Inspired by chats about dace I decided to set myself a fun challenge of catching dace from 4 rivers this February regardless of conditions, the target I set was 100, I wanted it to be fun and guessing a target to set was hard, two of the rivers I knew well were where 20-30 fish would still be a decent day, whereas one river I hadn't fished for a decade and another I had never fished in winter, so 100 it was, would that be too high or too low? 25 dace per trip?
Sounds like it would be good fun finding out.
The rivers in question were the Lea, Gade, Stort and Beane, all small local rivers in Hertfordshire, I figured I'll start on the former as the first pic is often the thumbnail, how nice it would be to get a tonker dace for the cover pic I thought whilst also knowing huge numbers wouldn't come easy there.
River Lea
So in my infinite wisdom I turn up, not just at a high river (which would be a theme for this quest) but also one of the harder stretches. Suffice to say the first few hours turned from a Dace Chase to a 'lets get a bite from anything' expedition.
A bit of relocation saw me finally arrive where I knew I'd get bites, it was and still is what me and Dad call The Dace swim, a typical dace spot where a channelled river flies through all shallow and boily, it's not fished much as it's so shallow but I always like fishing here. So it was that the float went under straight away followed by that familiar twist and turn through the boil. I was happy not just to be having bites but also getting a few nice looking fish for that cover shot first up after a morning of blanking, game on.
As for the target it was a total of just 11 dace but it'll do.
Behind the ball on total but some good looking fish for sure so things were going ok.
River Stort
Two summer fishing trips on a slow and stagnant trickle was all the knowledge I had to garner for this river so imagine my delight at seeing a river bombing through all coloured and pacey. Was it too high? Perhaps but the colour looked good at around a foot of visibility so I was confident, I had caught good dace previously here so lets crack on..
Having seen little signs of fishing previously I was surprised to see two floats in the tree where I started, a deep eddy offering both fast and slow water. I retrieved one but the other drifted downstream on my failed attempt at gathering, both were rather robust floats and quite clunky for such a stream, I do feel people fish far to heavy on these little rivers but that's another story, besides I needed to get some dace.
Fantastic, I settled down to trot a 4xno4 stick and It was a fish a chuck from the off, running my float through the boils that separated the slack from the flow, it was safe to say the river was sock on, fitting it was too that a nice dace was swung to hand first cast. Even two dogs in the water chasing balls didn't slow things although when the dopey owner did it a second time on returning my patience was wearing thin. I was in a doggy paddling zone so to speak so expected it and didn't want any confrontation to ruin things, although deep down I was thinking "Don't you know I am on the 2024 Dace Chase Challenge you ruffian!" The chap was neither a ruffian nor aware of such an inaugural quest so I left him and his two soppy labradors to it, wondering who the most intelligent out of the four of us is, I am still undecided*
* My money is on the floppy eared one who didn't get the ball, not only did it use less energy it also get's free meals, doesn't pay taxes and annoys both the owner and the angler.
I was now building a good total and a really nice mix of species, after all a bycatch when dace fishing is more than welcome, something I will dwell on later on even if I was fixated on those silver darts. The Stort also has some chunky dace and a good stamp of fish were there providing bites on a unseasonably warm winter's day.
The fish kept coming as I moved spots after lunch and the chat on the banks was nice too, I was in a busy park after all. One little old lady stopped and asked "Are there any fish in there?" A common question but one I am always surprised they ask especially when they add the caveat they've never seen any despite walking here regularly. I'm not sure she believed me when I told her I was on a total of 50 fish at the time. Another guy did the routine of standing behind me not saying anything, that's always fun isn't it! We eventually had a pleasant exchange and he knew his fishing, turns out he was just clocking what I was catching after all, in this new swim, a shallow fast affair that was one a chuck too. It was so much fun to fish here even if I was perched precariously on a muddy sloping bank, how I didn't wrap around the trees I was pinging with my rod tip I'll never know although I came close a few times mind.
Eventually my shallow swim was fished out as I knew it would be but not after a whole heap of fun, variety and of course dace. On I went to many spots that were more miss than hit to be fair, but that's roving and I sure got my steps in. Another brief exchange with a passer by was a good one, at the time I was fishing in a turbulent weir scooping out a chub, when above the din of the rushing water the passer by asked "Is that a tench?" I almost fell in, whilst I like a challenge.... Winter Tench Fishing in Flooded Weirpools, would be too much I concluded.
