Match Fishing Tips | How to prepare bread for punch fishing - Ray Malle
You can use bread straight from the bag, but I much prefer to ‘steam’ the slices first at home.
This results in a tacky bread that stays on the hook if I miss a bite and, at times, I have caught two or three roach on the same piece.
To steam it, I remove the crusts from the bread, microwave a slice for a few seconds and then wrap it in clingfilm to seal the moisture in. I then zap another slice and fold it into the clingfilm and so on, ensuring each slice is moist.
I then remove one slice at a time on the bank. Bread prepared this way very seldom falls off the hook.
Steamed bread is a great bait for roach
Specimen Fishing Tips | The best big roach rig - Ryan Hayden
The most popular and effective type of bolt rig for roach has to be a helicopter set-up.
It is 99 per cent tangle-free and when used in conjunction with short 2ins or 3ins hooklink, it is a very effective self-hooking rig.
The helicopter rig - 60g blockend feeder and a short 2-inch hooklink
I like to use a relatively heavy bobbin to ensure that the line between the rod tip and the feeder is kept fairly taut to increase the self-hooking properties of the rig even further.
Use a heavy bobbin to increase the self-hooking properties of the rig
When fishing like this for big roach, bites will often be proper drop-backs (a fish picking the bait up and swimming towards you), or line will be taken. Either way, ensure that the freespool mechanism on the reel is set loose enough not to pull the hook on the take.
I use 1.25lb test curve Avon-style rods, with small freespool reels loaded with 8lb mainline. Feeders are 40g-60g blockends, fished alongside short 2in-long hooklinks and size 18 hooks.
A 3lb 10oz roach caught on this devastating set-up
River Fishing Tips | 5 tips to catch more roach on hemp
The prime time to catch big river roach on hemp is now! Here are five tips to help you get the most from the seed…
Regulate your feeding
No two days are ever the same when it comes to feeding hemp. A little and often loosefeed approach works on some rivers, while others respond to feeding larger amounts with a pole cup and then fishing over it. The standard approach, though, is to loosefeed with a catapult, around 20 or 30 grains of hemp each time and, using a slow-falling rig, catch fish as the bait settles. If the roach show signs of coming up in the water to get to the loosefeed, break out the pole cup and get them back on the bottom with
a good helping of hemp fed in one go.
Every day is different when it comes to feeding with hemp. Watch how the fish behave.
Stop nuisance ‘shot bites’
A normal pole rig for fishing hemp consists of a light float and small shot strung evenly down the line to give the hookbait a slow fall. Sometimes, though, fish grab those shot, mistaking them for grains of hemp. So switch to cylindrical styl weights instead. The slow fall of the bait is still guaranteed but there’s no longer a danger of the fish grabbing them.
Look out for fish taking the shot instead
Hook it right
MANY anglers have difficulty in getting hemp to stay on the hook. But it’s easy when you know how. There are two ways to hook hemp, but first ensure the grain has a full split in its side but isn’t falling apart. The quickest way is to push the bend of the hook into the split so the sides of the grain grip the hook point and shank. You’ll get a more secure hookhold by punching a hole in the flat end of the grain with a baiting needle and threading the hook point, bend and shank through until the seed hangs off the bend. You can catch several fish on the same grain before it will need replacing.
There’s no need to struggle hooking hemp
Switch hookbaits
Hemp isn’t the only option you have to put on the hook. When the roach are present in numbers, bigger fish can be picked off using tares, and on some rivers even elderberries will catch their share! Tares are a hard particle used as pigeon feed, but when cooked they turn soft, are easy to hook, and have the knack of catching the bigger roach in a shoal. Don’t spend too long fishing them without bites, though, as you’ll either catch quickly on them or not at all. Elderberries are an old-fashioned bait rarely used today, but especially on rivers where elderberry bushes line the banks, the berries are eaten by roach and slipping one on the hook might just mean lift-off for the peg!
There are some great alternative baits to fish alongside hemp feed
Use small floats for a slow fall
To create that slow fall of the bait with the small strung-out shotting pattern, the pole float you use needs to be on the light side. You’re not after stability from the rig when fishing hemp, so even in 10ft of water, a 0.5g slim-bodied float will be ample and, in shallower swims, you can go even lighter.
You want the bait to fall slowly through the water with hemp, so use as light a float as you can get away with
Match Fishing Tips | 5 tips to catch more canal silvers in summer
We all like to catch bonus fish, but on canals it’s small fish that are your weight-building summer bankers. Here are five tips to help you fill a net with silvers…
Avoid deep water
You can rule out catching well from the central boat channel of a canal in summer. There will be too much disturbance from narrowboats, even though the water is deep. On the whole, roach prefer shallower water anyway, and a classic spot to find them is on top of the far-bank shelf where the deep water merges into the shallows. Typically this area can be found around 11m or 12m out, a comfortable range for feeding and shipping the rig out. Depth is unimportant – it’s more about finding the point where the peg just begins to deepen into the channel.
Find the point where the peg deepens into the channel
Create a slow-falling rig
Because you’re loosefeeding, the rig needs to allow you to catch fish through the water, anywhere from a few inches under the surface down to the bottom. Firing in pinkies and squatts will naturally bring roach off bottom, so gear up with rigs taking light floats and shotting patterns that have small No11 shot strung as a bulk around an inch apart, stopping 12ins from the hook, finishing off with a couple of dropper shot between bulk and hook.
Light floats and strung out shotting will help the bait fall slowly through the water
Get on hemp
Don’t think you’re only going to catch small roach on the canal – they also hold plenty of big fish that can make a difference in a match! Casters are a well-known bait for quality roach, but hemp is just as good and almost always means a bigger fish each time the float goes under. Pick a spot close to any far-bank cover with a couple of feet of water, well away from where you’re fishing squatts, and fire in a dozen grains every 10 minutes, aiming to try hemp on the hook in the second half of the match.
