Mark Pollard's 10 steps to roach water success

For Mark Pollard, there’s no finer sight than a big bag of shimmering redfins glistening in the sunshine.

The prolific match angler and silverfish expert is a dab hand at putting such a net together, a catch like that pictured in the following few pages. 

Here he gives his 10 vital steps to roach success on the pole on a variety of stillwater venues this spring including commercials, big natural lakes and park lakes such as the one he was targeting today, Furzton Lake in the centre of Milton Keynes.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned long pole angler, you’re bound to take plenty from his sound advice. Over to you Mark… 

1. Pick your spot

Where you choose to fish your pole line and put your bag at the start of the session is often a deal breaker. Too close and you might not get bites, too far out and you’ll make it harder than you need for yourself. 

If you’ve got a coloured lake with a good ‘chop’ on the surface caused by the wind, you’re more likely to be able to catch closer. However, if it’s clear or calm, you’ll probably have to fish a bit further out as the water is still quite cold.

A range of 11m-13m is a good starting point, especially on these larger stillwaters and park lakes. Fishing at this distance usually puts you out beyond any shelves and on to a flat bottom. On a small, well-stocked commercial fishery you’ll probably be able to catch on a short pole. 

Make up a couple of large balls to cup in at the start.

2. Use dark groundbait

At this time of year I’m still a fan of using a dark groundbait mix for roach. My choice is a simple even quantity of Dynamite Frenzied Hempseed Match Black and Silver X Roach. The Silver X gives it a bit of food value and is quite an active mix, while the Hempseed groundbait darkens the mix and is hemp-based, great for roach. 

To this I add casters and a bit of tinned Frenzied hempseed. Unless you kill them beforehand, you can’t add maggots to balls of groundbait because they’ll break up the balls and generally wreak havoc! 

When deciding how many balls of groundbait to feed remember this – you can’t take out what you’ve put in, but you can build up the peg gradually! It’s far better to cup in, say, two or three large balls cautiously, than blow the peg immediately with too much groundbait.

3. Elastics and setting up

A No.4 Matrix solid elastic is my choice for roach on stillwaters – there’s no need to go lighter. I put a light elastic like this through the No.2 section and a bit of the No.1, which is cut back for my pole bush. This is enough cushion for small fish but isn’t so stretchy that it will be difficult to swing and land fish.

You can’t do this for heavier elastics and bigger fish, however, because your elastic won’t have enough stretch in it! If bigger roach and the occasional bonus fish were on the cards, I’d use a grade five or six through the full top three kit. 

4. Swing your rig

There are various ways of getting the bait to the bottom and presenting your offering to the fish. You can lower a pole rig straight down vertically, which you might do if you’re looking to catch all your fish hard on the bottom with the shot bulked. Or, you can lay the whole lot in horizontally straight out on the surface, which can be good for catching fish on-the-drop as the bait falls through the water, with the shot spread out shirt-button style. 

The best way I’ve found, however, is to lift the pole and swing the rig out beyond the tip away from you. Let the rig land in a straight line then keep a tight line to the float and the bait will swing in an arc back towards you. Let it go slack as the bristle cocks upwards. This is a great way of catching a slightly bigger stamp of fish which seem to sit on the far perimeter of the main feed.

Mark chooses a heavier than normal float so he can maintain control on big, open waters

5. Avoid slim floats

Although you could use a slim float for roach, and many do, I like something with a bit of body on it such as a rugby ball shape, to hold the line tight against. On these bigger waters a slim float would get carried around in the tow and wind, offering poor presentation. I like to have control of the rig and today, for example, in 5ft of water, I’ve gone for a 0.75g MP roach as I’m fishing on the bottom.

6. Light hooklengths

Roach aren’t daft wherever you go and light tackle is still needed to fool them. On a big natural style venue such as this I’ve got a 6in length of 0.08mm (1.7lb) as my hooklength, although I wouldn’t drop lower than this on a stillwater. On a really coloured venue where bigger fish are on the cards, I would consider stepping up to 0.10mm (2lb). As long as these are matched and balanced with light elastics you shouldn’t get broken. Where barbed hooks are allowed, I prefer the Kamasan B511 in a size 20 if it’s difficult, or an 18 if I’m bagging.

