Monday Top 5 - Roach Fishing

This entry was posted on 15th August, 2018

Rivers, lakes, canals and gravel pits all contain the humble yet stunning roach. They can be targeted both in large numbers, being a shoal fish, or at specimen sizes reaching well over the magical 2lb mark. Whatever type of roach you are fishing for they can certainly prove very difficult. Here are a few tips to help bring you more roach-based success.

Hemp and Tares

Often overlooked or used purely as feed, fishing with hemp and tares definitely singles out roach. Try pushing a single grain of hemp onto a size 20 hook, leaving the whole hook point proud with the shell holding the hook shank, and feed a pinch full of hemp every cast and you will soon start picking out those roach. Perfect on rivers, canals and still waters. Give it a go.



Top and Bottom

In my experience the better stamp of roach often hold a deeper position in the water column. If you fish shallow you can often get plagued with smaller roach, which pick at your hookbait and give you lightning fast dips on your float you can’t connect with. Try using a bulk shot to get your bait down and then have a couple of smaller droppers to allow the bait to fall naturally in the last two feet of water to entice those bigger specimens, and give you a better chance to hit more positive bites. Alternatively, try ledgering with a light quiver tip whilst feeding over the top. Don’t be afraid to play around with your shotting and feeding until you find the better roach in the shoal.



Caster Master

A go to bait for targeting larger roach in numbers is the caster. For some reason the caster seems to be taken not by the smaller roach, but only by the larger fish. Try it when fishing and see what response you get, you’ll often find your average size of roach increases with the caster.



Bread

In clear water conditions nothing beats bread. Either punched bread, or bread flake if you are hunting a 2lb plus specimen. They love it! Try feeding liquidised white bread and then fishing over the top. The colour it gives the water and all the small items of liquidised bread drive them crazy and it will get you a bite even on the bleakest of winter days.



Land Of the Giants

Increasingly big roach are being caught from carp fishing specimen venues as they are rarely targeted by anglers, and eat a rich diet of pellets and high protein boilies. Have a look at some famous carp venues such as Linear and have a go at targeting those roach, who knows what specimens are hiding in the carp dominated safety of those waters.

I hope the above tips help you the next time you head out on the bank to target those awesome fish.