It was a great fun trip, a whole mix of species and what's more a total of 46 dace added and I was bang on target with 57 dace in total.
River Beane
After an aborted trip where my parking location was not reassuring and the skies opened up for a day of yet more rain, I arrived at the little River Beane a few days later to find a river looking very coloured indeed, much like the Stort trip before I had found a much better parking spot and was quite pleased with myself as I wondered along the banks, even if I doubted I would catch today at least I had got here.
It had been a decade since last fishing here but I remembered a good spot, those memories never fade and so I walked on and set up by the weir.
The water looked pretty busy mind, a few inches of visibility was coupled with twenty minutes of the float going under with anything but fish, but that's winter weir pool fishing for you, all snags and boils, then a small minnow succumbed, usually the bane of the maggot angler, this time it gave me a renewed hope, if a miniscule minnow can see a moving bait so can a dace, so with that faint crumb of incentive I ploughed on once more.
After a couple more barren swims of increasing dejection I stopped at a sweeping bend, it looked great but by now pessimism was taking over with a capital P, the water was coloured and high, however I tried to convince myself I had caught in worse. Then the float went under with the familiarity of scraping bottom, then again and again, but you have to strike it's instinctive, then finally the wriggle of a small fish saw my enthusiasm going to childhood levels, it felt too large for a minnow. That's what it's all about, a 4oz dace making a seasoned angler a champion of the world, long may these humble moments continue I thought, blank avoided, dace caught, one more to the total and where there's one.....
Buoyed by a lone fish I dug out the stool although at the time I thought this maybe a touch premature, I've probably made this mistake a hundred times but I did need a sit down after all the walking. I needn't have worried though as it was a dace a chuck with the odd roach and minnow to remind me of how things started. The dace here were a nice mix of sizes, more so than the previous rivers, nothing huge but plenty of next generation fish, all taking the bait like it was hitting bottom. I even thought I had lost a grayling just before lifting it out, my mind playing tricks I concluded. I changed to a lighter float thus negating the lost fish in the shallow swim and so a dozen more dace followed, a nice mix of sizes, and ever so welcome.
The action kept coming, by now my little float was getting ripped under with unmissable bites, then I saw another grayling in my mind, twisting and turning with a dorsal that's too big for a dace, a snout too pointy, suddenly the net is in play as I dare not lose that figment of my imagination coming to life, so it was a little grayling all silver and glorious lay before me, I know it's not the target quarry but surprises like these are the El Dorado of the angler who fishes for anything. Right then I'd struck gold, I journey two hours to get grayling albeit larger so if they are on your doorstep forgive me, as to get one on mine, no matter how small feels pretty special.
Yet more dace (and another grayling) followed so I was not just ahead of the quest target but had smashed it, even so I had to explore further and stretch the legs. I fished another bend and once again being in a busy park saw a nice chat with a dad and his two little ones, "Tell me when the float goes under" I told them as I caught yet more dace, the two kids went off asking their dad if they could go fishing, maybe next summer they'll be down here with a net or even a rod when they are older, lets hope the river still has those fish.
I ended with a whopping total of 105 dace today and a total of 162 dace overall, fantastic! So I'd done it with just 3 rivers and that is why the Gade is on the backburner, I wasn't going to move the goalposts if I struggled so why do it with success. 100 was the target and 162 achieved. Moreover it was a whole lot of fun and an mighty fine excuse to get out.
As for that bycatch, I am of the theory if you can catch dace well you can get anything and so I did get a fantastic mix for sure, 219 fish not including minnow of course with 9 different species** and some good specimens as well, great bankside chat, wonderful wildlife and thrusting, turbulent high rivers I couldn't have asked for more, here's some variety from the trips....
**The species I caught the least of was...perch (1), it's a funny old game sometimes isn't it?
Not sure what the next challenge will be but this was such a simple one yet so much fun.
Did it exceed expectations? - Hell yeah, as adventures in the commuter belt go, I was in my own little world.
Was it easy? - I guess so but that's hindsight, at times I was thinking the opposite, maybe next year it will be frosty, low and harder or perhaps I'll be chasing gudgeon, I reckon those dace will still play though.
Was it a challenge? Well getting the dace in numbers was, given that many say they are in decline, here in the land of Herts they are doing ok, I know the Gade was my fall back crutch and that old girl would have seen me right too, so on the whole it wasn't about me or numbers but about a fish that still continues to shine....
The Dace.