7. To loosefeed or not?

Do you pick up your catapult and fire in some bait or not? In my book it all depends where you’re catching fish. If you’re only getting bites on the bottom then don’t be inclined to loosefeed, just rely on the groundbait to keep the fish there on the deck where they are easier to catch. You can top up with a small tangerine- sized ball of groundbait in the cupping pot whenever the swim starts to slow up.

However, if the fish are taking the bait on-the-drop, before the rig has a chance to fully settle, you might catch quicker by loosefeeding maggots or casters little and often. Use a lighter float and spread the shots out but bites will be harder to hit when the fish are moving about at various depths off the bottom.

An olivette is a must-have for roach when fishing floats of 0.75g or heavier, on the bottom

8. Use an olivette

An olivette weight is a great way of shotting a pole float. It’s compact and means you don’t have to attach loads of shot to the line in a huge bulk. Use an olivette for heavier pole floats of 0.75g (4 x18) and above (for lighter floats a group of shot is more versatile). I like an inline olivette fixed with two No.10 shot or Stotz either side. I’ll use a size slightly lighter than the actual weight of the float so that I can spread out three or four shot beneath it. An olivette is usually placed between 18in and 2ft away from the hook itself.

9. Lubricate your elastic

A bottle of pole elastic lubricant is useful with smaller-sized solid elastics. Applying it keeps the elastic working smoothly because it can stick and jar in the pole, causing lost fish on small hooks. It’s not so important with thicker hollow elastics and large diameter pole bushes. Squirt the lubricant into the thick end of the pole section and pivot it upwards so it runs down the pole. You can also pull the elastic out with the tip underwater to help it work.  

10. Entice a bite

Lifting the float out of the water and lowering it back down to settle again is a great way of bringing a quick bite when pole fishing for carp. It also works surprisingly well for roach, because it shows the bait to any nearby fish. You only need to bring the float 6in or so above the water’s surface, then gently lower it down again to a fishing position. Don’t simply let go of it and let it drop down. 

How to fish winter commercials

Here’s our extensive fishing guide to help you keep on catching on pole, waggler and feeder on commercial carp fisheries during the colder winter months.

It’s packed with handy hints, tips and advice that is sure to keep your float going under and your quivertip slamming around.

So, whatever style of fishing you prefer, take a good look through this in-depth guide and you’ll soon know exactly what changes you need to make to ensure you keep busy on the bank throughout November to April.

WHERE TO FISH

This is absolutely key to ensuring that you continue having fairly hectic sessions that will not only boost your confidence, but help keep you warm too as there’s nothing worse than sitting motionless for hours in damp and cold conditions!

Three key tips we can give you here:

Fish a commercial that you have fished during the summer.

Fish a commercial that’s well stocked with not only carp, but also roach, skimmer bream and chub if you can.

And choose a commercial that’s not too deep – average depth of 4ft with 2ft margins will be ideal.

Here’s the reasons why we suggest you follow those tips when picking a particular winter commercial water…

If you fish a certain venue in summer you will know where the lilies are and where any weed beds might well be. You’ll also know the depths of some swims so that will provide a lot of knowledge that will put you ahead of the game when picking a swim.

Carp will hold up within or very close to submerged lily stems and weeds during the winter – and that’s well worth remembering.

Picking a venue that’s heavily stocked with fish is an obvious one, but nevertheless some anglers keep on trying to catch from venues that are already difficult to fish in the summer – they don’t stand a chance when it’s cold!

The depth of the venue is key, and if there are shallower parts and deeper areas of around 4ft you are onto a winner because the fish may well be in the deeper water first thing in the morning (as the water will be warmest there) but then if it’s a sunny day with little wind the water will warm up significantly in the shallow areas and that’s where the carp will move during the afternoon.

