Chalkstream Specimen Dace.

 Today was supposed to be so different with a trip to Hants Avon planned but the weather predicted was looking very poor and I did not want to be fishing through what I had to endure on Thursday, so I made the decision to bail on what could have been great session and spent the morning faffing around at home to see if the rain would abate, midday sailed by and still no luck, it wasn't until 1:30 that the rain finally relaxed, the wind was still very strong but I seized the opportunity to get on the bank albeit for 2-3 hours max.

 Dace were the target and I had a couple pints of maggots to get through. The river was up by a foot or so and coloured but I fancied building a glide and see if the silver darts were home and looking to munch. I set up with a 6AAA balsa float and a size 18 hook with two white maggot and one caster at the business end, fishing the bait around 6" off the bottom I found the Dace after a slow start and bites were thick and fast but couldn't hit most of them, my hunch was the Dace were hitting the shot on the way down and throughout the trots, the wind made life very challenging and I was missing some bites I really should have connected with but during the 2hour session I finished up with a bag of 17 Dace to 12oz 2dr, with 11 over 10oz.

Three of the best, largest at 12oz 2dr.

 A proper shoal of Dace and they all seemed massive with the smallest around 5oz, a Chub of 3lb also made an appearance but nothing else fell to my crafty trotting setup, considering the conditions I'll settle for that definitely with the limited time available too.