Black Nose Dace
Art Flick's Black Nose Dace is one of the most realistic baitfish imitations ever tied. It perfectly mimics the Rhinichthys atratulus — a small minnow found in virtually every cold-water trout stream in the East. Fish it with short, erratic strips in pools and runs, particularly in early spring when big trout are chasing spawning dace. The black stripe running down the side is the key identifying trigger.
- Type
- streamer (Streamer)
- Hook sizes
- #6–10
- Target species
- trout
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best seasons
- spring, summer, fall
Materials
- hook: 3X long streamer hook #6–10
- thread: Black 6/0
- body: Flat silver tinsel
- ribbing: Oval silver tinsel
- wing: White bucktail belly, black bear or black hair stripe, brown bucktail top
- tag: Red wool at tail (optional)
Tying steps
- Mount a size 6–10 3XL hook; start black thread and wrap a smooth base.
- Wrap flat silver tinsel from bend to the 2/3 mark; overwrap with oval silver rib.
- Optionally tie in a short red wool tag at the tail before the body.
- Tie in a small bunch of white bucktail as the belly wing.
- Tie in a sparse bunch of black bear hair or black bucktail directly on top as the lateral stripe.
- Tie in a final layer of brown bucktail over the black as the back.
- Build a neat small head; whip finish and lacquer.
- Apply two coats of head cement, shaping the head with a dubbing needle into a smooth, slightly tapered bullet shape while the first coat is still tacky.