PICKING THE RIGHT SWIM

Watercraft, past experiences in the summer and asking the right questions will all play an absolutely crucial role in finding the fish in winter.

When you arrive at the water, ask the bailiff or the owner where the fish were caught yesterday. It’s dead simple and it could put you on masses of carp.

If there’s no-one to ask, then watercraft and previous experiences come into play.

Watch the water closely to see any signs of life. Look for swirls, clouded water, bubbles – anything that could give away the presence of any carp. Even just the one small swirl at the surface could give away a huge shoal of fish as they pack together tightly during the winter so where you find one carp you’ll normally find masses of them.

Finally, past experiences will tell you where the lilies and weeds were during the summer. If you haven’t got anyone to ask and you see no signs of fish life, head for areas that used to be weedy as the carp won’t be too far away from those spots.

WATCH THE WEATHER

If you’ve got just the one day to go fishing and you’re going to go regardless, most of this section doesn’t count as you’ll not have a choice. But if you’ve got a week off and you could go any time during that break, choose your day wisely.

The very best time to go to a commercial carp water during the winter is after a few days of settled and mild weather. That’s when the water temperature will have risen and the fish will have become a little more active.

Note any direction of wind too. A southerly breeze is perfect as it brings with it milder temperatures and the promise of better sport.

If there is a wind blowing when you arrive at your lake, opt to fish with the wind hitting your back. Not only will you be more comfortable (as you can set up a brolly for protection) but the fish may well be sitting it out in the sheltered part of the lake as it will be warmer there.

We regularly use the internet for weather forecasts and there really is none better than Metcheck. It’s a free website that has provided us with near perfect forecasts for years.

THE BAIT TO TAKE

Less is more when it comes to commercial carp water fishing when it’s cold. Basically, you won’t need much bait, and below is a list of the typical feed and hookbaits that really work on a stillwater in winter and why. We don’t recommend you take them all – three feed baits will see you through a typical session.

Sweetcorn

Two tins will be enough. This sweet-scented bait is brilliant in the cold. Why? Because the smell disperses easily and will draw fish into your swim readily, plus the bright colour can be easily seen by fish. There’s no need to flavour it – just use it straight from the can. But remember to take your can home, or bin it properly. Carp, chub, bigger roach and skimmer bream love sweetcorn.

Fluoro pinkies

These brightly coloured mid-sized maggots are brilliant when it’s cold as they stand out well in the clear water, they don’t fill the fish up and all commercial fishery species are fond of them. One pint of fluoro pinkies should be more than enough for a day.

Worms

One of the very best attractors during cold weather is chopped worms. Dendrobaenas are by far the best for chopping up because they can be bought in bulk fairly cheaply, they emit lots of attractive juices and the worms are large enough to provide you with a multitude of different sized pieces to use on the hook.

The chopped worm pieces can be introduced by hand in the margins, cupped in over your pole line or added to your groundbait each time you fill the feeder up or throw a ball in.

Bread

A small chunk of bread flake works wonders on clear coldwater commercials. It stands out well and because of the lightness of bread, it flutters down to the bottom very slowly, ensuring that any nearby carp, roach or skimmer bream can see it and make a move to take it.

Bread is best fished in conjunction with a punch crumb groundbait, available from all good tackle shops. This groundbait needs mixing very carefully and it should be riddled after mixing to remove any large lumps.

Pellets

Both hard pellets and soft expander pellets will catch fish when its cold. If you do intend to use expander pellets on the hook, you should feed hard pellets as well to hold the fish in your swim.

Expander pellets are available pre-prepared, or you could simply pump them yourself.

The best feed pellets to catapult or cup in to your swim around your expander pellet hookbait are small ones – 4mm is about right during winter. The reason you should use smaller pellets is because they won’t fill the fish up so readily, and they break down quicker than large pellets to release a scent trail through the water.

