Roach sessions..

The quest continues for big Roach, 'big' being a pound or over as a realistic target. Persistance and adjustments in bait, feed and methods has seen the stamp of fish in the stillwater I am targeting go up recently, also a drop in temperature has probably helped in keeping the smaller fish at bay.
A couple of good sessions recently have boosted my enthusiasm to keep at it, some bonus Perch over a pound really stretched the elastic in my pole the other day and were great fun on such light tackle, and a couple of Roach of 10oz or so convinced me yesterday that I am on the right track and hopefully not too far away from achieving my goal. Today I was even more justified to be so confident as the stamp of fish was even better and I managed to creep close to the mark with a nice 14oz fish, that magical pound barrier is within sight, but once I achieve that, my task becomes even harder. I feel sure the water i'm fishing contains fish in the upper pound bracket and just might hold a two pounder, I know this because I have had them to 1lb 13oz from here before, plus I have caught some big Roach while fishing for Tench and Carp using meat for bait during the warmer weather, but of course the feeling of acievement wasn't there due to using tackle far too strong, and I like to catch particular species on my own terms using appropriate tackle and bait.
Appropriate tackle and bait in this instance is an 8 metre Whip, pole float, 3llb line and 2.5lb hooklink. Bait is hemp, maggot, corn and tares. You really do get the best from this species (Roach), by using a pole or Whip, I'm using a 1-5 elastic which to me seems just right and you get a great fight from even 4oz fish! anything over half a pound really gives a good account of itself, and they can really be appreciated on this tackle, so catching one of a pound or more will be a proper buzz! The Perch have already tested the gear to the max so i know what to expect from a decent Roach.
Looking forward to the next few sessions!

That's not a Roach!

Once again this week I have been focusing on the Roach in my local stillwater, the aim being to try and catch as many fish over a pound as I can and hopefully get somewhere near the two pound barrier....

I have been using tactics that I hoped would produce the goods for me, avoiding maggots I have stuck with larger hookbaits in the form of Corn and Tares, and using hemp as the feed, the idea being to fill up the smaller fish quickly with the seed and draw in the bigger fish. For precise presentation I have favoured the Pole, cupping in the feed accurately. So far although the stamp of fish I have been getting is certainly better than I would get on maggot, it is still falling woefully short of my target. Why this is I am not quite sure, maybe the water temperature is still a bit too warm to put the smaller fish out of the equasion, maybe I am fishing the wrong swims, or perhaps I have got my whole approach wrong...
Admittedly in the past all my bigger Roach have been caught in much colder temperatures and also on maggot although I have had to suffer many small fish as well alongside. We have experienced some very prolonged warm weather here the last few weeks, and only now has the wind switched to the North and temperatures are beginning to barely break double figures, ( we are yet to have a frost ), it will take the water a week or two to follow suit I would imagine, so maybe then things will change and I will start to get the results.

In the meantime I was reminded how you can land big fish on light, balanced tackle at the weekend, something I have been an advocate of for a while now. Although I am tartgeting Roach I am not using what would be termed 'ultra fine' tackle, sticking with 3.4lb line and a hollow elastic rated 5-8. Most matchmen would use hooklinks down to 1lb and elastics in the 1-3 range, but I am hoping for big Roach and I know that I will inevitably hook other species that are much larger such as Bream, Tench, and Carp, so I am erring on the side of caution and hoping I have the balance between enough finesse in the tackle and still retain the strength to deal with larger rogue specimens. This is exactly what happened in the last couple of sessions, one was a Carp of 9lb 12oz, and another one at around 8lb along with a Tench of 3lb plus. The Carp tested my tackle to the limits, but patience and not panicking ( just!), won through and I was able to play and land these fish on the light tackle despite there being snags nearby. I was very pleased actually, and It doesn't mean I am over gunned for the Roach, I still get a decent fight from fish of 1/2lb up, ok it's not the same tackle testing fight as Carp or Tench and you wouldn't expect it to be, unless the fish I was targeting ran to 3 or 4lb...I wish!

Thats not a Roach!

I'll keep plodding on for now as the Saltwater fishing opportunities are becoming fewer and far between now that the weather is closing in, and freshwater fishing is coming more to the fore for myself and my friends, hopefully there will be a river trip or two before christmas in search of Chub and Roach, and maybe as the temperatures drop the bigger Roach in my stillwater will begin to show.

Thats more like it, but still nowhere near the size I'm aiming for..

Roach revival

I fancied a change from the saltwater this weekend and so I made plans to fish for possibly my favourite coarse fish, Roach.

I have promised myself to try hard for a big one this year, by big I mean a pound or over as a realistic target, Hemp was bought and prepared and Tares and Corn would be the hook bait. Now I would normally use maggot as the hookbait but of course they are indiscriminate as to the size of fish they will catch, so rather than sit through the hordes of tiny 'blades' I am prepared to get less bites but hopefully pick up a better stamp of fish overall. Being a bit rusty my first session on the Pole went fairly well, and using the Corn and Tares for hookbaits definitely eliminated the 'eyes and tails', and for the most part all the fish were of a slightly better size. I have a few little tactical things to iron out regarding the use of the bigger hookbaits as I seemed to be bumping a good few fish and with some obviously better ones in amongst them it became a little frustrating, i'll have to experiment with the hooking arrangement and try to get some softer Tares but I am on the right track without doubt. Once again my eldest son accompanied me this weekend and he had a nice day catching silvers alongside me in the next swim.

Does any other fish epitomise Autumn more the the Roach?...