This season dace and roach have been species I have felt intrigued to target, as at the best of times both species can be tricky opponents especially in a low and clear river.
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| A summer brace |
In the summer it is the best time to do some groundwork to locate shoals of roach and dace going up and down an area, taking small flies off the surface or snatching small morsels in midwater or sifting the bottom for them. In the areas I fish for the dace and roach it is difficult to use maggots in the summer and early autumn months as there are plenty of minnows attacking the bait as it hits the water. This doesn't mean trotting is out of the equation, as you can compromise with feeding maggots and fish a caster on the hook, or you can also try liquidised bread and bread punch. There is of course hemp too, which can be brilliant loose feed with tares being a good bait to present on the hook over the top of this. Sweetcorn can also be a good option for both species.
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| Lovely brace of 'Darts' |
In terms of fishing for dace in the summer, it is not something associated with many anglers, as most target them from late Autumn to Winter when they are starting to fatten up, due to the fish being hollower and weighing considerably less. They can be found in the summer in the deeper holes congregating with chub and roach, as well as swimming up and down shallow gravel bars. In these months, sight fishing can be very enjoyable with a light quiver tip rod with scaled down feeder or link leger tactics. At times in the summer, they can almost be as bad as chub, as I have had a few larger specimens snatch big lumps of cheese on a size 8 hook whilst after chub, pulling the tip round with pure confidence! The beauty of sight fishing is, although it is difficult as the fish spook more easily, if you keep a low profile you can creep up on shoals and have a chance of picking out larger specimens. I have only on a few occasions, gone out of my way to target dace in summer with scaled down tactics and have managed a few fish from the 6 to 10oz range which is a nice stamp of dace indeed, even more so when they are hollow! It is also enjoyable to do a bit of early season trotting for them; I opt to use bread punch or casters to repel the minnows throwing themselves onto my hook. You will catch considerably less fish in the summer, as the fish will spook off quicker due to the clarity and the lower conditions causing greater commotion in the water, but it is enjoyable to watch the dace literally snatch your loose-fed maggots off the surface!
Roach in the Summer on my local chalkstream, seem to reveal themselves a lot more in the Summer. This is because the obvious variable, the river is lower and in the case of my local river, crystal, crystal clear and the fish can seen flashing and congregating together. When it is very warm, they can sometimes be seen right on the surface almost basking in the sun. They also give themselves away taking flies off the surface and snatching small morsels, such as nymphs in midwater, with the key give away to their presence, in my eyes, when they can be seen flashing on the bottom as they sift in the silt or gravel. I have, in the close season, whilst targeting trout accidentally encountered roach as they have snatched my nymphs, therefore targeting them on the fly is definitely on my 'to do' list next season. What I tend to do in summer is creep up on shoals and feed liquidised bread upstream of them and introduce a small piece of bread on a size 12 or even sometimes a 14 hook on light line, mimicking the loose feed as effectively as possible and this often gains some nice results, as you can see here.
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| A lovely summer brace caught on free-lined bread over the top of light loose feed, it's marvellous watching the fish take! |
Roach often give themselves away at dawn or at dusk where they can be seen rolling and you can sometimes catch the odd glimpse of their wonderful red fins. The roach can some days be nigh-on impossible as they are so preoccupied on naturals, that they will not pay any attention to your bait or just completely ignore it. I unfortunately this season, started to take roach fishing seriously a bit late on, but from listening to anglers who really know their stuff and have stricken the magical 2lb or so mark, fishing after dark is when you can catch the roach off guard. My first choice would be to fish with a smaller cage feeder running on the line held by a larger float stop, with liquidised bread onto a size 12 hook with a generous lump of bread flake to hopefully pick up a larger specimen. Other people opt for a triple or double maggot presentation on a short hook link with a maggot feeder up the line containing maggots with a bit of hemp. A float stop up the line whilst fishing maggots can have a 'bolt' effect where the fish can hook itself on the weight of the feeder, therefore effortless striking unlike with bread where you have to strike through it. A small link leger can be effective too during the day with a nice lump of flake.
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| Fine looking roach on a generous lump of bread |
The best time, I find, to get a nice bag of dace, on my favourite dace venue is, when the water has gone up and is starting to drop. After a feed of maggots little and often for 10-20 minutes, before you cast out, with a little alloy stemmed stick float with a shirt button shotting pattern in the shallower runs or a small bulk with shirt-buttoned droppers is usually the better presentations. The bites tend to be pretty decisive but if they are proving to be finicky, putting a couple of smaller shot to dot the float right down is a good call. With patience and careful feeding in the right conditions that is, you can literally empty a swim. Adapting feeder tactics is again effective in winter as you can now get away with using maggots on the hook as the minnows are less active, and fishing this similar to maggot feeder tactics for roach is an ideal method, as you can see with a lovely 11oz Specimen I had this winter (pictured below).
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| A decent bag of dace, but sadly I didn't time trotting as well as I could have, as the colour had dropped out continuously. |
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| Another pretty bag of dace |
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| A lovely 11oz hollow dace caught last knockings on the maggot feeder |
In Winter with my local chalk stream being coloured up from inevitable rain, similar tactics can be adapted to the dace fishing, with a nicely stemmed, I prefer alloy, stick float. The shotting pattern, like the dace, is depending on the type of swim you're fishing, but on my local chalk stream I fish a nice bulk with a couple of droppers, which when the bait is taken give the perfect indication to strike into. It also helps to hold the float back now and again too to ensure the bait is travelling at the same speed as the current therefore behaves more naturally to a shy roach. This is where a longer float rod comes into its own, but not to the extreme that it is too long for the river you are fishing meaning you can't properly manoeuvre in your swim. In terms of feed liquidised bread is perfect as is catapulted or hand-fed maggots and hemp. If for whatever reason fishing a float is challenging or hard to present, fishing a feeder can really come into its own in winter with the same methods mentioned after dark in summer, coming into play during the day as the minnows are less active.
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| A beautiful brace of roach on the stick float and maggots |
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| Brace on the Maggot Feeder |
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| Biggest of the Season 3oz under my PB, 1lb 10oz |
I hope this blog has been of some interest to you,
Good luck if you choose to target either of these species next year,
Tom