Hemp is a fantastic roach bait
GO easy on the groundbait
As much as roach love groundbait, it comes into play on shallow canals as a way of kicking the swim off before loosefeeding takes over, or for feeding when a boat has gone through the peg and you need to settle the fish back down. One large ball fed at the start is ample, feeding again with the same size of ball when a boat has done its damage.
Try not to fill the fish up with groundbait
Pick up your catty and start feeding!
As soon as you’ve fed that groundbait at the start, pick up the catapult and start firing in squatts or pinkies. Twenty to 25 squatts at a time is not too much, and the feeding needs to be very regular, every 40 seconds or so, to leave a constant stream of bait falling through the water and keep the fish hunting around. On the hook, a single squatt matches the hatch, but you can change to a fluoro pinkie to try for a slightly bigger fish.
Regular loose feeding will keep the fish in the peg!
Specimen Fishing Tips | The best Stillwater roach rig - Phil Spinks
Without doubt the helicopter bolt rig is the best stillwater roach set-up.
The helicopter bolt rig is deadly for big roach
The question really is, what bait do you want fish with it – maggots or mini boilies?
Maggots rule in the depths of winter when the fish are far less active, but small roach become almost suicidal on these natural baits once we get to summer.
Mini boilies will select the bigger roach
Switching over to mini boiles and swapping the maggot feeder to a groundbait feeder will be much more selective for the bigger roach.
Phil Spinks knows a bit about catching big roach from stillwaters
River Fishing Tips | Where to find the bigger roach early season - Dr Mark Everard
Early in the season weirs are particularly attractive for big roach, as are places where the current accelerates around underwater tree roots that also offer cover.
Roach will be in well-oxygenated sites early in the season
Roach are reputed to clean up here after spawning, but it may just be that they haven’t yet moved away from well-oxygenated spawning sites, or that these places are rich in insect and crustacean food.
Roach tend to move up in the water column to feed, even in deeper water, where oxygen levels may be depressed closer to the riverbed. Higher water temperatures potentially double the roach’s metabolism, making them much more active.
Hemp and tares, casters and elderberries are good hookbaits fished very shallow as roach can come right to the surface to intercept falling offerings.
Fish shallow for big river roach
Commercial Fishing Tips | Winter roach with Tom Edwards
Going for commercial fishery carp in the depths of January is the ultimate angling gamble. A combination of clear, cold water, changing air pressure and low temperatures often means that even if there are a few fish in front of you, the likelihood is that they might not feed.
That means several hours spent bored witless waiting for a bite out of the blue. It does little to fire the enthusiasm for a return trip, but there is another way to get the best out of fishing in the cold – and that’s setting your sights a little lower for small fish.
Roach, rudd and skimmers might not put up much of a fight compared to a big mirror or common, but they can be relied on to save a blank and can give you a surprisingly good day’s sport.
Scaling down tackle and changing from pellets and corn to maggots on the bait menu will not only catch these silver fish though – F1s and even the occasional carp will move in to investigate what those roach are getting so excited about.
That all adds up to the potential for a lovely mixed bag. Don’t think that the roach you catch will be tiny, either. Often, on commercials, they are chunky things that will soon see you put a weight together.
In matches on my local Lake Ross fishery, 15lb of roach added to a handful of carp and F1s can see you picking up a few quid. Get it all right and the fishing will be a bite-a-chuck, interrupted by that exciting moment when the elastic pulls out of the pole that little bit more from a big fish.
Bites are the name of the game here and there’s nothing better for keeping the cold and boredom at bay than seeing the float go under on every single drop-in!
Pole or waggler
There’s nothing to stop you from catching on the float, but I find that it’s a little too inaccurate to give you a bite a chuck, so the pole has to be the winner.
You’ll not catch really short though, even in mild weather. Coloured water and a comfortable 13m distance is perfect to keep the roach happy and hunting about for your hookbait.
Don’t wait too long
The key to this type of feeding is to have your hookbait among the maggots dropping through the water so, in theory, you get a bite just as the rig settles. So I don’t leave the float sat there once it has cocked. The chances of a bite are far less than if the single maggot on the hook is falling.
When the rig has settled, I’ll wait 30 seconds before lifting it out and laying it back in again over the loosefeed, and this is the pattern the day will follow. It’s a busy way to fish but it keeps the cold out and it’s much better than willing a quivertip to go round!
Strung shotting
In clearer water, I’m convinced that fish watch a hookbait fall and then drop down to take it, so you need to make the bait behave in such a way that they’re given enough time to make up their mind. A bulked shotting pattern on the rig is out of the question – a spread of shot in the bottom third of the rig allows the bait to fall slowly past the roach.
The fewer shot you can use the better, so the float needs to be light. In perfect conditions, a 4x12 Preston Innovations F1 Maggot is ideal and takes six or seven No10 shot spaced a few centimetres apart from the hooklink upwards. By laying the rig in sideways and keeping the line tight to the float, the bait will fall slowly and you can read every indication from a fish.
Light rigs are a must
Although there’s the chance of hooking a carp, I’ll ride my luck and fish light because I know this will get me more bites in the long run. Even then, you’d be amazed what you can land with light gear provided it is balanced and you take your time.
Mainline thickness is not so important and 0.16mm Frenzee FXT Loaded is fine, but what’s closer to the fish is key, so a 6ins hooklink of 0.10mm Silstar Match Team and a size 20 Drennan Silverfish Pellet hook are just the job.
