RIVER ace Dr Mark Everard had a dream late-season trip when he took three 1 lb dace in a great haul.
The associate professor’s dace fishing session saw him add ten other specimens including fish of 15 oz, 14 oz and 12 oz.
They were caught on the upper Bristol Avon in a short session using specialist tactics, which he explained to Angler’s Mail…
Mark said: “There’s a place I know where the dace congregate before spawning, moving into water literally a few inches deep in the dark.
“There is nothing there to see by daylight, so we’re talking ‘ninja’ tactics before dawn and well into dusk.
“The fish are also very mobile and easily spooked, but this is where the big ones are. It’s short sessions only, one rod and very stealthy.
“Tactics were light quivertipping with my standard rig: 10 ft 6 in. Silstar quiver rod from the 1980s with a Betalight attached to the tip.
“I then use 4 lb main line, 15 g cage feeders tied on a loop with a swivel captive in a loop of main line, and 2 lb 8 oz bottom with liquidised bread in the feeder and chunk of flake on the hook.”
‘Too many roach’ when dace fishing
Mark continued: “I had float fished into dusk in a slightly deeper stretch, but moved away as I was catching too many roach.
“That’s not a complaint you’d normally hear me utter, but the big dace were on my radar as the light slipped away.
“I moved upstream to that apparently fishless shallows and started picking up dace almost straight away as they fanned out over the gravel.
“I played each one firmly to avoid spooking the shoal.
“I have never seen three 1 lb dace landed in a single, short, dusk session.
“It is nice to be surprised sometimes,” concluded Great Somerford, Wiltshire-based Mark.
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