Dace Fishing On The River Nadder, Salisbury.

I decided to have a few hours pleasure fishing on the River Nadder before the season finishes in a few days, what with one thing and another I hadn't managed to get down to the river until now! So I was looking forward to running a stick float through and hopefully catching some fish. I gave Andy Brooks a call for some info, as he had been fishing the match on the river on Sunday, and low and behold he was at Brunel Road! So I decided to join him.
My Swim at Brunel Road On The Nadder.

I caught up with Andy, had a quick sandwich and a natter, before picking a swim. I set up in a swim that had some slack water on the far side, and decided to fish the crease, I set up a 13ft. waggler rod with a close face reel with 2.6lb main line. A 6 no4 wire stem stick float shotted shirt button style to a carbon chub 18 hook. After about an hour I had a couple of Dace plus numerous Minnows. The wind and sun were getting a problem, so I moved to the swim pictured above. It was narrower than the first and shallower, just below a pinch point in the river with a nice steady flow. I adjusted the depth to about 3ft. First run through and a Salmon Parr snaffled my double maggot hook bait, a few more followed before I hit the first Dace, which put up quite a scrap in the pacy water.

Me With A Nice Size Dace.

Regularly feeding a few maggots kept the bites coming, a few Minnows, Salmon Parr and good size Dace, some of which felt like sandpaper, obviously getting ready for spawning. I was bumping a few fish on the strike, a little frustrating but that's part of the fun of Dace fishing! I was getting a bite a chuck, and I didn't know what it would be next, including some Wild Brown Trout that fight like fury!

A Cracking Hard Fighting Wild Brown Trout.

The bites kept coming, some of which were no more than 10ft. down the swim. Andy packed up and brought me some more maggots, which was handy as I was rapidly running out! The action slowed a little so I packed up about 4 pm. I ended up with a net into double figures, not bad for a few hours! A lovely afternoon and nice way to end the river season on, even if I hadn't been down much!

A Cracking Afternoon's Dace Fishing.