Specimen dace

[thames steve]

Big dace don't get reported often, yet they're beautiful in their own right.

What's the forum's collective wisdom how to target specimen dace (assuming you know the water could hold them)?

Baits, time of day, weather, flow, best depth etc?

And what do you call a big dace? In the thread about specimen sizes, I see the original 1lb suggestion got downgraded by 2 successive posters to 12oz, then 10oz...

 

[Poshpaul (Angling Trust and PaSC)]

When the Stour at Canterbury was producing clonkers always thought anything above 12oz was a great fish.

I would regard anything over 8oz as a decent fish...can't remember when I last caught one!!!

I used to fish a stick ..classic shirt button .....dropping through to full depth.....on the Stour and Medway they used to come up higher sometimes so you could shorten up the length

 

[dezza]

A big dace is anything over 1/2 a pound these days. I doubt if a dace over a pound has been reported to the angling press in many years.

Yet years ago such fish were fairly common. **** Walker took 3 dace in 3 casts over a pound from the River Cam. I took a 1lb 4 oz dace from the Nottinghamshire Ryton many years ago. In it's time this river was the best dace river in the UK.

Maybe the Trent might produce a big dace in time. Dace do not live very long and I caught quite a few in the 6 to 8 ounce category last year.

 

[watatoad]

Currently the Dace record is:

Dace - 1lb 5oz 2dr
2002: Simon Ashton from the River Weir

INFO SOURCE:

Fisheries.co.uk - British Rod-caught Record Fish

UK Rod Caught Fish Records

Generally a specimen of most fish species is considered to be 50% of the record. So I for one would go with the 10oz being a specimen although it must be only a guide and will and must vary on different rivers.

To me a specimen is not just about weight and must really be more about condition although to some it might be length.

 

[Bob Hornegold]

Last year I was fishing a section of the Lea, usual style, buzzers, bait runners and bolt rigged Maggots ?

I was watching a lad some 20years younger than me fishing upstream, trotting a stick float and regetting the passing of "Time".

Anyway, after a while he hooked into a decent Trout and having landed that he came and had a chat.

He told me he had been having some decent dace from upstream of the weirpool and had had them to over 1lb.

I was sceptical, but a bit later in the afternoon, he came and asked me to witness a Dace he had caught.

I did not mind, as I was falling asleep !!

The Dace was still in his Landing net and it was Huge (well Huge for a Dace) I weighed it on my set of Salter Digitals and it clocked in at 1lb 3ozs, the biggest Dace I had ever seen from the Upper Lea.

Considering the amount of Cormerants in our area, it amazing to think that fish of this size still exist on the Lea System ?

Bob

 

[barbelboi]

Baits & best depths – almost any bait that will float of the surface in Summer - the usual suspects at other times of the year – as you’d fish for roach seems to work well - maggots, caster, bread, etc. I caught my two biggest dace free lining lobworm for early season chub.
Time of day & weather – They seem to feed in any conditions, hot or cold, it’s on the day, although I am a believer that dace and roach will often come on the feed at different times so one may provide additional action when the other is quiet.
Flow – Usually considered to like well oxygenated water – love fishing for them on sight in the fast shallows. I’ve also caught many in deep slower water by float and ledger.
There are still a couple of rivers near me that can spring up a surprise although, as we know, seeing isn't always catching. I've spent many happy hours 'seeing'.

 

[sam vimes]

I suspect that dace is one of the very few species of fish where the northern rivers can compete when it comes to fish to challenge the national records. Wouldn't surprise me much to see the record beaten by a fish from the Tyne, Wear, Tees, Swale, Ure or Ouse (don't know enough about the Wharfe, Nidd etc to comment on their potential). The biggest snag is getting people to actually weigh the big dace that they catch and then lodge a claim. Another snag is that I suspect many half decent dace are wrongly identified and ignored by the captor as chublets.

 

[barbelboi]

Another snag is that I suspect many half decent dace are wrongly identified and ignored by the captor as chublets.

[FONT=&quot]Good point Sam. I’ve often encountered good sized dace while chub fishing, - ledger, float and free lining - they don’t seem to have a problem with a size 6.[/FONT]

 

[904_cannon]

Probably the biggest head of big dace came from the Tweed, sadly no more in the numbers they were, although for anyone prepared to put the work in Ive no doubt they will still be there.