Casters

These are well known fish-catchers when it’s cold. Half a pint of good quality casters (meaning a varied selection of light to dark colours) will be enough as they don’t wriggle into the bottom silt, so they won’t vanish out of your swim. Feed them very sparingly, or simply just use them as a change bait over the top of your loosefed fluoro pinkies or chopped worms.

Meat

Cubes of shop-bought luncheon meat work very well for winter carp. From half-centimetre to 2cm cubed chunks, they all work very well indeed. But care must be taken when fishing meat in winter as it is a very filling bait so only use chunks of meat on the hook and fish it over either small feed pellets (4mm or even micro pellets are best), or fish it over meat that has been cut into thin slices and pushed through a maggot riddle to form tiny morsels that can be squeezed into small nuggets and fed by hand, or introduced via a pole cup.

HOW TO FISH

There are a few fundamental changes you will need to take into account to ensure you keep catching throughout the winter, and they are all detailed right here…

Fining down

You may well have heard this phrase mentioned a lot when anglers talk of winter fishing. Basically it means whatever tackle you used in summer, reduce it for winter fishing.

If you used size 16 hooks in summer, use size 18 or even 20 in winter. If you used 0.14mm hooklengths in summer, use 0.12mm or even 0.10mm in winter. And straight wagglers should be replace with insert wagglers as they are more delicate to help spot tentative bites.

The same goes for pole floats too – use a slightly lighter rig than you would normally use in the summer, incorporating small micro shot rather than an olivette or bulk shot.

Quivertips need scaling down too - use the lightest glass tips you have to see those shy, gentle bites. You may even need a target board positioned at the tip of your rod so that you can see the bites.

Your pole elastic and reel mainlines can be reduced in strength too as the fish aren’t going to fight anywhere near as hard during the winter. No12 elastic maximum and 4lb mainline should do the trick on most commercials during the winter.

Swap power float rods for normal waggler rods, and Method feeder rods for straightforward leger rods.

Start on the bottom

If you are float fishing, always start your session fishing with your bait set overdepth as the fish are far more likely to be swimming around close to the bottom. As the session progresses you might get more bites if you use a shirt button style shotting pattern so that your bait falls gently through the bottom half of the water to get bites on the drop.

Feed very little

Tentative feeding is key in winter. Just a pinch of fluoro pinkies, casters or pellets, or three grains of sweetcorn is all it will take when you reach for your catapult or pole pot. And only re-feed your swim after you get a fish or you may end up simply filling the fish up with your loosefeed rather than catching it!

Search the water

Finding the fish is the hardest part of winter commercial fishing, and one of the best ways to find them is to use a leger rod and an Arlesey bomb. Create a simple leger rig, use a fairly light 2ft-long hooklength of around 0.12mm diameter high-tech line and a grain of sweetcorn on as size 18 hook.

Cast the rig out to a likely looking spot a fair distance from your peg and tighten up the line gently to create a slight bend in the quivertip. Now wait for 5 minutes to see if you either get a bite or spot a line bite.

Bites will be the usual ‘pull round’ of the quivertip, while line bites are quick plucks on the tip made by fish swimming into your submerged mainline.

If you start to see line bites that means there are fish in front of you, but they are somewhere closer than where you cast, so retrieve the rig and cast 10ft or so shorter than you did before.

Keep doing this until your rig lands amongst the fish and you start to get proper bites. And when you’ve found one carp, you’re very likely to find many more as they shoal together in winter.

Many match anglers use this searching technique during the winter, and may matches have been won using it too.

John Wilson on long trotting on rivers

One of the most productive and most rewarding ways to fish rivers is by long trotting with a float. It allows the angler to search the swim, to try out every nook and cranny in the hunt for roach, chub, barbel and dace.

Long trotting isn’t a method for the lazy angler though – it’s a testing technique that requires great float control, good watercraft skills, plenty of patience and the willingness to explore.

