Roach

The Roach is one of our most popular coarse species and a firm favourite with the nations anglers, be they young children catching them in a local stream or seasoned anglers seeking them on a winter river the sight of those red fins are always warmly greeted.

Roach are common right  acrosss the country, they are found in streams and rivers,lakes and ponds,canals and reservoirs. A favourite with match men who can put huge weights together when sat on a large shoal! RRoach are also much sought after by the nations specialist anglers who dream of catching a genuine 3lb monster!

The Roach or Rutilus rutilus in latin is often the first type of coarse fish caught by new anglers. this is due to their being so widespread and the fact that small juvenile roach are easy to catch. The British Roach record stands at 4lb 8 oz but a fish over 1lb is a good fish and any Roach over 2lb can be thought of as a true specimen. it is these larger Roach that most anglers hope to catch as unlike their smaller siblings roach of this size and bigger prove to be a very worthy target and notoriously hard to tempt.

Roach are caught on a wide variety of baits including Maggots,Worms,Casters,Bloodworm,Hemp,Tares and my favourite Bread but they can be caught on baits as unusual as Silkweed and Elderberrys. Their usual diet is on the aquatic insects which live in their environment which is why maggots and worms are a really top bait but it is well known that Roach will investigate any 'White' object which resembles food and i believe that is why Bread has accounted for more specimen Roach than any other bait. Bread punch or a piece of Bread flake is often the best way to tempt a large Roach and it is the bait i always make sure i have with me when targeting Roach. A piece of Bread flake fished in conjunction with a feeder and some mashed up bread to tempt them is a killer method for Roach and has caught me hundreds of specimen Roach over the years.

Roach fishing is I believe best on rivers and a great way of targeting them is by using a stick float, in this picture you can see a fantastic Roach fishing set up, You need a medium to large Stick or Avon type float say around 4 AAA you then attach this to the line using 3 float rubbers, you then place the bulk of your shot about 18 inches from the hook and then add a small dropper shot 6 inches from the hook. On most occasions you would want to fish near to the bottom and if using Breadflake feed the swim with small balls of liquidised bread as groundbait. This is an outstanding method for catching Roach and one of the most exciting and rewarding ways of fishing.

Roach are found in rivers right across the country and rivers like the Wensum and The wye have produced huge Roach in the past but it is the southern chalk streams such as the Dorset Stour, The Test and The Avon which most of us think of when we think of targeting specimen river Roach these days. These rivers still throw up good numbers of specimen Roach over 2lb every year and it is possible to catch a mythical 3lb Roach if you know where to look!

Roach may not have the fighting ability of  the Barbel or Carp but when you get into fishing for them and see how much skill is needed to tempt a true specimen the satisfaction of landing one often out weighs that of captures of much bigger fish. Roach fishing is addictive and often becomes a life long passion. I hope you will give it a go and see just how rewarding it can be!.

Winter is 'The' time for specimen roach

As the winter frosts take their effect and the weeds begin to die, the floods caused by the heavy rain gradually clear our rivers. This is the time when Roach form up in huge shoals and is when an angler can expect good sport if they pursue them.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am at my happiest when fishing for 'redfins' along one of our wonderful rivers during the winter months. I am lucky enough to have great rivers like the Dorset Stour, the Hampshire Avon, the river Frome and the River Nadder all on my doorstep. All of these rivers are noted as some of the best in England for roach fishing and all regularly produce specimen roach.

The roach is still one of our best loved  coarse species, although they do not grow particularly large. The roach record stands at 4lb 4oz,.caught from an Ulster lake by Keith Berry in 2006. It beat by an ounce the 1990 record, taken by Ray Clarke from the Dorset Stour, which I believe is still officially the largest roach caught from a river in the UK.

The roach is noticeable by its slim silver body, greenish blue back and distinctive red fins, they are one of the UK's most abundant and popular species and a familiar sight to most fishermen. Roach thrive in a wide range of  environments, from canals and ponds, to huge reservoirs, and of course the nations many rivers, This makes them readily available to fishermen and a firm favourite with most anglers..

You can catch roach on a number of baits, the best of which are probably maggots, worms and my favourite bread. Roach absolutely love bread! It doesn't matter if its punch, paste, crust or flake as long as it is presented well. Specimen roach (over 2lb) can take up to 15 years to grow to that size and become very wary and a formidable target for any angler. To catch them you must present your bait just right or no matter which bait you use you will only ever tempt the smaller fish in a shoal.

Without doubt my favourite method for fishing for roach on the river is by 'trotting'. This is a method of float fishing where the angler uses a stickfloat and lets it run through the swim, occasionally holding it back so that the bait rises and falls giving it a very natural appearance.

                                           
There are two main ways of shotting a stickfloat such as in the image above from  Lets-go-fishing.org which is the 'Shirt Button' style, named because the weights are spread out like shirt buttons. This is a good way of presenting a small bait such as maggots, but on the rivers that I fish and for fishing with bread flake, which is my normal bait for big roach, I prefer to baulk shot my weight like in the image below from Fishingmagic.com which shows how you bulk the majority of the weight together, about 18 inches above the hook, although I rarely use the dropper shot, preferring the natural weight of the bread to act as the dropper.

'Trotting' is a great way to fish for roach and a very enjoyable way to pass a day, but, if you are going to target specimen roach then you may be better to use a simple feeder rig. Simply use an open or cage feeder filled with mashed bread, and for bait a lump of flake on a size 12 hook to 3lb line. This is used in conjunction with a light feeder rod or a Avon type ledger rod. You can simply use a running feeder setup, although my favourite is the paternoster feeder rig like the one in this image Nisafeeders.co.uk which works equally as well on lakes and rivers and is very effective for specimen roach.

Feeder fishing is probably the method that catches the most specimen roach and is the specimen hunters first choice. If indeed you are planning to target the bigger roach, it is advisable to do a bit of homework. Although roach are in most rivers and lakes they do not always grow to specimen size. Roach have many predators and need a good environment if they are to reach their maximum size. I am lucky in that I live in an area that is full of fantastic rivers that hold roach, but still not every stretch will hold 'big' roach and I only target them in areas where they are known to exist to specimen size.

It is a well known fact that roach feed best in low light conditions so it is best to go after them on a cloudy day or toward the 'Golden Hour' that is the hour leading up to dusk. It is debatable if it is worth fishing for roach at night, I personally only fish for an hour into darkness, as I have found that it has rarely produced results to fish on after that time. Another good tip that i agree with is to look out for a fair south westerly wind, I don't know why it is but this during the winter can certainly put specimen roach into a feeding frenzy.

Roach may not grow to a huge weight, but for most anglers the satisfaction of catching a beautiful specimen on a cold winters day is equal to any other feat in fishing. Now is the time to go in pursuit of a big 'redfin' give it a go on a water near you.