When we used to fish the Tweed in the 70's to the mid 80's individual fish were never weighed but I'm pretty sure a record fish would have been returned, only the small fish made the journey south

I still remember a 'Norfolk Lad' writing about a good chub he lost whilst fishing the Tweed, more likely to have been a big dace as in all the years we (many anglers from Durham, Tyne and Tees areas) never had a single chub.

The Tweed dace were almost a sub species being much bigger and lighter in colour than either the Tyne or Wear dace, evident even today and I'm pretty sure that the current Wear record fish was from that same gene pool.

There was a bigger fish than the current record dace taken some years prior to the 1-05-02, taken by Robby Schindler in a DCAC match but the photographs were not of sufficient quality. Talking to an old DCAC Junior Match Sec there had been a couple of 1-08 fish taken on maggot in trout matches during the close season. Up to the late 90's maggot was still 'legal' during the coarse close season up here.

 

[Philip]

I took a 1lb 4 oz dace from the Nottinghamshire Ryton many years ago. In it's time this river was the best dace river in the UK.

Really ? ...wasnt the record 1lb 4oz 4drams for many many years ? ...didnt you consider having it rewieghed just in case...

..Loved the story from Bob about the Dace on the Lea as I think its things like that, that give us all hope that there might be something special lurking in our local bit of water.

I used to fish a little southern river for them, and I keep meaning to go back. it suffered abstraction but its back to its former glory so I am told. It used to throw up some whoppers. Its only tiny but I think its the sort of place that a Cormorant would have trouble actually catching anything in...its too shallow to dive and there are reeds and hidy holes all over the place for the fish to shelter in.
I recon the Dace record is one that could go at anytime. They go much bigger on the continent so the potential is there if the circumstances come together. A fish closer to 2lb than 1 is not a dream.

 

[thames steve]

This dace was killed by the other week's sewage spill on the tidal Thames.

Length 10 inches. How much would you say it weighed? (I don't know the answer...interested what you think though. You'll notice it was in perfect condition until killed by Thames Water)

 

[barbelboi]

Tricky one without knowing the girth, pics can be deceiving 12/14oz?
If it has a 9" girth then 1lb

 

[noknot]

My best ever Dace came from the Stour at Canterbury years ago......14oz

 

[Paul Boote]

Some of the biggest dace I ever saw (and caught) were in the lower Nadder, Wylye and Ebble tributaries of the Avon near Salisbury, with one or two carriers of the main river also holding similar, almost chub-sized whackers. Early 1970s and a teenage me was heavily into big river-pike, so I regularly took a trotting rod out to get some baits. Never weighed the fish, always returned the many "too big for bait" specimens, but there were fair numbers of pounders among them. Amazing dace.

 

[no-one in particular]

Fly fishing

Anyone ever tried fly fishing for them?

 

[Paul Boote]

Yup. Done a lot. Tiny dries and sight-fished nymphs mostly. Yet they will happily engulf a longshank size-8 Mayfly Nymph or size-8 or -10 widegaped Czech-type nymph at times, even the smaller fish . You have to be quick - they're rather more difficult than swallow-it-in-a-gulp trout.

 

[barbelboi]

[FONT=&quot]Not personally although I know people who did (also for chub) with some success during the summer months. The thing that put me off was that the fish were often so preoccupied on the one particular insect and unless you could match it you stood no chance. There is still one person I know that regularly casts a fly on the little River Mole near Ember Court each morning as he takes his Labrador for a walk.[/FONT]

 

[no-one in particular]

I havn't done it for a long time but, I used to fly fish for chub which I found quite successful. Then I had a go for dace which was great fun but, very frustrating at the same time. Very quick fish and they would often dart at the fly without taking it. So, hard to decieve as well. But, great practice for honing the fly fishing skills. Might take it up again.

 

[dezza]

Really ? ...wasnt the record 1lb 4oz 4drams for many many years ? ...didnt you consider having it rewieghed just in case...

No Philip it was 1lb 8oz 8dm in those days.