River Roach Obsession

[John Bailey]

I am totally crazy, gaga, mad for river roach and I’m not alone. Recent surveys have shown that a two-pound river roach is STILL the number one dream of many, many anglers…including names like Alan Blair. Of course, we all know the Seventies and the big numbers of big roach are unlikely to come again. There have been years that have driven me to redfin despair but I do see some light. Honest, I do.

It’s six or seven years since I have netted a Wensum two-pounder, or it had been till three weeks ago. Then, electrifyingly, best mate Ian Miller, Pingers to me, had one at 2.02. Trotting too. Soon afterwards, another mate, Ratters lost two that size, one at the net, and TODAY(!) I picked up a 1.15, netted and held by another pal, Ian Lewis..NOT the float maker btw! Another mate, Derek Causer has had twos from the Hants Avon, and so has Phil Humm, someone else I have fished with for years. Dr Redfin Everard has been contacting them on the Wessex rivers and fishing partners have been seeing them on the Trent, the Ribble and even the Wye. This is all great news and one thing I would love to do is to get a real big river roach debate off the ground. There is not a better challenge out there – and so say many of us.

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I’m out again tomorrow with Ian and there might be more photos to come but it might be good to highlight what I’ve been learning and relearning this back end. So, here we go with my first POINTS TO PONDER.

If time is tight, fish for big river roach early or late OR when the river is up and coloured with warm rain water. Don’t bother if air temperatures are less than 7 degrees.

Trotting is best but tip if you must…and I say this despite 70% of my big roach coming on the latter. As far as float rods go my first choice will be the Hardy Marksman 14 footer and if you can get hold of one, do it. The Drennan Acolyte 14s are good but for me, they do not have the spine of the Marksman…and big roach FIGHT, make no mistake.

Pins or not? Of COURSE fixed spools do the job but roach men have not been using pins for decades because they are stupid. (Although, again, 60% of my big roach have come on fixed spools). If you can get your hands on one, the Hardy Conquest is a good but…I like 4in spools but 4.5in models are good for bigger rivers and longer trots. I have been using the Piscario Titanium reels for a couple of years with huge affection and success but many of my mates swear by the older Aerials and of course, anything by Gary Mills can’t be bad! But we are getting into a whole new territory here so I’ll move on.

Pin or fixed spool, I like 3lb mainline, just occasionally 4. I just cannot master the waggler on rivers (lessons please) so I am a stick float man. I always use as light a one as I can get away with. I know you need weight for control and so on but big roach hate big floats churning over their heads. Today, I used a large pole float carrying three No 1 shot and that did me fine. I’m not too fussed over shotting patterns and I like to get the bait down. I bulk shot about a foot above the bait and that basically has always done for me.

I ALWAYS use micro barb hooks. Big roach are stunningly, heartbreakingly efficient at throwing barbless so I’m not going to trot for a winter just to lose a fish on the strike, thank you.

Everyone has their favourite baits and mine probably has to be fresh bread flake…JUST! Some 65% of my big roach have come on flake, generally on an 8 or 10 hook. Trouble is even big roach will hold flake in their lips and run with it before swallowing so strike late.

Maggots of course are supreme. I prefer whites, three of them on a 16, always micro barbed and always spade end. Many of my mates like red gentles but there is no rule here. Hemp, casters, and tares are the baits of maestros like Causer and, by God, do they do well on them. That I have never needed them myself has nothing to do with it! Corn is a great summer bait but, me, I’ve never done that well on it after the frosts.

Loose feed is a mighty issue and every situation is different. I like to feed generously, as a rule. If the river has colour, if I think I am on fish, then I will pile it in, especially when I am on maggots. I love mash and liquidised bread as loose feed and I’ll keep that going in as well. I know little and often is the rule but for me, plenty and often wins out. IF I can prebait, then I will. Put mash into a swim, mixed with lots of hemp, for three days before getting the rod out and you really can crack even hard stretches.

Next time, soon, I’ll run through my sessions with Ian and look at the finer points of big roach hunting – on the float. The night looks like being warm. GREAT. What worries me is that the colour has been dropping out and the light rain we had an hour ago is too little to make a difference. But, when the going gets tough….

The post River Roach Obsession first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[Peter Jacobs]

Nice article John, thanks for this . . . . .

 

[mikench]

A very good read and an enjoyable one.

 

[Bluenose]

Excellent read, thank you. Although not river fishing, I've been doing some roach fishing on a local canal (it flows like a river) this last winter, and a few times this autumn, and one thing that's surprised me, as a relative novice to this style of roach fishing, is the fact the fish are not tackle shy. As you say, size 10 hooks, large pieces of flake, totally at odds with the 'size 22 and single pinkie' advice we were given as kids. Maggot anglers are catching small fish, yet virtually all of mine are netters, nothing massive, fish to 1.03, but interesting and absorbing fishing.