Matched to a light hollow elastic (I use Frenzee’s Stretch in the green 6–8 grade) I’ll not bump many roach and still have enough in reserve to land a carp or an F1.
Bait choice
I find casters too selective when I’m fishing for bites, even though they are a brilliant roach bait – so it has to be maggots.
A single red grub on the hook will get the fastest bites, but there’s no harm in trying a double from time to time for a better fish. Maggots are also the only thing I feed, but I introduce them into the swim in two very different ways…
Start with a pot
Ideally, I want to loosefeed maggots, but that’s a little too gung-ho to begin with.
Until I can work out how many roach are in front of me and how well they are feeding, I’ll feed with a small pot on the pole, trickling in 20 or so maggots on each drop-in.
If there are lots of bites, then the catapult comes out and the same 20 maggots are fired in each time. These spread over a wider area and give me more chance of attracting a carp or F1 as opposed to using the pot.
River Fishing Tips | Roach on hemp with Alex Bates
Few baits are more synonymous with roach than hempseed.
Whether as feed or on the hook, it’s a must-have with the handy knack of picking out the better stamp of fish.
Match anglers know the value of hemp for bumping up their weight in the closing stages of a competition on rivers, drains and canals, while for the pleasure angler it’s a bait that works from the word go.
There are a few downsides to using hemp, mainly because it can be a faff to get a grain on the hook and that sometimes, for some strange reason, the roach just don’t want to know.
The positives outweigh the negatives, though, and hemp remains a cheap and effective feed to put into groundbait or introduce via a catapult, avoiding nuisance species such as bleak and tiny rudd and dace.
It’s not just roach that like the stuff either – barbel and chub anglers on big rivers will pile the ‘seed’ in to great effect.
For me, though, hemp remains a bait to use in the final few hours, even on a pleasure session. This week I’ll explain why that is and show how going away from the little-and-often loosefeeding ploy of old works miles better and ensures that every time the float goes under, it’s a stamp roach…
ALL in the timing
For how long can you catch on hemp? Unless you are on a lot of fish and they take hemp from the word go, I plan to concentrate on fishing the seed in the final 90 minutes to an hour of a session, especially on the narrow drains and rivers of the Fens.
Over time, the roach that you’ll be catching on breadpunch or pinkies down the middle of your peg will slowly move across to seek some sanctuary, and you need to be ready to follow them over and keep catching.
If I don’t catch on hemp at first I will go back to fishing my other lines, keep feeding and try again in 20-30 minutes. Traditionally, the last hour, when the light begins to fade, is normally when the hemp line is solid with fish.
Find the depth
A lot of far-bank swims on venues like the Old River Nene at March are on the shallow side, so that makes finding a sensible depth to fish in vital. This is 2ft 6ins, enough water to catch in consistently without spooking the shoal too much. A feature really helps as well, so pegs with a moored boat or some reeds are prime hemp territory.
If the ideal depth is a good few metres off the far bank I’m not concerned – as long as I am fishing going up the far-bank slope into the shallower water, that’ll do. My advice is to set the rig to 2ft 6ins and then plumb around until you find what you’re looking for.
Clear water best
Roach feed well in coloured water when I’m fishing pinkies, maggots and groundbait, but I find that this isn’t the case with hemp.
Whether it’s a sight thing I don’t know, but when the river or drain has a lot of colour in it, hemp is never that good. Catch a venue with just a tinge in the water and you’re in business.
When conditions are gin-clear it’s often hemp that can get a few bites when you’re struggling on other baits.
Different feeding
I find that the more hemp that you feed, the less you catch, so you don’t want to be firing it in all day. All this does is pull in even more small fish.
That goes against the classic way of feeding hemp, which used to be a dozen grains fired in over the float every couple of minutes – but if you want that better stamp of roach, you need to keep the catapult on your side tray and not in your hands!
My feeding sees a full 250ml pole pot of hemp go in at the start and I’ll then loosefeed 40 to 50 grains every 10 minutes until I actually begin fishing across on hemp.
I then feed nothing at all unless I think the roach are backing away down the peg or going further across the swim.
Then, giving them another big pouchful of seed will bring them back to where you want them.
Dripping hemp in little-and-often will still catch, but I find you miss more bites and catch a much smaller size of roach.
Home-cooked hemp
Tinned hemp is not much use for the hook, so I cook my own by soaking it for a day before cooking the seeds for an hour in a saucepan on the hob.
However, I also remove a few handfuls to use for the hook just before I finish cooking, as these seeds won’t have split as much.
Tinned hemp is okay for feed, but I like to cook my own as that way I can always be sure of the size and quality of the grains.
This is where so many people struggle and end up vowing never to fish hemp again! The reality is that it is dead easy to hook if your hemp is cooked correctly, and there are two common ways to do it.
Hooking hemp
The first involves punching a hole in the back of the grain and then hooking it as you would a maggot. You can catch several fish on the same grain, making it good for really solid pegs. My prefered method, though, is to push the hook into the split of the grain then move it round so it locks into place but pulls through on the strike. Choose a grain with a small split and it will grip perfectly.
Hemp rigs
Because you are fishing shallow water, pole rigs need to be super-light. My favourite is a 0.1g Sensas Basey, shotted with strung tiny No12 shot across the bottom half of the rig.
The end result is a super slow fall of the hemp, but I only strike when the float buries totally, ignoring any knocks as the rig is settling. In clear water, this slow fall, I am positive, allows the roach to see the hemp, follow it down and take it.
Lines are equally light, with 0.12mm mainline and a 0.09mm hooklink and a size 19 Hayabusa 128 wide gape hook. Elastic is a solid No4. A light elastic is important, as it will prevent hooked fish being pulled up in the water to splash on the surface, which can in turn spook its mates.
