Skip to content 
Some fish encountered during a trophy fishing tour on the Yenisei River may surprise visiting guests by being predators themselves, but they also act as live bait. One such fish is the dace.
This small predatory fish, sometimes growing to just 29 cm and weighing around 200 grams, often serves as live bait. Catching it can yield substantial trophies of noble salmon.
What is dace?
The dace also has other names, such as the corbus or the yalets. It's related to the carp, but is generally considered a predatory fish that feeds on live flesh, much like larger members of the species, such as the asp. The fish's appearance looks like this:
- The maximum weight of a dace can rarely reach 400 grams, but the fish typically grows from 7 to 15 cm. Its weight does not exceed 200 g.
- The flat body structure reminds many anglers of the chub, which is why they are often confused.
- The back of the fish has a gray-blue tint, with a modest gray-yellow fin that has a slit, and its sides with strong scales shine with silver.
The dace has a unique way of hunting for various insects, which it catches at night, leaping eagerly out of the water. The fish prefers deep waters and, in winter, can often be caught in deep holes in the water.
Where can you catch dace?
Although small in size, the fish is most often caught in rivers with moderate currents. It also likes to inhabit various stagnant bodies of water, lakes, or ponds. The key is that the water is cold and clean.
Catching the required amount of live bait is possible during the day, when dace emerge from the depths to feast on flies, beetles, bloodworms, and flies. During the spawning season of other fish, dace attack their eggs. In warmer months, this predatory fish may attack young frogs and also supplement its diet with grasshoppers, dragonflies, and other insects.
How to catch an insectivorous predator?
Dace can be caught with a float rod or ultralight spinning rod using live bait, spoons, wobblers, or flies. This small predator also responds well to bottom fishing, especially in areas of the reservoir with deep holes. When ice fishing, you can find this fish on coastal drop-offs or near steep banks.
Sometimes, to catch small predators, fishermen use a fly line rigged with a fly jig. This is especially useful in the spring, when insects awaken and fill many bodies of water in abundance.
Another option for catching live bait is a small seine net. This method can be used with two watercraft (a boat or a raft). Dace are also caught with a cast net or a drag net, but these methods rarely yield large quantities of bait.
Conclusion
We've talked about a small predator found in many Siberian rivers and lakes. Visiting the Putorana Plateau, anglers have the opportunity to catch other predatory species using this live bait. In the Yenisei River, dace can be used to catch huge pike, which locals call river alligators.
