3lb river roach falls to simple feeder rig

A huge 3lb 1oz river roach has topped the capture of a host of impressive specimens as the countdown to the end of the of the season gets underway.

Roman Vann set the standard this week with a fish-of-a-lifetim’ caught during a session on a chalk stream in the south of the UK.

At this time of the year many anglers adopt a little-and-often approach when it comes to feeding, but the 26-year-old abandoned that approach by introducing a gallon of hemp with a homemade bait dropper at the start of his session!

He then cast a simple maggot feeder rig over the top and it wasn’t long before he was celebrating the capture of his new personal best.

“I’m an animal when it comes to feeding… it’s all or nothing,” said Roman, who lives on the outskirts of the New Forest.

“Many anglers can’t get their head around this approach, but I don’t think the roach actually fill themselves up on the hemp. 

“All it is a great attractor, and then the maggots on top are just like the cherries on the top of a cake – the fish simply pick them off.

“This roach really is right up there with the capture of a 17lb barbel a while back, and I took it just a rodlength out… truly incredible stuff.

“Like many anglers I grew up watching A Passion For Angling, and that incredible episode when Bob James catches all those huge roach has been etched into my memory.

“I never imagined that one day I would be the one holding something as rare and as special as this fish,” he continued.

“Even though some time has passed since the capture I’m still buzzing and can’t get the image of that roach out of my head.”