Canal fishing tips | Winter tips for a mixed bag of fish
When you’re faced with a lot of fish to catch in your swim, surely you’ll need an equally large amount of bait to feed and keep what’s in front of you happy?
Well, that’s not entirely the case. As winter draws near, I’ve found that less is more. By using a more frugal feeding strategy, I can catch quicker, better-quality fish into the bargain. It’s all to do with giving the fish little choice as to what they eat.
If you pop your hookbait in among a continual stream of feed or several large balls of groundbait it’ll take the fish longer to find what’s on the hook compared to if they have only a minimal amount of bait to get stuck into.
Feeding regularly also seems to pull in more small fish, so if we’re talking quality, almost starving them on to the hook is best.
So, after bagging a load of rudd on the waggler early on in my session on the Stainforth & Keadby Canal at Wykewell it was time to have a look on the pole for some big fish – we’re talking skimmers, big roach, perch and perhaps even a tench – all for the price of just a few balls of groundbait and some chopped worm, casters and dead red maggots!
Getting the feeding right
We’re talking minimal feed, but how much goes in at the start?
My peg is always home to lots of fish at this time of year so I don’t need to ladle the bait in to pull those skimmers and roach into the swim.
Instead, two large balls of groundbait are ample. To these I’ll add a little finely-chopped worm, a few casters and some dead maggots.
From this point I will top up either when the bites fade or I begin to catch small silver fish or little perch.
This extra feed takes the form of a nugget of groundbait around the size of a large walnut, nothing more and nothing less. Feed more and those fish become harder to catch because there’s more choice for them to eat.
This way of fishing and feeding also rules out using a catapult to introduce casters, for example, over the top. I want the fish to be feeding on the bottom and over my groundbait to keep everything tidy and to be eating what’s already gone in, which is precisely where my hookbait will be.
In the mix
Groundbait is a simple affair, a 50/50 split of Mainline Match Pro Active and Sweet Marine. The Marine has some fishmeal in it, and although the jury is out with a lot of anglers as to whether skimmers on natural waters really like fishmeal, I’m in the ‘yes’ camp mainly because pleasure anglers on this canal do use pellets and the fish are used to them.
The next job is to be stringent about how many goodies go into the crumb.
Because I want the fish to find my hookbait, I need to limit the options available so we’re talking just a reasonable sprinkling of casters and dead maggots but a good pinch of chopped worm, as this is what skimmers like the most. Fill each ball with too much feed and it’ll take you longer to catch.
Be accurate
Feeding so little, I’m not creating a large area over which to run my rig, in fact, I won’t be running it at all. By having a far-bank marker lined up I know exactly where the groundbait is on the bottom of the canal and, as a result, where to lower my rig in and hold it still.
This catches the better fish on the canal, whereas I find that putting any movement into the rig only results in a small fish.
To keep everything tight, a relatively short length of line between pole and float is a must – no more than a metre.
Where to fish
Big fish on canals do like to live in the deepest water down the middle, but they’re also partial to moving slightly up the far-bank slope where you’ll find less in the way of weed or potential snags, so this is where I’d base my attack.
In my peg, this is around 13m out, a nice comfortable distance to fish and essentially where the main depth begins to shallow up from the middle, going perhaps a metre up the slope. I’m aiming to find around 8ft of water.
Big hookbaits, big fish
There’s little point in trying to catch quality fish with the wrong hookbaits, so this means maggots and pinkies are off the bait list. Instead, double caster is unbeatable, especially for big roach, while skimmers love a head section of dendra worm around a couple of centimetres long.
To further cut down on the chances of a small fish taking the bait I lower my rig directly down on to the feed. Laying it in to one side runs too much of a risk of a tiny rudd grabbing the bait.
Winning rig
To try and avoid small-fish trouble, a sensible float is needed to get the bait down fast so for 8ft of water, a 0.8g or 4x18 Perfect Gloucester is just the job.
This is set three to four inches overdepth to keep everything still over the feed and is shotted with a bulk of shot set about 2ft from the hook and then two No10 droppers between this and the hooklink.
The droppers will give the bait a slow fall close to the bottom and, therefore, the chance of a big rudd or even a skimmer sitting off bottom grabbing it.
The rest of the rig is balanced stuff, light enough to get bites but with enough steel to land a tench or bream.
That means 0.13mm Guru N-Gauge mainline to an 0.09mm hooklink, a size 18 Pole Special hook and a No6 solid elastic.
Match fishing tips | Switch to braid and catch more silvers on the feeder
Stillwater feeder fishing has never been more popular! It’s not just for big bream and carp either. Large bags of silver fish cal also be taken on a feeder, which really comes into its own when you need to fish beyond the range of pole or float.
However, missing bites from roach and skimmer bream can be a nightmare on the feeder, especially if you’re using stretchy monofilament as your mainline.
Preston Innovations man Mick Vials, a member of the England Feeder squad, has a simple solution… use braid on the reel instead of mono. Over to Mick…
Why use braid?
“The best thing about using braid is its lack of stretch, so that even the tiniest movement at the hook will register and give you something to strike at.
“If a roach or bream picks up the hookbait and gives a tentative bite when using mono your tip might not move because of the stretch in the mainline. A bite on braid should see a gentle lift of the rod, and with any luck the fish will be on. Don’t strike hard, and use a fine quivertip.
“Braid also has a much lower diameter than mono. That means you can cast much more easily – it cuts through the air and any wind with no problems at all.
“I use 0.1mm Preston Innovations Absolute Feeder Braid for my feeder work for silvers, coupled with a few feet of shockleader of 8-10lb mono.