If you’re one of those anglers who wonders what fish lies at the end of each run and glide, then long trotting is for you, and here’s what you need and what to learn to master it…

TACKLE FOR LONG TROTTING

I believe the best reel for long trotting is definitely a good quality centrepin reel. You simply cannot beat the float control gained by using a well-produced centrepin and if you are intent on mastering this river technique, and you have enough spare cash, I would strongly suggest paying £100 or more on a quality ‘pin. You won’t be disappointed.

It’s false economy to pay for a cheaper centrepin as it just will not pay out line at the rate required, and this will mean your bait won’t be presented at the correct speed, therefore it will look unnatural, and therefore you won’t get as many bites.

So, if you cannot afford to buy a quality centrepin, opt to use your favourite fixed spool reel, with the bale arm open, and pay out line with your fingertips.

The perfect rod for long-trotting needs to have a flexible tip and a robust, powerful middle and butt section. This sort of action will ensure you pick up the line swiftly on the strike, and that you connect and manage to control the fish at distances up to 40 yards, against the current.

Nowadays mid-priced 13ft match/waggler rods are built to such a high standard that they are all ideal for long trotting, but if you want the best control opt to use a 14 or 15ft rod. The extra couple of feet will provide that little bit of extra leverage upon the strike, when controlling hooked fish, and when ‘mending’ the mainline.

TERMINAL TACKLE FOR LONG TROTTING

My mainline will depend upon the size of fish that I’m likely to encounter. If the river’s full of roach, dace and small chub then 2.5-3lb mainline will suffice. If there are barbel and big chub present, then I’ll step up to 4lb.

On thing to remember though, is if you are going to use a centrepin reel for bigger river species, don’t overfill the drum. A large fish will cause the line to bed in on the drum, making trotting afterwards really quite difficult, so you’ll only need 150-200 yards of line.

Regarding my hooklength – I much prefer to tie my hook direct to my mainline whenever possible, but there are times when a finer hooklength is needed to trick roach and dace into taking the bait. This is when I’ll use 1.25 – 1.5lb breaking strain hooklength line, joined to the mainline using a four-turn water knot.

FLOATS FOR LONG TROTTING

The main aim of long trotting is to present a bait so that it trundles along the river bed, at the same speed as the current. This means the angler needs to pick a float that will allow this.

The float has to have enough weighting so that the bait is permanently pulled down to the river bed, regardless of the water speed and direction. Lightweight stick floats are far from ideal for a couple of reasons. Firstly the small sight tips will be near impossible to see at distance, and secondly the lightweight shotting required will make the bait jump off the bottom and dance around unnaturally whenever the float is stopped, held back or mended to alter its direction.

I prefer to use heavier floats for this kind of fishing: Chubbers, Loafers, balsa trotters or even Crowquill Avon floats are perfect, because they are best shot with a bulk of BBs or even SSGs positioned 1ft from the hook.

This heavy bulk of shot ensures that the bait is forced down to the bottom at all times, regardless of the strength of the flow.

These floats are attached to the mainline using a couple of float bands – one positioned underneath the sight tip, and one around the base of the float.

TIPS FOR LONG TROTTING

If your float requires 3SSG shot, for example, use six AA shot instead, all grouped together. It’s the same weight, but I have found that a longer group of smaller shots rides over shallower weedy or gravel banks far easier than a few larger shot.

If you notice a particular area of the river where the float continues to be sucked under as it becomes snagged upon weed or debris, don’t suddenly alter the depth of the rig to compensate. This will give your rig the correct depth for that little area, but it will be too shallow for the rest of the swim.

The best solution is to hold the rig back hard as soon as it approaches the snag. This will force the bait to rise up in the water and skip over the snag. Once it’s over the area that has been causing problems, continue running the float through the swim, as before.

During biteless periods, try holding your float back occasionally to make the bait speed up and lift off the bottom. During a free trot through the swim, the float will be in front of the bait, but as soon as you apply finger pressure to the line and stop the float, the bait will speed up, pass the float and lift off the bottom. Although unnatural, this can often trigger chub, dace and grayling into snapping at the bait.