Incredible week for specimen roach

As summer fades to autumn the roach begin to feed hard – and anglers across the nation have been taking advantage of the ideal conditions. 

Dynamite Baits-backed Matt Fernandez kicked things off with a cracking bag of 10 river Itchen roach, the biggest at 2lb 2oz.

Talking to Angling Times about his catch, Matt said: “I found a decent shoal of roach among some weed in a tricky area to fish. 

“The river was low and the conditions were bright, so it took some time to tempt them to feed – but eventually they started taking my loosefed maggots.”

Matt fished a 4BB stick float on 2lb line to land the roach, using red maggots on a size 16 hook. 

Martin Abonyi also fished the float to target large roach, which resulted in the capture of an immaculate 2lb 4oz roach from a tiny northern river. 

He said: “I spotted a group of big roach under some tree branches, but unfortunately I had a few chub straight away that I thought would wreck the swim – however, as the light began to fade I struck into the roach.” 

Martin presented his breadflake hookbait on a size 12 hook fished beneath a small crystal dibber.

Like Matt, Martin also used 2lb line, however fine tackle is not necessarily needed to land large roach, as Maris Miervaldis proved when he landed an immense 2lb 14oz fish on a boilie wrapped in paste. Maris was fishing the Warwickshire Avon for chub and barbel when he encountered the near-3lb fish. 

Ryan Dolby opted for a feeder with pellets and boilies to land a cracking 2lb 4oz roach from the River Trent, alongside large chub, barbel and bream. 

It’s not only rivers that have been in good form for roach, as James Howes proved with a 2lb 8oz fish from a northern stillwater. Fishing specifically for the redfins, James used a helicopter rig with a 10mm boilie hookbait to single out the largest fish. 

Whether you fish rivers or stillwaters, with the float or feeder, now is the perfect time to target your biggest-ever roach.