Dace and Gudgeon

[tillylamp 1,880]

years ago we use to catch dace and gudgeon from the river, do people see any these days or even fish for them?.....

[neil r 1,945]

I fish for dace on the stickfloat a fair bit during the season on the ribble and calder which are 2 of the best dace rivers in the country for both numbers and size with 10oz+fish common on both and 1lb fish not as unusual as you’d think. Simon Ashton the dace record holder did a video for drennan’s youtube channel on radacs day ticket stretch at ribchester float fishing for dace and had them to a lb . The calder also has plenty of gudgeon aswell and if you’re stood in the river trotting aswell as catching them they will be around your feet feeding on any dropped bait 

[tillylamp 1,880]

19 hours ago, neil r said:

I fish for dace on the stickfloat a fair bit during the season on the ribble and calder which are 2 of the best dace rivers in the country for both numbers and size with 10oz+fish common on both and 1lb fish not as unusual as you’d think. Simon Ashton the dace record holder did a video for drennan’s youtube channel on radacs day ticket stretch at ribchester float fishing for dace and had them to a lb . The calder also has plenty of gudgeon aswell and if you’re stood in the river trotting aswell as catching them they will be around your feet feeding on any dropped bait 

nice write up bud, we use to catch quite a few dace years ago some were a decent size but never really big ones, i never knew they went up to a lb....we use to fish the river stour for dace/gudgeon either on the float or a maggot with a small split shot and let it drift down current....its good to hear your fishing for them these days.....

 

[neil r 1,945]

4 hours ago, tillylamp said:

nice write up bud, we use to catch quite a few dace years ago some were a decent size but never really big ones, i never knew they went up to a lb....we use to fish the river stour for dace/gudgeon either on the float or a maggot with a small split shot and let it drift down current....its good to hear your fishing for them these days.....

 

The ribble is like a commercial fishery with the amount of people fishing it , especially the free stretch in Preston where quite a few have done YouTube videos and 20-40lb bags of dace caught with some decent ones amongst them but for some reason they don’t get the really good ones down there . Think the record is something like 1lb4oz so a lb fish is massive . You don’t get them every time but you’ll get a few during the season . I’ve found balling in groundbait with hemp and maggot in and then a small ball every cast brings the better fish in and if you stop feeding groundbait and just use maggot you’ll start catching the small 1-4oz ones within seconds but as soon as you put another ball in the size increases again . The drennan video is worth a watch and where he's fishing is the opposite bank to where I normally fish 

[Franks dad 1,690]

[tillylamp 1,880]

18 hours ago, neil r said:

The ribble is like a commercial fishery with the amount of people fishing it , especially the free stretch in Preston where quite a few have done YouTube videos and 20-40lb bags of dace caught with some decent ones amongst them but for some reason they don’t get the really good ones down there . Think the record is something like 1lb4oz so a lb fish is massive . You don’t get them every time but you’ll get a few during the season . I’ve found balling in groundbait with hemp and maggot in and then a small ball every cast brings the better fish in and if you stop feeding groundbait and just use maggot you’ll start catching the small 1-4oz ones within seconds but as soon as you put another ball in the size increases again . The drennan video is worth a watch and where he's fishing is the opposite bank to where I normally fish 

yes, im not a fan of crowded fishing...we use to find the quite out the way spot were no one had been...knocking down long grass and growth.....would have probably benefitted us using groundbait all them years ago but being younger we just grabbed our rod/bag and a tub of maggots and off we went.....its funny really...this dace/gudgeon topic came around after i was going through my fishing rods a while back and come across my old rod that i use to catch the dace/gudgeon on....that bought back some good memories....its a 10ft diawa float/ledger rod were you screwed in the swinging tip or a quiver tip in the end eye...you use to put the reel on with two sliding rings.....i will look out for the video you mentioned some time....   

[tillylamp 1,880]

19 hours ago, Franks dad said:

i havent seen a gudgeon for years mate....thanks for that...do you have a freshwater fish tank....

[mackem 29,392]

1 hour ago, tillylamp said:

i havent seen a gudgeon for years mate...

What do you fish for nowadays Tilly?

[neil r 1,945]

3 hours ago, tillylamp said:

yes, im not a fan of crowded fishing...we use to find the quite out the way spot were no one had been...knocking down long grass and growth.....would have probably benefitted us using groundbait all them years ago but being younger we just grabbed our rod/bag and a tub of maggots and off we went.....its funny really...this dace/gudgeon topic came around after i was going through my fishing rods a while back and come across my old rod that i use to catch the dace/gudgeon on....that bought back some good memories....its a 10ft diawa float/ledger rod were you screwed in the swinging tip or a quiver tip in the end eye...you use to put the reel on with two sliding rings.....i will look out for the video you mentioned some time....   

