Martin Bowler’s roach haul.
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theartist
Well-known member
I still think they can be a bit harder to catch that some other species, whether that makes them smarter though is another matter.
One thing about big roach is that no matter where you are there are big ones possible, from Scotland, through Northern Ireland down to the South east and South west even urban areas, they are spread over all the UK, there's not many species where you can say the distribution of specimen fish are as such
One thing about big roach is that no matter where you are there are big ones possible, from Scotland, through Northern Ireland down to the South east and South west even urban areas, they are spread over all the UK, there's not many species where you can say the distribution of specimen fish are as such
This touches on something else that I have never really got my head round. Roach are clearly everywhere in all types of water and in all sizes yet for some reason they are lauded while Carp are demonized.
Worse is the fact that if there is one fish that clearly DOES benefit from Carp waters sprouting up all over the place its the Roach....the angler moaning about the Carpers as he reels in yet another bolie fattened 2lb Roach...
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theartist
Well-known member
Interesting but the facts contradict this, sure the roach can benefit from carp baits but they don't need them, never have. Roach can grow to huge sizes without any carp baits and do, take the wild Scottish lochs and fly only chalk streams as examples, also in many of the urban rivers I fish the carp are long gone yet the roach soldier on to a large size. Their sizes have also remained pretty constant unlike other species who's records have almost doubled due to high protein baits. A 2lb roach is still a specimen, A 3lb still awesome and a 4lb'er is still touching the British record yet we've all caught a Barbel that's bigger than Aylmer Tryons former long standing British record.
I don’t think we actually disagree here. I agree that Roach can also thrive in waters that have never seen a Carp or for that matter any anglers bait.
That’s a very interesting point and again I agree, the weights have stayed pretty constant down the years compared to allot of other species. It does raise the question as to the maximum size a roach can attain. Whenever I consider that type of question for a species I always look outside the UK to see what sort of sizes fish are reaching elsewhere. Places like the Ebro have been throwing up some very large Roach as have some waters in Italy and elsewhere. I have heard stories about Roach over 5lb but I have yet to see anything such as a photo or other evidence to give a good indication that it actually happens. If anyone here has something to suggest otherwise then I (and I am sure others) would be very interested to see it !
Basically all this boils down to the fact that somewhere between 4 and 5lb is probably the maximum we can expect Roach to reach in
ideal circumstances.
The thread your referring to was about how balanced mixed fisheries can be ruined by the introduction of Carp. While I suggest that the stocking of Carp can lead to the creation of excellent fishing for other species. Ironically the catch about which you started this thread is an example of that.
So no, I don’t full well know the reasons why people (and you would be one of the principle detractors) continue to be so anti Carp. The thread is still there if you want to discuss further.
Its also worth noting that the first person to mention Carp on this thread was you.