A Day After Dace

The first day of my mini break to Herefordshire to fish the beautiful river Wye coincided with a wet weather front and a quick glance at the river the night before saw it at least sixteen feet high, however we had been expertly informed that it was dropping fast and would be fining down nicely the following morning.

Catching at a quicker rate

As promised it was and everything looked perfect to set up two lines of attack. The first being my new Sphere Silverlite System Whip aimed at fishing 8m to hand in a depth of around 7’ of water. My second line of attack was my trusted Sphere 14’ Match Rod teamed up with a Sphere MgTi 940 reel loaded with 4.5lb Black Magic Gold Mono along with a 4.5g Scott Douglass bolo float that would be run down the inside crease. Both the whip and bolo would be fished on the same line, the whip enabling me to catch at a quicker rate to hand, with the bolo giving me the option to search the bottom of the swim should the fish drop down the peg.

Gauging the response 

Feed would be hemp and caster in generous quantities with a single caster on the hook in an attempt to avoid the millions of bleak that also seem to be thriving in the river. I mixed together two bags of Browning Champion’s Choice River and two bags of Black Magic groundbait but decided not to feed this from the off and gauge the response of the loose feed in an attempt not to attract the bleak.

Searching the peg

I decided to start on the bolo float to search the peg, this was set with a 4g olivette as the bulk with three no8 shot directly under the olivette and two no8 set four inches apart above an eight inch hook length of 0.16mm Cenex Hybrid Power Mono with a size 14 Sphere Match hook finishing the set up. This setup looked and acted perfectly in the crease which was about 8m from the bank. The first hour was hectic with the dace and roach responding to the hemp and caster loose feed, a nice run of quality roach up to 1lb from the inside glide preceded until the flow started to ease with the river continuing to drop.

Far greater control

This marked the time to move on to the 8m whip line which gave me far greater control and enabled me to fish a lighter float of 3g, a slim line pattern was used to enable me to both run through and hold back the float at different intervals to entice a bite. The rig was set at 8m to hand on 0.16mm Hybrid Power Mono to a 0.14mm six inch hook length of the same material and once again a size 14 Sphere Match Hook completing the set up. This was my first outing with the Sphere Silverlite Whip and something I had been rather looking forward to giving a run out for some time. Due to the size and strength of the fish in the Wye I decided to use the hollow top kit and had elasticated the top section with a short length of Browning yellow 2.10mm Stretch 7 Elastic which has a rating of 8+, perfect for both providing a cushion on the strike and enabling me to swing dace up to 8oz to hand.

It’s fair to say the dace were queuing up on this line and the superior presentation that the whip provided enabled me to end the session with over 30lb of prime fit river Wye dace and roach.

Tim Bruce

I run Stretch 7 yellow elastic through the hollow tip of my whip in case of bonus fish.

Sphere Match hooks are perfect as they keep their points no matter how many fish you catch.

Tim’s Tackle

Sphere Silverlite System Whip

3g Float

0.16/0.14mm Cenex Hybrid Mono Line

Sphere size 14 Match Hook

Stretch 7 Elastic

Sphere 14’ Match Rod

Sphere MgTi 940 Reel

4.5g Scott Douglas Bolo Float

4.5lb Black Magic Gold Main Line

4g Olivette

0.16mm Cenex Hybrid Power Hook Length

Sphere size 14 Match Hook

Tim’s Bait

Hemp

Caster

Champion’s Choice Black Magic and River Groundbait

Tim displays his cracking Wye catch of silvers.