Nice cloudy sky, albeit with moderately high pressure at 1018 hPA, and I decided to try for some roach - though other matters meant I had less time than planned - just 90 mins leading up to dusk. With winds at over 20mph the priority was to find a sheltered swim, so I went to a bit of non-flowing canal, which I don't often fish, and had little idea what to expect.

Float-fished with 12 hook and nice chunk of bread flake. Bites very slow, and I had a feeling my bait was too big, so went down to a 14 with bread punch (the largest) . Had a brief spell of bite-a-chuck, and then the swim went dead for the last 30 mins. I think a pred had arrived. You'd expect the last 30 mins before dusk to be the best, but I quite often find the swim goes pretty dead at that time, and I wonder if it's because the preds like the low light even more than the roach!

About 8 roach, though none over about 5 oz. But it was interesting to try punched bread, and the magic bread worked well in a punch.