Finding the Winter Roach

[dant]

Apologies there Elton, I thought there might be a problem with my sign in or something like that..

 

Dan T

[John Weddup]

Glad your reply got there as it is very interesting.

 

I love my winter roach fishing along with the chub and other fish aswell.

 

The suffolk stour has some lovely streamy sections that are full of roach at times and empty at others. It has weirs and mill gates that seperate sections so generally there are only a few miles of navigable river for them.

 

The cormarant problem has certainly made them use different haunts but I have witnessed huge shoals of roach with chub amongst them in september only to struggle to find them later on.

 

One particular section has landed me several large roach in autumn and then can hardly find a fish after xmas. I have tried deep area's shallow area's long glides deep corners and had success at different venue's one day and nothing the next.

 

Sometimes no doubt its because they are not feeding but the river can look devoid of fish. They seem to move in mass.I am convinced the shallows below a mill pool are good after dark as the area contains lots of food not eaten during the day due to the threat of overhead predation so the fish move into these area's under the cover of darkness.

 

Its mysterys like this that keep me and obviously yourselves interested.

 

If you can master roach and chub fishing you have learn't everything you need to know to become a very good carp angler. Or should I use that old fashioned term an allrounder.

 

best regards

 

john

[John Weddup]

Dant

 

I have just read your long post again and like most interesting things when you re read /veiw them again you gain more.

 

You have made some very accurate and interesting points.

 

Anyone interested in winter fishing and succeding would be well advised to take your advice on board.

 

Accurate feeding, little and often, fish location, watercraft, patience.

 

If you have those and a little help from friends you can catch fish all year round. Whats more those caught on a cold winters day can be so much more enjoyable as it s a case of doing battle with the elements aswell.

 

Of course you could go to an overstocked commercial where the fish are starving and the water temp is high due to so many fish being in there.

 

I catch lots of big fish of many species and big bags of bream carp etc but to put a bag of roach together on a winters day is to me the best. It only needs to be 5 to 10 lbs depending on size of fish but I love it.

 

john

 

p.s. thanks dant for your post

[wurzel]

Finding the shoals of smaller fish like Roach and Dace on upper rivers and streams isn't I don't think as starightforward as it once was due our feathered Comorant friends.

As we've decimated our inshore fish stocks more large numbers of Comorant are taking up winter residence on our inland gravel pits which are generally in close proximity to a small river. I've noticed this on The Upper Wensum and Waveney in Norfolk and Suffolk inpaticular.

 

Hello Dant

 

If you would like to move to the Conservation and politics forum and I'll give you a good argument on that very inaccurate statement.

[wurzel]

Glad your reply got there as it is very interesting.

 

I love my winter roach fishing along with the chub and other fish aswell.

 

The suffolk stour has some lovely streamy sections that are full of roach at times and empty at others. It has weirs and mill gates that seperate sections so generally there are only a few miles of navigable river for them.

 

The cormarant problem has certainly made them use different haunts but I have witnessed huge shoals of roach with chub amongst them in september only to struggle to find them later on.

 

One particular section has landed me several large roach in autumn and then can hardly find a fish after xmas. I have tried deep area's shallow area's long glides deep corners and had success at different venue's one day and nothing the next.

 

Sometimes no doubt its because they are not feeding but the river can look devoid of fish. They seem to move in mass.I am convinced the shallows below a mill pool are good after dark as the area contains lots of food not eaten during the day due to the threat of overhead predation so the fish move into these area's under the cover of darkness.

 

Its mysterys like this that keep me and obviously yourselves interested.

 

If you can master roach and chub fishing you have learn't everything you need to know to become a very good carp angler. Or should I use that old fashioned term an allrounder.

 

best regards

 

john

 

Hello John

 

What part of the Suffolk Stour do you fish?

 

A good tip I've found is when the weather cools down in winter roach tend to migrate to areas of cover, one such area on the Stour is the rookery at Bures a well known winter roach spot, due to the large trees on either side of the bank, another is the A12 bridge at Statford you have two quite large bridges side by side here a good place to be during a cold snap. I know of two paces where roach shoal in culverts or tunnels I’ve seen them tightly packed in very shallow water and they have migrated up small feeder streams to get there.

I've not fished for roach for several years, size 2 hook and a walnut sized ball of paste for chub at the moment, but when I did, it was usually beside the bridge at Nayland, so in cold weather I suggest looking for sheltered areas.

