knew the swim from previous sessions was a steady glide no crease and about 6 ft deep hence the fairly light floats,,,,,i never sit down when float fishing any moving river so it was bait apron on,,,,bait wise i had 4 pints of white and 4 pints of yellow magotts real good bait with a big food sack a quick plumbing told me the river was slightly up but not enough to spoil my day so i hoped....the only trouble with the Wye in winter was the trout that would be shoaled up with the dace and perhaps a few grayling,,,hence the three rods no time to start pussy footing with trout and really no time for changing hooklenghts,,,,Ronnie would do that for me and i could just grab another rod,,,,when stick float fishing i always gave myself a point of retrieve so that when the fish started feeding the idea was to take fish from the head of the shoal and never if possible to try to drag fish from the tail end which could end the day before it had started one lost fish could spook the lot especially if the trout were about,,,,,the seceret of good float fishing is feed,,,,only in my case loose feed maggots half a dozen to start with every cast and slightly downstream of my position this would alter later.....i started on the 18 set up and single maggot,,,,three swims down i was into my first fish around 8oz good start and a good size i was catching at a great rate but noticed the fish were dropping back down the swim which meant i was loosing time and my catch rate and the first brownie had showed and shed the barbless hook..i got Ronnie to change the hooklenght for me while i grabbed another rod and doubled the bait 2 maggots on a 16,,,,i drew the fish back up the swim but altering the entrance of the loose feed,,,to just in front of me and the fish moved back up the swim,,,,to realise my ambition i new i had to catch between 200 and 300 fish a hard target with short daylight hours,,,Ronnie was trying to keep count of my catch just to see how i was going,,,,,the problem was people where coming onto the bank and standing half way down my swim( oh look he/s caught a fish and another) bloody idiots but the wife got them to move after telling them what i was doing,,,,,the brownies where by now having a go which i knew they would 4 or 5 on the trot one around 4lb which really spoilt the swim i was afraid they had killed the swim but no the dace came back better than ever i altered my feeding pattern i fed upstream of me switched onto a 14 hook with three maggots and got the fish under the rodtip i finished up catching 4 or 5 fish without changing the bait they were taking the skins and did so untill i completed my day the fish where weighed by my friend Mike and Ronnie 104 LB and a few ounces i had done it its a strange world is angling what pleases one doesn/t please another i got a bee in my bonnet i managed it another 4 times during the 80s now i dont even own a keepnet ,,,,some people will ask did you use a landing net yes but i lifted most of the fish to hand
