How to target big roach?

[goosequill]

JohnA

 

First of all, congratulations on what sounded a fantastic days fishing for you and your son. You may not have caught monsters but you enjoyed it which counts.

 

Anderoo and others have quoted breadflake, which I can only echo as a recommendation. A large piece on a size 10 or 8 will get taken by a huge roach. The more important things probably aren't the bait but the conditions - big roach are notoriously fickle to catch. Bright light (i.e sunshine) can often be disasterous. If you have located some big roach, I would try feeding some mashed bread and leaving the swim well alone for several hours and fish it one hour before and after the sunset with the lightest quivertip you could get away with. Also, if the river is fining down after a recent flood your chances are even better.

 

The very best of luck to you, hope you catch a huge roach!!

 

Chris

[AndrewY]

Hi and congrats on your days fishing,

 

Ive got to say i'm no expert on big roach fishing having only been doing it since june but ive got to agree that conditions play a big part in whether they are feeding or not. We have been fishing a reservoir which is full of small roach but also contains a number of 2lb+ specimens. If the weather is bright and clear we can forget it as they just don't seem to show no matter what. If conditions are right, overcast with a light facewind we do pretty well. Were fishing feeder with a mix of brown crumb, hemp seed, and some frenzied hemp also with live and dead maggots mixed through. When using maggot as a hookbait we are getting nothing but small roach but a change to caster (no casters in groundbait mix) fished on a size 22 spade end hook making sure all of the hook is hidden inside the caster we seem to pick out the larger of the roach 1,1/2lb+. Going out tomorow using this method so hopefully I aint jinxed myself, so give it a try offer fish something different to your main feed and best of luck.....

[Steve Burke]

I've also found that roach feed best in poor light and, unlike perch, after dark as well whatever the time of year. This especially applies to the bigger ones.

 

On clear rivers I've done best with bread, but on clay-based rivers worms have been my most successful bait.

 

I prefer to float fish for roach whenever possible, whether with a still or moving bait, the stationary or strett-pegged bait often sorting out the bigger specimens, especially on the slower rivers. If float fishing isn't feasible I much prefer to ledger upstream as this means far fewer missed bites.

 

Location of course is always the key, so walking the banks watching for fish if the water is clear, or looking for rolling fish whatever the clarity is a must. I also plumb the stretch carefully, and also look out for any gravel bottoms as roach seem to prefer these. They seem to least like mud, but this may be because the current is often too slow for their liking on such bottoms. Current speed is of course important and roach usually prefer a current faster than perch but slower than chub. Also important is that the current is steady rather than varying in pace over a short distance.

 

Good luck on your quest. Do be sure to let us know how you get on.

[gozzer]

I've not had any 'massive' roach, the best being 1lb 13oz, but I have found that the bigger solitary river roach sometimes tend to hang around with shoals of medium sized chub. Nearly all the roach that I've caught 1 1/2lb or over have been been accompanied by catching a chub or two. This is from rivers, I don't often fish still waters. On a several occasions I have seen a shoal of a dozen or so chub in the 2-4lb bracket, being followed by one or two roach 1 1/2- 2lb+, it's as if they are the last remnants of a roach shoal but still have a shoaling instinct, and the chub fulfill that need. As for baits, bread, worms and cheese have all been successful for me, tares have accounted for quite a few 1lb+ roach, fished without hemp, just a few grains each cast. As Steve says the light plays an important part in roach fishing, I think that this is part of the reason for autumn and winter being the best times of year, due to the lower light levels. I think it was Richard Walker that said that the fishing was best when the sun dropped below about 12 degrees, because refraction became reflection at about that angle, and less light entered the water.

[Andy Macfarlane]

Prebait as often as possible wit liquidised cheap tinned sweetcorn and brown breadcrumb. When you do finally fish your chosen swim, use a largish hook (size 12 drennan corn hook) and whole pieces of Jolly Green Giant corn on the hook.

[Tony U]

My biggest 2lb10oz, (fluked as usual), came on 14lb line, 3oz lead, a 12 mm banana Boilie and 3lb test rod, not to be recommended; but I have never seen a decent roach when fishing the venue using more suitable tackle.

Edited September 26, 2006 by Tony U

[Miggy]

Try using Tares """""!!!!!!"""""

 

 

 

[RPM]

In my own experience, Casters seem to have caught me most of my larger roach including a cracker of 2lb 8oz.

 

Also nice to land a large roach when hunting for tench with a couple of grains of corn.

Edited September 26, 2006 by RPM

[Waveney One]

I've not had any 'massive' roach, the best being 1lb 13oz, but I have found that the bigger solitary river roach sometimes tend to hang around with shoals of medium sized chub.

 

 

That may not be massive, but it is certainly a big roach. I would go the bread route and you don't want the bread "to stay on the hook". You want to strike it off at the end of your trot and then put a new piece on the next trot down. That way you are constantly feeding the swim and the roach move up the river looking for the source and finding your hookbait in the process. Maggots, worms, caster and tares all have their uses on certain days but in normal conditions, bread is best. Given a flooded river however, give me a lobworm any day. Roach over a pound will take a full lob and think nothing of swallowing a lob tail!