[dant]

Hello Dant

 

If you would like to move to the Conservation and politics forum and I'll give you a good argument on that very inaccurate statement.

 

I'm not really sure which part of the statement you object to? There are an increasing number of Comorants on our inland waterways both the gravel pits and rivers. Last week I saw three on a one mile stretch of the Waveney.

I would like to consider myself a conservationally minded angler so hold very little against the Comorants, they are after all fishing for their survival not just for fun. The Otter population in our part of the world is also now back to pre 1970's levels and I for one am glad to see it.

A carefully balanced ecosystem given time will reap benefits for all. Even if it does take us fisherman a little longer to figure out whats what.

[dant]

Dant

 

I have just read your long post again and like most interesting things when you re read /veiw them again you gain more.

 

You have made some very accurate and interesting points.

 

Anyone interested in winter fishing and succeding would be well advised to take your advice on board.

 

Accurate feeding, little and often, fish location, watercraft, patience.

 

If you have those and a little help from friends you can catch fish all year round. Whats more those caught on a cold winters day can be so much more enjoyable as it s a case of doing battle with the elements aswell.

 

Of course you could go to an overstocked commercial where the fish are starving and the water temp is high due to so many fish being in there.

 

I catch lots of big fish of many species and big bags of bream carp etc but to put a bag of roach together on a winters day is to me the best. It only needs to be 5 to 10 lbs depending on size of fish but I love it.

 

john

 

p.s. thanks dant for your post

 

 

John I agree with you, there is a certain pleasure gained from putting together a run of fish from a favoured stretch in the colder months.

Infact for certain species such as for example Roach and Perch, I would take this time of the year over the stiffling Summer tempratures on the smaller rivers.

Theres colour in the water, flow and the fish are tightly shoaled so get your thinking right and your on to a winner. We've been lucky with the water tempratures this year remaining so high.

The Waveney is as good as I've seen it for a while and The Wensum looks in fine fettle too.

If you're having trouble with fish being there one day and not the next, it could be down to underwater predation, Perch or more likely Pike. If you start feeding a select few swims on smaller rivers the silver fish activity will soon alert the local big Pike or Jacks.

I found this problem resonably regularly too and have remidied it by either fishing different spots day to day on the same stretch and building them by paitient feeding or by having a pike rod in the margins on your side to which the rivers flowing too. Then you get the added bonus of possibly snaring the toothy culprit.....

[Peter Waller]

Hello Dant

 

If you would like to move to the Conservation and politics forum and I'll give you a good argument on that very inaccurate statement.

 

Is it really inaccurate? Along with otters the upper Waveney is under pressure from cormorants. I can't speak for the Wensum, I haven't seriously fished there for years. Perhaps you should move it, Dant, it could be an interesting topic.

[Peter Waller]

John, my prebaiting consists of a handful of maggots twice a day. I am fortunate in that my house is about 100yds back from the water. As I sit typing this I can see a rich, orange sunrise, and that the tide is a tad high.

 

Maggots don't, as I have read suggested, dive to the bottom and dig their way in, they just lay there. I have used bread in its various forms, and that has proved good for bream, bit not so good for roach.

 

I started prebaiting back at the beginning of June, morning and evening. When fishing I add more bait but I have found that if I fish just outside the feed area I will catch the bigger fish. For quantity rather than quality just letting my hookbait fall in tandam with small quantities of feed is ace. The split shot being someway above the hook.

 

My grandfather used to keep up a continuous feed by hanging a dead rabbit up in an overhanging branch. I'm quite tempted to try that, only the neighbours might object! One of the neighbour's blessed cats might be a good alternative, just a passing though you know .

[wurzel]

I'm not really sure which part of the statement you object to? There are an increasing number of Comorants on our inland waterways both the gravel pits and rivers. Last week I saw three on a one mile stretch of the Waveney.

I would like to consider myself a conservationally minded angler so hold very little against the Comorants, they are after all fishing for their survival not just for fun. The Otter population in our part of the world is also now back to pre 1970's levels and I for one am glad to see it.

A carefully balanced ecosystem given time will reap benefits for all. Even if it does take us fisherman a little longer to figure out whats what.

 

Hello Dant

 

When I posted I realised I should have been more specific, being a commercial fisherman I object to the statement.

 

quote

"As we've decimated our inshore fish stocks more large numbers of Comorant are taking up winter residence on our inland gravel pits which are generally in close proximity to a small river."