“This shockleader aids casting and landing fish as it has a little stretch, but it’s not long enough to adversely affect the rig’s sensitivity.”
My feeder rig
“The rig is simplicity itself. I slide a link swivel on to the shockleader and twist the last 6ins to form a 3ins loop which I then secure with a figure-of-eight knot. A small loop is then tied at the end of the large twisted loop and the hooklength attached to that.
“Finally, I fix a No8 Stotz against the twisted loop and attach my feeder to the link swivel to form a ‘boom’ – a length of line that sits away from the feeder to reduce the chance of tangles and line damage. It’s important that the long twisted loop hangs slightly below the feeder, as in the photo.”
River Fishing Tips | How to catch more fish from tricky rivers
Low, clear and full of weed – summer rivers can be tricky places at the best of times.
The fish are spooky, and will often sit out of sight. However, do it right and the results can be breathtaking, as Garbolino UK boss Darren Cox proved recently on the Warwickshire Avon, where he landed two barbel for 22lb in a match.
We caught up with Darren for his tips on how best to approach these challenging waterways, right now.
Swim selection
“When the temperatures are high the fish will be looking for oxygenated water, so weirs, rapids and shallow areas are the places to target.
“I always like to fish over gravel if I can, as fish seem to prefer lying over it, and anything that gives the fish cover is great to target.
“Features such as trees, weed or reeds are always good to look out for. On the day of the match I drew a peg that was very weedy and snaggy, which was why the fish were there.
“The first barbel I had, a fish of 11lb 14oz, snagged me up four times during the fight, but by using the correct tackle I managed to land it.”
Tackle Choice
“Most barbel anglers opt for quite a pokey rod up to a test curve of around 2.25lb and 15lb line. However, I much prefer something softer. During the match I used 6lb Maxima mainline and an 0.23mm hooklength.
“While 6lb Maxima will break at much more than 6lb, the soft rod I use in conjunction with this tackle is one of the most important parts of my set-up.
“I actually think this is better for playing barbel on, as it absorbs the lunges of the fish much better than something stiffer does.
“It may seem under-gunned, but the fact that I landed two double-figure barbel and didn’t lose a fish in such a snaggy swim shows that the gear is up to the job.”
Tactics
“On the day of the match I set up both a float and a tip rod, but the river was pushing through too quickly and was a bit too weedy to run a float through nicely.
“I caught the larger barbel on a feeder, and after getting a few line bites I knew there was something substantial in the swim. It’s always worth setting the float up, though, as it’s a great way to present your bait when the pace is right.
“Even if you don’t catch on the float it’s still a great way to search the swim, as you can find out where the fish are lying.
“A dome-topped balsa float is my preferred option when fishing for big fish with large baits, and I’ll often lay two feet of line on the deck so that I can really drag my hookbait through the swim.
“If you have a large snag in your swim it’s always best to try and draw the fish away from it with feed – however, sometimes this just isn’t possible.
“On such occasions, you have to be prepared to go right into the lion’s den!”
Choice of Bait
One of the biggest problems on summer rivers can be the large shoals of tiny fish such as bleak.
These can destroy your hookbaits, so you want to be using something that excludes these species.
Hemp and casters are a great all-round option, but if you’re going specifically for roach and chub then tares are a favourite of mine. During the match I fed four pints of hemp and casters, as well as a cubed tin of Mainline Match Spicy Brown meat.
The benefit of feeding the meat is that I know that this bait will reach the bottom through all the small fish, which will leave something for the bigger fish to eat when they move into the swim.
20 ways to boost your winter river catches
REGULAR FEEDING
Try to get into a routine where you feed before you cast and then feed again at the end of the run. You can also fit another feed in between, as a steady trickle of bait going through the swim all the time will work much better than just one handful every now and again.
LINE CONTROL
When you’re floatfishing on a river, always cast downstream to ensure that your line is in the correct position to start off with. Cast in front or upstream and you’ll end up with a big bow in the line. Another thing to keep in mind is rod position while you’re fishing. Keep the rod pointing downstream and you’ll hit more bites, as you’ll be able to pick up a lot of line.
ESSENTIAL INFO
Use the venue information in Angling Times to search out new venues. There are loads of good river stretches and maybe now is the time to try new ones.
Another useful source of information is tackle shops. There is usually a wealth of local fishery knowledge inside, so talk to the people who work there and ask their advice on where best to go.
They want you to succeed, because you’ll go back for more bait and kit if you do!
LINE SPRAY AND FLOATING LINE GREASE
Before you start floatfishing on a moving river, treat your lines with silicone spray. It helps to keep the line floating, which in turn improves control and bait presentation. I also use silicone line grease in pacy water where I might be ‘mending’ the line several times during a run. I take a smear from the tub and coat the line liberally for about two metres above the float.
BE SAFE!
No fish is worth risking your life for, so keep safe when you’re on a riverbank, especially if you’re alone. We’re approaching the time of year when river fishing can be fantastic, so get out there when you can and enjoy it!
ESSENTIAL CLOTHING
While you can buy cheap showerproof clothing from a variety of sources these days, if you want to stay totally dry in the worst of conditions my advice would be to invest in Gore-Tex. Base layers are covered with a Gore-Tex bib and brace, a Windstopper fleece and a Gore-Tex jacket, and I never get wet underneath.
NEOPRENE WADERS
It never ceases to amaze me just how many anglers spend thousands of pounds on kit and then skimp on waders. As far as I’m concerned, any angler who regularly fishes rivers like I do should invest in a pair of neoprene waders. I use the Le Chameau ones which have neoprene lining right down to the toe. Cold feet are now a thing of the past!
