Stillwaters come to life with specimen roach.
One of the greatest big roach catches of modern times has been taken, including a trio of three pounders, as Britain’s favourite species switches on in style.
Leading the way in a remarkable five-fish haul by Bristol-based specimen angler Vinnie Durn was an impressive 3lb 8oz redfin, the second-biggest roach of the season.
Incredibly, the 37-year-old builder backed it up with two other fish each weighing 3lb, and a pair at 2lb 8oz apiece, from an undisclosed southern gravel pit.
Vinnie said: “All five were caught fishing 60 yards behind a raised gravel bar using fake sweetcorn hookbaits to avoid the crayfish, as there are hundreds in this lake!
“I fished the rigs over a big bed of groundbait, hemp and sweetcorn – and all were caught through the night and the following morning from the tightly fished area!”
It wasn’t the only water which saw specimen roach go on the feed as Oxfordshire’s Linear Fisheries also hit form, highlighted by Nick Goode’s 2lb 14oz specimen this week.
He took the fish from the popular Brasenose 2, which is far better known as a carp water.
Many consider the capture of such big roach from large stillwaters to be down to the prevalence of carp anglers’ baits and that’s just what Alan Rio used to bag a 2lb 12oz roach from another undisclosed venue.
The Woking, Surrey, rod used scaled-down carp rigs consisting of a Drennan feeder fished helicopter-style down to a 4lb hooklink and a 8mm boilie.
Alan said: “The recent mild days are perfect for roach fishing.”
Specimen roach expert Phil Spinks also got among the fish when three of his tutorial clients all bagged 2lb-plus specimens from Homersfield Lake in Norfolk.
Angling Direct-backed Phil said “The hardest aspect of catching big gravel pit roach is singling out the better fish. The roach fishing has been tricky of late, so seeing my three guests catch personal bests was great.
“I spent the first day teaching my first client Richard how to approach gravel pit roach fishing, then a couple of evenings later I received a phone call from him saying he had caught a fish
of 3lb 1oz!
“My next guests, Matthew and Chris Baynes, also did well. Matthew had a new personal best of 2lb 9oz and Chris a fin-perfect 2lb 10oz fish.”
To round off an incredible week for stillwater roach, Dale Morris amassed an estimated 15lb net of roach all over 1lb and capped them off with a 1lb 10oz fish.
Dale’s memorable catch also came from a carp water, this time in the north of the country. He fished a light carp set-up and fed corn, casters, pellets and hemp.