Big Roach in commercials

[MordenMike]

I have been fishing a fairly small commercial lake (about 3 acres) which holds some good sized roach to over 2lb+. it holds lots of tench and crucians so winter is the easiest time to target the roach. I have caught them to over the pound or so floatfishing maggot. any ideas on how to sort out the big boys ? i'm thinking legered bread or worm, anyone got a cunning plan for me?

[Martin56]

A single Caster with the hook buried inside it or double Caster will often pick out the better fish of most species - Especially big Roach.

Size 16 or 18 - I'm talking the OLD hook sizes here not the Rig type hooks which are bigger.

These are Ideal.

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjqy7HZkf7XAhXKt-0KHTXzC6kYABAOGgJkZw&ohost=www.google.co.uk&cid=CAASEuRo06_sQmEusn3SCQ4XsQUj5Q&sig=AOD64_1Jz-W90IYXQHiQiPe0u-12jt1EXA&ctype=5&q=&ved=0ahUKEwjS2azZkf7XAhUBDMAKHaxsB-8Q9aACCDI&adurl=

Also available in Ready Tied. And all sizes.

Makes perfect sense to use Red hooks for Red baits IMO.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Martin56

[Vagabond]

Beware of hybrids ! I used to participate in monthly magazine-feature fish-ins on local commercials, the resultant feature being published locally . The magazine editor was an old fishing friend and it was a pleasant day out for free with easy fishing thrown in.,

 

Many of the waters we fished were stiff with roach-bream and roach-rudd hybrids. I had roach-bream to 4 lb, and roach-rudd to 3-12 No pure roach over 1-14.

 

Lots of 2lb "roach" were claimed by others - backed up (of course) by the fishery owners concerned. Over 75 years angling has given me a cynic's view - Identification is simple.for the wannabes, any fish with roach in its ancestry is a "true roach" if you or one of your mates has caught it - or if you own the water concerned. If anyone else has caught it, its a hybrid.

 

It is my lifetime ambition to catch a 2 lb roach, but so far 1-14 (four times) has been my best. My editor mate has passed away, and now I almost never fish commercials unless I am introducing a beginner to angling. I am that convinced of the absence of true roach over 2 lb from such waters that I spend my money on other things.. Clear rivers and large gravel pits are a better bet, the fishing is more difficult, but at least the quarry is probably present. If you still want to go the "commercial" route, then you need to be well clued-up on hybrid recognition, but note it is not always as simple as counting fin-rays and lateral-line scales AN has a few past threads that were useful, but I don't know if they are still accessible.

 

I have one useful paper re hybrid recognition on file

 

A molecular approach to detect hybridization between bream Abramis brama, roach Rutlius rutilus and rudd Scardinius erythrophthalmus

P. M. W. Wyatt†, C. S. Pitts† and R. K. Butlin*†

 

Anyone sufficiently interested, pm me your email address, and I will send you a copy

Edited December 10, 2017 by Vagabond

[Ken L]

First thing I did when I started reading was to check your location.

I'd love to have access to commercials filled with tench, crucians and decent roach.

All we seem to have is carp and F1's with ripped up mouths and swarms of little rudd and skimmers.

As for avoiding the small fish, casters are a good choice but it's probably more important to avoid maggots or bread based groundbait.

[MordenMike]

I understand where you are coming from Vagabond concerning hybrids, but I will worry about that if I get a big 'un. the roach i have caught so far have looked true to me , but I wouldn't know about down to the molecular level.

Casters are a good shout, they do sort out a better stamp of fish.

my biggest problem is that I just enjoy catching fish and watching the float go under and I always find it hard to ignore small and medium sized fish and just sitting it out for the chance of a big one. which is probably why I haven't caught one! I keep intending to be a bit more discerning and next time I will be....maybe

 

 

mike

 

[Ken L]

A few years ago there were some guys writing articles in the angling press about the use of scaled down bolt rigs for targeting big roach in gravel pits.

There's no reason why you shouldn't employ the same sort of tactics on a second rod while enjoying catching regularly on the float.