There’s nothing worse than crowded fishing, I’d rather walk miles than fish near someone if possible. The groundbait approach is only something I’ve done in the last few seasons after trying groundbait feeders for barbel and noticing the dace were straight on it and the ones I caught were bigger fish . Previous to that I used to use 4-6 pints of maggots and feed heavily to try and feed the little ones off . 
That daiwa rod will be pretty good even compared to today’s gear love older gear for trotting , my reels are closed face Abu 505’s and 503’s from the 60’s and 70’s and my centrepins are Jw Youngs rapidex and grice and Youngs gypsy d’or from the same time .
All my float rods bar 1 I use for tench are mainly 80’s by daiwa , dam , tricast and map Dave Harrell with most being spliced tip and they are all way better than modern rods for that type of fishing so much so I sold my expensive 14&15ft drennan acolyte ultras and went back to using rods that I pick up for £10-30 . I’ve also got an old little dam quickstick swing tip rod with a threaded end eye that I use for roach and skimmers occasionally. 

[Franks dad 1,690]

5 hours ago, tillylamp said:

i havent seen a gudgeon for years mate....thanks for that...do you have a freshwater fish tank....

No mate ,just in a pond , although I would like one .

[Daniel cain 47,963]

We still get decent numbers of Dace on the Wye and river rhumney...fish a chuck on the stick or small maggot feeders....

[tillylamp 1,880]

20 hours ago, mackem said:

What do you fish for nowadays Tilly?

hi Mack, i do allsorts of fishing as it comes really....when in bc i had some nice steelheads/rainbows....on the pike at great slave lake in Yellowknife...here i catch the brook trout, flounder (dabs to you and me)....and august time we go for the stripped bass...we had some decent ones last year.....i found a good spot on the beach for them, no one goes there which suits me....

what about yourself...i expect when the salmon run your on them....

[tillylamp 1,880]

19 hours ago, neil r said:

There’s nothing worse than crowded fishing, I’d rather walk miles than fish near someone if possible. The groundbait approach is only something I’ve done in the last few seasons after trying groundbait feeders for barbel and noticing the dace were straight on it and the ones I caught were bigger fish . Previous to that I used to use 4-6 pints of maggots and feed heavily to try and feed the little ones off . 
That daiwa rod will be pretty good even compared to today’s gear love older gear for trotting , my reels are closed face Abu 505’s and 503’s from the 60’s and 70’s and my centrepins are Jw Youngs rapidex and grice and Youngs gypsy d’or from the same time .
All my float rods bar 1 I use for tench are mainly 80’s by daiwa , dam , tricast and map Dave Harrell with most being spliced tip and they are all way better than modern rods for that type of fishing so much so I sold my expensive 14&15ft drennan acolyte ultras and went back to using rods that I pick up for £10-30 . I’ve also got an old little dam quickstick swing tip rod with a threaded end eye that I use for roach and skimmers occasionally. 

sounds like you have some nice older gear there bud....i come across a store that sold anything and everything second hand whilst on vancouver island....my kind of store i had to take a look, older rods but not my kind but i did spot an old garcia/mitchell 330 (the one with the flick up bail arm) on the shelf....he wanted $40 bucks for it, being english i knocked him down to $25...lol 

i stripped it down when i got back...new grease/oil and worked a treat...not quite as smooth as a new reel but a firm smooth but in your hand it felt better quality than a new one...i also picked up an old garcia/mitchell 206 which i did the same to.....

and again i picked up an older baitcasting abu reel that sits on my steelhead rod, thats a nice reel....i still have 3-4 garcia/mitchell 600 and 602 multipliers that work just as nice now as when they were new....  

[tillylamp 1,880]

18 hours ago, Franks dad said:

No mate ,just in a pond , although I would like one .

I've only ever seen gudgeon in rivers...i didn't know they lived ok in ponds...probably as i have never caught any or fished for them in ponds....i use to make my own tanks years ago that i put fresh water fish in...it was good at first, but after a while the novelty wore off a bit....cleaning/treating/changing/amongst other things.....i think thats why they are expensive to set up but not a lot of value second hand.... 

[tillylamp 1,880]

14 hours ago, Daniel cain said:

We still get decent numbers of Dace on the Wye and river rhumney...fish a chuck on the stick or small maggot feeders....

some nice dace there bud your young lad looks pleased with his catch....thats about the size give or take when we use to catch then years ago....also on maggot.....