Most roach caught in a day?

[lightdragoon]

Doubt anyone keeps track seriously, but what is the most roach you've caught in a day? I'm going to target them exclusively on a really good silver fish only lake and would like at least 30 in a 5 hour session.

 

[chub_on_the_block]

Not sure I would be bothered about numbers - probably had several hundred in a match or match style session but with 95% under an ounce. They might as well be bleak in that situation.

However, a 10Ib bag of roach is a very good achievement in my opinion and anything over 20Ib would be a red letter day. On the rare occasions i achieved 10Ib + of roach (and it must be over twenty years ago now) most fish were in the 5-8 oz range with maybe a few around the pound mark. Infact i think my best ever roach bag, from the Thames at Kingston, was just under 19Ib.

 

[stevejay]

Like Chub says, it needs to be considered in terms of size and weight. Most of my catches are in matches but have had a few days of catching double figures, often from canals, which is a great day.

Witnessed a mate have 100lb plus in the Shannon at Lanesborough fishing 3m to hand.....most fish I think I have ever seen weighed!

But my most memorable roach session was 10 fish for 13lb out of the Tone in Taunton on the stick float.

 

[terry m]

Yes, quality not quantity.

2or 300 livebait sized roach in a session would easily be eclipsed by half a dozen one pound plus fish.

 

[peter crabtree]

In April this year I fished a silvers only at Boddington Res. After 6 hours
I weighed in 18lb 12oz. All roach in the 2-4 oz size on 3m whip and caster.
I reckon around 90 to 100....

 

[barbelboi]

In the early 70’s I weighed in 5lb 12oz of roach from the Loddon – just the two of them............................

 

[Steve2020]

I remember fishing on the staffs worcs canal in Stafford at the Hazelstrine bridge in the early 90's with Rod and line, I don't remember my exact set up but basically I was fishing a small float and light line probs in the region of 4 lb to 1.5lb hook length. I was fishing down the middle flicking a few maggots in every cast, I had well over 150 roach most were above 6 oz with the odd few over 12oz.. It was a dream session I was gutted when I had to pack up but enjoyed lifting the keepnet out.. Wow... Wish I'd have had a camera with me. Never had a days fishing like it on the canal since.

 

[dangermouse]

I know a small pond that`s usually teeming with tiny roach, most of them about the size of your thumb. Fishing with a whip you could probably catch 100+ in a few hours. Not sure why you`d want to though.

It`s so bad there that I don`t usually bother taking maggots with me, just bread and corn to target the tench.

For single species hauls I think my record would be about 60 or so gudgeon from the canal.

 

[smudger172]

Red letter day on the Thames downstream of wallingford last September i must have had over 200 feeding hemp and fishing elderberries in the 6oz to 10oz range in a 10 hr session. No keep net used as i think its unfair to hold fish for a long time. Probably missed another 400 bites as well. It was cast, float cocked 2 seconds and strike all day long. Totally knackered at the end of the day.

 

[bennygesserit]

about 50 in hour and a half on the canal by me , a match was fished there and from "my peg" a guy weighed in 30lb of silvers , mostly roach , in a match.

Some evenings during the summer for about 45 minutes at the end of day its alive with Perch going for the silvers, its weird like the water is almost boiling.

I think its because the residents throw their spare bread over the fences.

 

[The Runner]

Back in the 1980s I had 105-6 all roach in a match on the R Bann at Portadown, exactly 250 fish. All in just over three hours as well as went nearly two hours without a bite until they turned up. Stepped-up bleak fishing really though, 6 metres of pole with the no 1 taken out and a loop of 20lb nylon whipped to the top of the no2 to attach the rig, float like a table tennis ball with a thick bristle and long stem, inch barrel lead a few inches from a long shank barbless 12 with a bunch of maggots on it, ball of groundbait every chuck....

Done over 50 lb of roach pleasure fishing on a couple of occasions, once from the Tweed at Coldstream ( only around 45 fish) and once from Broadwater Pit at Harefield. You wouldn't get even 10 lb of roach from either now if you used a trawler for a week.

Most enjoyable though was probably an open match on the Thames at Radley about ten years ago. Weighed 24 lb odd, virtually all roach, fishing stick float and maggot a third of the way across. Would have had more if had had more loosefeed as had to cut back on the feed in the last hour or so as was in danger of running out (had 4 pints with me along with a pint of caster) and almost as soon as I did so the average size of the fish dropped. . Was beaten by a big weight of bream from the famous grey gate swim but didn't care, one of the nicest days fishing I have ever had in a match.

 

[theartist]

Because i'm a total geek i record every fish i catch big or small (except for minnows,gudgeon and bleak) and for every venue i have a different challenge to beat a pb whether its a solitary specimen or a record for the most in one day.