GETTING GEAR TO THE SWIM
I now use the largest Riggers platform barrow, the best in terms of design and reliability. Most of the time I use it with a single front wheel but I’ve also now got a pair of rear wheels that I can use if I’m pushing the barrow on hard ground.
Whichever barrow you buy, get one that converts into a platform to allow you to position yourself out in the river. You can then either just use it as a table top or put your seatbox on it.
RODS AND REELS
Think about what you actually want the rods to do and then buy accordingly. Your local tackle shop should be able to advise you on this, or ask the opinions of other anglers if you’re not sure.
The same applies to reels. Think about what you actually need them to do and buy an appropriate size to suit the fishing style. It’s also a good idea to match your rods and reels up so that you’ve got identical kit to use.
FLOATS
One area where I’ve seen a lot of anglers sadly lacking is floats. There are many different situations that you can find yourself in on rivers, yet some anglers seem to want to use their ‘favourite’ float all the time. Take some time out to learn about what you actually need for a given situation and you’ll end up catching loads more fish.
USE THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY WEBSITE
One of the most useful websites ever for river anglers is the one that is provided by the Environment Agency, which gives regularly updated river levels for rivers all over the country. It’s at www.environment-agency.co.uk
Get into the habit of using it in the winter months, especially as it will save wasted journeys if the rivers are high. You can actually time your trips to perfection when you get to know levels at your favourite venues.
LINES
Good quality line is vitally important for river fishing. It needs to float, as I can then use it for float or feeder work. I’m currently testing some new reel line, as well as a new clear hooklength and rig line, which I’ve been very impressed with so far. The only way to test lines though is by using them over a lengthy period, as most lines are okay for a few outings.
Use a micrometer if you can and check the lines you are using. The stated diameter can be way off!
FEEDERS
Like floats, many anglers just don’t carry enough. Most anglers also don’t have enough additional weight with them to add to the feeder to make it hold bottom. A rolling feeder can work very occasionally but most of the time it will just end up in a snag and be lost. Invest in some add-on weights to make the feeders stay where you want them to.
CASTING
It’s no use having great kit and then chucking a feeder to a different place every time, so work on your accuracy if you fall into this category.
You can use a line clip, of course, to assist you with this but don’t rely on it all the time, as you’ll often catch more by working an area rather than having everything on exactly the same spot.
When you’re floatfishing in windy conditions, always cast off the side that the wind is blowing to. You’ll get far fewer tangles than you will doing it from the other side in this situation.
ESSENTIAL ACCESSORIES
Things in my seatbox that I’d hate to be without include small nail clippers for cutting line, hook-tyers, disgorgers, plummets, Tipp-Ex for marking depths on my pole and flat-nosed pliers for fixing shot and crimping hook barbs. Double up on all items in case of loss.
FISH CARE
I don’t have a problem with people using keepnets as long as they are used properly and fish have plenty of room and depth of water. I also don’t have a problem with catch shots as long as they are done quickly and efficiently.
For a catch shot, get everything set up before you take the picture. Put a weighing mat or an upside-down wet keepnet underneath the net in which the fish are held. Never photograph a catch shot on hard ground.
GROUNDBAIT OR LOOSEFEED?
Generally, the deeper or faster flowing swims often lend themselves to groundbait approaches, while shallow swims tend to be more about loose feeding.
ASK QUESTIONS, MAKE FRIENDSHIPS
Most anglers love talking fishing to other anglers. If you’re visiting a venue for the first time, talk to other anglers there and ask their advice on the place. Not only will you learn a lot quickly, but you can often forge new friendships along the way.
KEEP GOING
Now that the days are shorter, you will often find that the best catching time on rivers is during the last two hours of daylight. Don’t give up if you can’t catch up for the first couple of hours, as your day could still finish on a high!
RIGS ON WINDERS
Making rigs up at home and storing them on winders will save you loads of time on the riverbank and give you more fishing time instead.
You’ll be more inclined to change rigs to try them rather than staying on a rig you might have started with.
Darren Cox's five top tips for float fishing for big roach
A lot of species almost switch off the feed when the temperatures plummet but, for some strange reason, roach seem to do the complete opposite. On days when ice is lining the margins or worse, you can still rely on those redfins to provide a bite every chuck.
The shoals can consist of literally hundreds of fish, so how do you go about picking off the biggest ones in it? This week England international and Garbolino-backed Darren Cox shows you how to keep quality roach coming thick and fast.
1) Light rigs
“The biggest of the roach in the shoal are going to the oldest and wisest, and they will ignore a bait that isn’t presented properly. “Light rigs play an important part in this process so you should go no heavier than 0.12mm mainline and an 0.10mm hooklength to a size 18 hook. “Pay special attention to your shotting pattern, making sure it allows your hookbait to enter the feeding zone at a slow pace.”
2) Finiky Feeding
Roach will change the way they feed almost every day. “It is important to work out early in the day whether the redfins are intercepting the bait as it falls through the water or picking it up off the bottom. “If they are plucking at the bait as it sinks, it’s time to use a strung-out shotting pattern to really slow the fall of the hookbait.”
3) Unbeatable Baits
“If there are two baits that will guarantee big roach they are hemp and tares. “A size 16 or 18 Kamasan B511 is a light pattern of hook that is perfect for a tare or a grain of hemp. Float choice is also important. and a Garbolino DC12H provides the slow fall of the hookbait that is required. “Feed regularly, firing in 20 grains every few minutes.”
4) Waggler Winner
When the water is clear a waggler can often outscore the pole. “Cast out the float and then count how long it takes for the hookbait to hit the bottom. “You can work out when the bait has touched the deck by placing a small shot just above the hooklength – this will register and make your float sit how you want it once the hookbait has touched bottom.
