Finding Roach And Chub In An Unkown Area

[terry t shirt]

hi i've recently moved from the south of england to northamptonshire . i was used to fishing large rivers with a strongish flow i'm aware the nene had a reputation for roach but what areas should i be concentrating on? and should i treat it as a still water as every section i've looked at seems devoid of flow

[geffaz]

obvious i know! but probly a little sit down and look would probly get u on the fish! all the usual spots like eddys , run offs, over hanging trees

slack water?

[Steve Burke]

This question really needs an article to do it justice. However, I hope you find the following useful.

 

Many of our rivers in Kent seem similar to your local ones, with little flow apart from below weirs or after rain. Friends and I have found that roach often drop downstream into the slower. deeper stretches in the winter. A good way of finding roach swims is to walk the banks at dawn and dusk and watch for rolling roach. Then spend some time plumbing the area. The best such swim of all I found was one that had a gravel patch in an otherwise clay-bottomed area. Otherwise, I'd be looking for swims containing bulrushes. True bulrushes have round, dark green stems and grow only on firm bottoms.

 

The slow deeper stretches of river can be excellent for bigger than average chub. Such chub are often more predatory than usual, and also tend to be more nocturnal. Unlike the roach, the chub seldom show themselves on such reaches. However, sometimes you can get them to come up for floating crusts. Bear in mind though that these chub, unlike their counterparts in fast-flowing stretches, do tend to wander about a lot more. What I'd be looking for is any feature, however isolated, that makes the swim different ,such as an overhanging tree or even a branch. Then it's a matter of trying each swim in turn, perhaps searching half a dozen swims each trip. It's hard work, but well worth it.

 

Finally, I'd suggest getting to the river when it's in flood and also when it's fining down. You'll have some current then of course, and that'll give you a lot of clues to location in normal winter conditions.

[DavyR]

Whereabouts in Northants are you fishing, Terry? When I lived in Northampton (admittedly that was 20 years ago) the stretch running through Midsummer Meadow was reliable for chub, and the area further into town near the old cattle market was best for roach. Hemp and tares or caster used to score well in the winter.

 

The upper river near Boughton Crossing held some good roach, too.

[Guest josh]

Not on chub but i thought id tell you any way theres supposed to be huge carp in the nene