Roach are one of 'those' species that you don't mind catching lots of and weirdly my best 113 was from the middle Thames which i equalled with the same amount from the Lea a few years later. I only stopped on each occasion as i had beat a previous best but i could have continued catching as it was a fish a chuck. The Thames one i didn't wan't to beat were all netters and it was an epic day. Never went back there not sure why.

When you do record each fish its surprising how few you actually get in each hour even when your amongst them. With bumped/lost fish, adjustments to your set up, breaks for food,drink and water not to mention the call of nature anything around 20 per hour on average is good going for a pleasure session.

 

[john step]

I have been lucky to have had 2 red letter dream days with roach.
The first was on the Tidal Thames above Richmond about 25 yrs ago. I had a huge net of clunking roach to over a pound. At the time I estimated the catch to 40lb +. All on hemp and tares.

The second was on the Grand Union near Watford. My heart sunk when I saw the canal was flowing hard and very coloured but on a short pole I had lots of roach to over a pound and three quarters on maggot. Keith Arthur was fishing about 50 yds to my left and he had never known anything like it. The roach it seemed came down from a side stream in the flood. I never saw the like of them again.

 

[peter crabtree]

Reading some of these replies it seems that on rare days the roach really av'it.
I remember 2 of these 'special days' on the Thames.
One was a match at Child Beale near Reading about 10 years ago.
An autumn day where every peg bagged up with clonking roach.
February 2007 I fished the same venue and the same happened again.
We were casting out feeders of GB and pinkies on the hook. The feeder barely settled and the tip was nodding.
I'm convinced that there are big roach present in all manner of venues but some very rare days all the conditions seem absolutely sock on and the roach go ballistic.
A good rate of flow seems to be a major factor but some days it doesn't help?
It must be a combination of flow, air pressure and light values?
I wish I could predict these days but for the life of me I can't.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

A 10lb net of Roach 8oz plus, would be very good on some waters today. I have had many a good day roach fishing and had bags of 50lb a number of times, put that was in the late 70's and the 80's.

6 years ago i did have a Red Letter day on the old river lea, i ended with just over 45lb of Roach, not one was under 10 ozs, and a number well over the 1lb mark with the best being 1lb 13ozs.

I would rather catch a couple of good Roach than a bag of blades.

 

[lightdragoon]

I think the most I've had is about 20! Though I am a beginner.. I just fish with a waggler and often get a nice mixed bag. Whenever I see the match fisherman in action they seem to be pulling a fish out every few seconds!

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

Reading some of these replies it seems that on rare days the roach really av'it.
I remember 2 of these 'special days' on the Thames.
One was a match at Child Beale near Reading about 10 years ago.
An autumn day where every peg bagged up with clonking roach.
February 2007 I fished the same venue and the same happened again.
We were casting out feeders of GB and pinkies on the hook. The feeder barely settled and the tip was nodding.
I'm convinced that there are big roach present in all manner of venues but some very rare days all the conditions seem absolutely sock on and the roach go ballistic.
A good rate of flow seems to be a major factor but some days it doesn't help?
It must be a combination of flow, air pressure and light values?
I wish I could predict these days but for the life of me I can't.

I do know for fact that Roach go mad when it is very very windy. I was fishing on a large pit a number of years ago. By the afternoon the wind was blowing very strong, my rod tip smashed round and i had a 1lb 9oz fish. Next cast the same, a fish of a pound plus, all 4 of us fishing had the Roach going and all good ones.

I have had good Roach in strong wind a number of times since, and i know a couple of lads who target the Roach when the wind blows. It doesn't matter what direction the wind is blowing either for some reason.

 

[peter crabtree]

I have had many a good day roach fishing.

Understatement of the year...

 

[barbelboi]

I do know for fact that Roach go mad when it is very very windy. I was fishing on a large pit a number of years ago. By the afternoon the wind was blowing very strong, my rod tip smashed round and i had a 1lb 9oz fish. Next cast the same, a fish of a pound plus, all 4 of us fishing had the Roach going and all good ones.

I have had good Roach in strong wind a number of times since, and i know a couple of lads who target the Roach when the wind blows. It doesn't matter what direction the wind is blowing either for some reason.

We know a song about that don't we - The answer my friend is.................(probably written after a couple of roach joints)...........

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

We know a song about that don't we - The answer my friend is.................(probably written after a couple of roach joints)...........

The Hippy in you is coming back out

---------- Post added at 21:10 ---------- Previous post was at 21:07 ----------

Understatement of the year...

That was one fish Peter, not a bag. Mind you a bag of those would be a Red Letter day