“If you find that it takes a count to 10 before it hits the deck but the bites are coming by the time you count to five it means the fish are sat at half-depth and it is time to shallow up.”
5) Keep on feeding
“Make sure the feed is going in little and often and you will get the stamp of fish you wish for at some point. “Keep a few maggots trickling through the water column, not letting this rhythm stop at any point during the day. If you do, your chances of bringing specimen roach into the peg will quickly diminish. “If small fish refuse to back away, switch to feeding casters and use two on the hook.”
IDEAL FOR FLOAT FISHING FOR ROACH
Catch quality winter roach from a town centre canal
There can be fewer more famous canal venues in the UK than the legendary ‘hotties’ section of the Sankey St Helen’s Canal running through the middle of St Helen’s.
When the water was warmed by the Pilkington Glass factory on the banks of the canal back in the 70’s through to the 90’s, the water would steam in winter and with artificially high temperatures, unusual species for a canal could be caught including carp and even the odd tropical fish dumped into the venue by owners.
That was a while ago though and the ‘hotties’ are no longer steaming – but the fish are still there and that’s the message that controlling club St Helen’s AA are trying to get across to match anglers by running regular matches where those carp still have a part to play.
Alongside the big fish, the match angler is also likely to be catching your standard canal fare of roach, perch and bream, weights being respectable over the Christmas and New Year break and into 2017. It was for that reason that club members and local matchmen Andy Burrows and England vets legend Danny Sixsmith agreed to show what the ‘hotties’ has to offer in the modern era.
“I can remember 10 years ago the canal still steaming from the ‘gusher’ pipe that went into the canal and it was one of the few canals in the UK where you could catch carp from 2oz to 20lb because they bred throughout the year thanks to the warm water,” Andy said. “A Boxing Day match was one won with 99lb of them and every match we’ve run this winter has seen carp caught. I think 10 was the most in one match and that was when there was ice on the water!”
However, you’ll need to catch the canal right to get the carp as they seem to prefer clear water. On the day of Andy and Danny’s trip, rain had coloured the water and carp seemed to be unlikely. Fortunately, there are also lots of big roach and an ever-increasing head of big skimmers to go for.
“There are two distinct areas to the Sankey – a deep part and a shallow section but it never seems to matter where you fish as the sports is equally good and there’s no boat channel either because the canal is landlocked so the depth is constant all the way across so you can often use just the one rig!” he continued. “The canal did fall out of favour a bit because of expensive car parking but now the council offer free parking on Sundays and £2 a day throughout the week so access is as good as it has ever been.”
There’s also no hassle with cyclists and runners on the towpath as paths have been built well back from the water to keep all users of the Sankey happy. All of this adds up to make the canal what Andy thinks is the best canal in the country and one that is criminally underfished.
“If roach and bream are the target, as they are today, you can forget all about faffing around with squatts and tiny hooks plus light feeding as the fish actually respond better to a lot of feed meaning that you can fish positively,” he said. “There’s no need to go right across to the far bank either thanks to that constant depth and I typically have four pole lines in a match, one starting at around 6m from where I then work my way out by two sections at a time as the day goes on, plus a swim off to one side with a view to catching bream.”
Andy’s rig for the canal does use a typical light 4x10 canal float in the shallow areas with lines of 0.13mm main to an 0.09mm hooklink and a size 18 or 20 Kamasan B512 hook finished with a 2 to 4 grade hollow elastic fished with a puller kit. This way he can catch the big roach and skimmers but also deal with a carp if he hooks them. The big fish tend to plod around in winter so there’s no need for heavy gear and this is used on all four lines.
“I kick off at 6m where I pot in a quarter of a large pot of maggots, fishing double fluoro pinkie on the hook but I’ll also feed those others swims with the same amount of maggots, the skimmer line getting a ball of sweet bream groundbait packed with dead pinkies, casters, micro pellets and chopped worm,” Andy revealed. “You can feed a lot of bait on here and it won’t be unusual to get through four pints of maggots in a match. The key is to feed to your bites so if you are catching, you can loosefeed far more and get through the bait.”
“The skimmer line is not somewhere to have an odd look at through the day though because I’ve found that the bream get onto the bait very quickly so I would spend a good bit of time fishing here but not too long. If the bream are there you should get them quickly but if not, get back on the roach.”
For carp when the water is clear, Andy still swears by maggots as you can catch the roach and skimmers while waiting for the carp. Pellets can work but are too selective.
The day that Andy and Danny picked couldn’t have been worse with howling winds limiting how far out you could sensibly fish but it didn’t affect the fishing with lots of bites from some quality roach and a few of those famed skimmers. As expected, the carp didn’t show but with 15lb of fish apiece to show for their efforts, that didn’t matter one bit.
If you thought that canal fishing was all about dodging pole-smashing bikes and catching 2lb of tiny fish, the Sankey shows that nothing could be further from the truth. Apparently, it’s even better in the summer!
Fish the Sankey
Controlled by St Helen’s AA, the Sankey can be fished on their £30 club book which also includes Carr Mill Dam. Matches run every Sunday with no peg fee taken so your £10 pools are paid out 100%. To book on, give Andy a call on 07849 608448.
Roach tips
1 Maggots aren’t the most exciting of baits, but you can boost their pulling power with essential oils. A couple of drops on a pint of maggots transforms them and roach just can’t resist. Top choices include geranium, aniseed and tea tree oil.
2 It might be cold but you can still catch roach on the drop, especially in heavily-stocked commercial fisheries that aren’t too deep. A float or pole rig with only a few small shots spread out down the line will let you present a slow-sinking bait.
3 Try presenting your hookbait at differing current speeds on rivers. This may be half pace or it may be the merest of trickles along the riverbed and the pole is the best method to achieve this, especially when you run the bait over a bed of groundbait.
