wondered if anyone trotted for dace, and if they did, would they have a "colour preference" for masggots, or any other tip they fely helped them.(I ask about colour because I seem to have more success with red maggs than white when I am grayling fishing.)

Good ol' bronze seems to work well for dace but, to be honest, once you've got them going, I don't think they're too fussy. I had a few days on the Wye in Hereford last winter and once they were really feeding they'd attack the feed as soon as it hit the surface.

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resist much, obey little

Walt Whitman

I prefer white but like Tony I don't think it makes much difference when you have a good shoal on the go. Sometimes if the bites dry up I find a change to red gets them going again. I never use a keepnet and I wonder if they learn to avoid the white ones after a lot of their mates rejoin the shoal with toothache but somehow I doubt it.

Has anyone got any tips on how to avoid dace when after grayling. Fishing deeper to try to get under them just picks up the better ones.

Andy

To catch really big Dace try legering, or strett pegging, soft bread paste about the size of a finger end...

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

When my local river was alive with them(alas not any longer)bronze or casters used to be my favorite.As stated in previous replytry,legered bread-or cheese Both used to pick up some of the better fish for me.

I have had some very nice looking dace this year on the lower Ribble(lovely hint of green and pristine ) and even had one yesterday while trotting for grayling on the upper Ribble.They all seem to be a decent size which surprised me as I thought they would be tiny.I only ever use red maggots.I would be willing to change to white but never felt the need.

I've developed a soft spot for them actually having never seen one before this year.

While on the subject of dace I have been told they disappear in winter.

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Theres more to fishing than just fish.

They don't really disappear but they do move to deeper, more sheltered spots. They also feed on and near the bottom a lot more than in summer when they seem to be at or near the surface all day and every day.

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

imho,Some of the best dace fishing can be had during the winter months

Dace disapearing in the winter, thats when they are at there best?? when everything else is shutting up shop the Dace continues to feed. suggest whoever told you that is wrong and knows liitle about this species.

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Alan

Shoals of dace have been radio tracked and have been found to move as much as 10 kilometres in 24 hours, so if they disappear for a while, they have just shoved off to somewhere with better habitat, more food, different coloured maggots - whatever!!

Like many others I don't often see them having a particular preference for maggots of any special colour. I have caught them on white, red, bronze and any combination. I think, that like several other coarse fish, they may prefer red in the cooler waters of winter, but that's about it.

Best time to really bag up and possibly to catch a biggie is towards the end of the season when they shoal up in preparation for spawning. Then you need fast, riffly water; loads of loose feed and be prepared to fish like a one-armed paperhanger!

Incidentally, though I do not do a lot of coarse fishing, I have noticed that the dace are getting bigger again on the river I fish. Back in the 1980's 1lb dace were relatively common. These were the results of the hot summers of 1975 and 1976 and by the mid-80's this was a very strong cohort of big dace. I actually held and weighed on electronic scales a fish weighing 1lb 6oz in April 1987. This was caught during an electric fishing survey. Within two years those big fish had all gone and for twenty years I have been waiting to see some dace approaching those 1980's specimens again. They are just starting to show. Three weeks ago I had one on a trotted worm which went 14oz. In mid-March it might have just about made the 1lb mark.

The trotting reel is ready once more.........