I've always had a soft spot for dace. When I was in my early teens I used to fish the little River Ryton near Blyth in North Notts. For a period it bred enormous dace.
My best weighed 1lb 4 oz, weighed by two Worksop anglers who were on the river at the time.
Tag Barnes had near pounders from this water over the years. He aquired the permission to fish a very private stretch downstrem of Blyth. One day he set up a large metal tin over the river, full of maggots with a hole in the bottom. He fished there a few days later and had a some tremendous catches of big dace.
I have also had good dace from the Warks Avon and River Leam, mainly on bread crust fished for chub strangely enough.
One thing about dace is that they feed well in cold water and bright sunlight. **** walker used to get big dace by lowering a caddis down between streamer weed on the Ivel, many being taken at the bottom of his garden in Biggleswade.