4 Few fish alive won’t turn their noses up at a worm and the roach is no exception! You’ll need to use a small piece of worm to catch well, most anglers favouring the head of a worm or the tail of a lobworm. Worm works particularly well on rivers carrying colour after heavy rains.
5 What’s the best time to fish for roach? Experts agree that the last hour of daylight and the first hour into dark are the prime times as roach lose some of their inhibitions and really get their heads down. This is especially true of the biggest roach in the shoal.
6 Roach are delicate feeders and can easily spit out a bait if they feel the weight of the hook. That makes a fine wire pattern essential and good choices for the pleasure angler include the Kamasan B511, Mustad Canal Seed and Drennan Fine Match.
7 River roach can sometimes be sitting right at the head of the swim following an hour of constant feeding and the angler who casts slightly downstream can miss out on a few extra bites. Halfway through the session, try casting just a few yards upriver.
8 Fast taps on the quivertip when legering can come from roach eager to snatch the hookbait. Convert these taps into fish in the net by lengthening the hooklength, often up to 5ft! This gives the fish more chance of taking the bait properly without feeling resistance.
9 A great river angler’s trick to winkle out a big roach is to rig up a very light link leger, often as little as 2SSG and cast this downstream but only a rodlength or so out from the bank.
10 They may be bold in summer, but roach on a commercial when the cold strikes can give very delicate bites and a fine-tipped pole float or insert waggler lets you see every indication. You must make sure the float tip is dotted right down to only a speck.
11 River roach are not unlike chub in that they will seek out a part of the swim where a slack area meets faster flows, known as a crease. You will see this above the water on the surface as a ‘boiling’ area of disturbed water. This allows the fish to sit in the slack and dart out to pick off food carried by the current and makes for the number one area to present a bait. Bends in the rivers are particularly good areas to find these features.
12 Moods of roach change and on some days they will only take a bait held still while on others they’ll happily chase their meal down the peg. That makes the stick float a very good method for slowing a bait right down or trundling it through at full speed. The pole also allows you to do this, but only at the limit of its length.
13 For picking out a better stamp of roach there’s little to beat hempseed as a hookbait, but hooking the grains can be the stuff of nightmares. Enterprise Tackle makes fake hemp, a plastic seed that is simple to hook and is a great dodge to use when the fish are feeding well.
14 Town centre stretches of river are classic roach magnets in winter as they tend to have water temperatures that bit higher than in the countryside and they also offer protection from predators and easy meals from the public feeding bread to the ducks.
15 On clear rivers, roach will often sit well down the peg away from the bankside commotion and you’ll need to feed to attract them. A few maggots or casters loosefed every minute or so will create a steady stream of goodies travelling down the peg and draw in the fish.
16 Commercial fisheries see a lot of competition for food from their stocks, but roach will happily feed at short range, making for a comfortable session. A pole line of 6m will be enough, providing it is into the deeper water at the bottom of the marginal shelf and you can also feed this by hand, caster a good bait for picking up the better stamp of fish.
17 Extra water doesn’t mean no bites, especially where the roach is concerned. You will need a different approach, though, and one of the more recent innovations is the flat float or lollipop. This allows you to nail a bait hard on the riverbed and keep it perfectly still, just the job when used in conjunction with a baitdropper. Bites will be very slow and deliberate, though, so don’t strike at the slightest indication.
18 Groundbait is a great way of concentrating roach in your peg but in clear water conditions, it can be a non-starter. Faced with this, a baitdropper is the best option, allowing you to deposit a large pile of hemp, casters of chopped worm in one spot. This is especially deadly when fishing the pole. All you need is a baitdropper, a pole top kit with strong carp elastic and some strong line.
19 You can prebait for roach, especially on narrow rivers where you might only catch a couple of decent fish per swim before moving on. Mashed bread is the feed for this job, introducing two or three tangerine-sized balls into each swim. It’s then a matter of fishing a light leger or a stick float with a thumbnail-sized piece of breadflake on the hook.
20 Breadpunch is a fabulous winter roach bait when combined with liquidised bread, especially on clear canals and rivers but it can be an error to feed it as a ball, especially in shallow water. Faced with around 3ft, a better option is to feed the bread loose, which creates an instant cloud as it hits the water that attracts the fish.
21 When your river peg goes quiet after a run of roach, a bold approach can pay off. Some anglers even ball-in another six to eight balls of groundbait in an attempt to kick start the swim. This bombardment makes a noise, known as 'ringing the dinner bell' and will squeeze out a few extra bites.
22 Roach are one of the few species to feed consistently off the bottom in winter whether on a river, canal or lake so when you’ve plumbed up on the float or pole, begin the session by presenting your hookbait an inch or two off the bottom. This works particularly well on canals where the bottom gets disturbed by boat traffic.
23 You can catch roach one a cast when you find them in numbers and this is the time when the whip should make a rare outing. The whip will catch up to four fish to the long pole’s one and in ideal conditions ¬ a light wind off your back ¬ can put together a frightening weight of fish. There’s no place for light rigs, though, with a float over 0.5g a must.
24 Winter roach can be spooky creatures and often won’t stay in one spot for long. One great trick is to cast just past where you’ve fed, especially if bites have tailed off. Not only do the fish back off here, but they also tend to be the bigger ones in the shoal. Don’t be afraid to cast as far as 3m past the feed area.
25 Coriander might normally go into a curry, but it makes a fantastic additive for roach. It has been used by the England team as part of their groundbait mixes on foreign venues dominated by the species. All you need is a jar of the dried herb, adding a couple of teaspoons to your dry mix. This provides a highly aromatic scent to the crumb.