Not sure about the statement though..

...and the big numbers of big roach are unlikely to come again.

I'm not picking for the sake of picking, but river and their food webs change over time. It appears, from anecdotal evidence, catch reports etc that perhaps barbel numbers are decreasing in some rivers, I'm thinking upper/middle Severn possibly, also the likes of the Dane. There maybe a space to be filled in these venues some time soon?

 

[no-one in particular]

Great article, interesting, roach fishing must have many variations of favorite methods and baits. One thing is true, using bread-flake or any bread can be frustrating, many bites and no fish is often the case; at least it is for me. However, last time I fished I came up with a variation that I think worked well although I will need to try it again which I will do as soon as I get back on the river bank. I did not catch big roach but I think I hooked more than I normally do in bites to "fish-on-the-bank" ratio.
I rolled about a inch to two inch piece of bread around the line above the hook fairly tight into a hard sausage but leaving the hook end of the bread fluffy, then pull the line so the hook comes up just inside the fluffy part. Then nip the excess fluffy bit off just below the hook. You now have a sausage roll of bread fairly hard but the hook just buried in the fluffy bit. In the water the fish sees a longish hard sausage roll but a nice fluffy bit at the end; fish will normally go for the fluffy bit, especially roach therefore the hook is inside their mouth or just inside as soon as you get an indication of a bite and a early strike will hook them.
This will also ensure the bread stays on the hook longer than the usual flake just pressed on the hook, what happens here is they attack the fluffy edges or put it in their lips and run with it but the hook is often outside their mouth, whereas this way they have the hook just where you want it from the off. Is it good for big roach? I am not sure but I think if they are there they will go for it with a better chance of hooking them. I need to try it a few more times to evaluate it better but I think it may prove to be winner.
I also think it may prove better for hooking other species as well but I will need to experiment with it more to find out.

 

[lambert1]

Thank you John for a very welcome and thought provoking break, from all the worries of Covid.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Interest points. I wouldn't touch an Acolyte rod with a bargepole, very light but not the tool for roach. My 39-year-old B&W John Dean rod would knock it into a cocked hat though more modern rods like the Allerton from tricast or several of the old Normarks are top roach rods.

My attitude to roach is now basically, catch half a dozen with one netter over half a pound and I'm happy. I don't need monsters, net-fulls or to get worried about how many I've caught, and as the president of my old club once said to me after witnessing a near three pound roach I'd just caught, "How many two-pounders do you want, Mark?". In 1977 I achieved my first after a 6 year quest and had catches after that that easily satisfied any ambitions.

When it comes to floats I retain my matchman's instinct and would give those pictured the Ivan Marks' treatment - snap the lot in half and find a decent floatmaker. I'd also spent a couple of years learning waggler fishing, a dying art on rivers but two books deal with it in detail, Kevin Ashurst's World Class Match Fishing, and Jim Baxter's The Rising Antenna.

I concentrate on making videos now when I'm fishing so any decent fish are a bonus. See Youtube for my series on roach.

 

[mikench]

The 4 roach I caught last week and in quick succession over a 1lb and with 1 at 1lb 12 together with the other 20 or say around 6oz were all caught on a 14' Sphere and I consider that says far more about the prowess of the rod than mine. I have been very pleasantly surprised with it so far for roach fishing. Lovely fish to catch.

 

[no-one in particular]

The best roach rod I had very briefly was the Hardy Palakona Perfection Roach, I couldn't use it as it needed renovating so I sold it but to hold one was a wonderous thing, now; useless information I know and most would prop their beans up with one but there you go, you want to talk about great roach rods and that's mine. They might cost around £400-£500 quid but if you see one in a junk shop for a fiver, buy it and I will give you a tenner for it., no sweat.

 

[tigger]

IMO, there are lots of perfectly adequate rods for roach fishing.
Regarding the back bone of the accy plus rods, I know through experience that both the 13 and 14 foot rods are very versatile and capable having used them for both smaller and larger species of fish.
I wouldn't say the hardy specialist 14 foot float rod has any more spine than the 14ft accolyte plus float rod, infact I think the accy rod may have that bit more at the extremes...jmo of course.
Regarding floats, for the biggest part of my fishing I prefer to use an avon/bolo float in varying sizes and with either carbon or alloy stem depending on the situation.
At the end of the day, you use what you like, or can afford at the time and make the most of it.

 

[108831]

Great read John,as for acolytes for big roach,this is a bone of contention,roach have a tendency to shake the hook with their rattle on retrieval,so the softer rods reduce this,if pike are a nuisance(which they often are)then the angler needs to hurry the roach along to stop munching,the right balance is critical...