Personal best roach smashed with 2lb 8oz fish for John Miller

Big roach don’t come much better looking than this 2lb 8oz personal best, which was the highlight of a session at a Northamptonshire stillwater last week for John Miller.

He wasn’t the only one to catch his biggest roach during the trip, as his brother Paul also banked one weighing exactly the same.

Both anglers put their faith in maggot feeder rigs that incorporated short 6lb fluorocarbon hooklengths and size 14 hooks, fished over beds of groundbait, hemp and maggots.

John, from Uppingham in Rutland, and Paul, from Leicestershire, also netted fish of 2lb 5oz, 2lb 1oz and several fish over the 1lb mark.

“I reckon two things were central to our success – following the wind, and keeping the bait going in. We must have spodded our way through about eight pints of maggots,” John told Angling Times.