EXCLUSIVE! 4lb 3oz roach rocks the British Record fish
This morning a monster 4lb 3oz roach was caught from a syndicate lake in Suffolk, a fish which is just 1oz under the current British Record.
The redfin was caught by design by Ken Fuller and it's believed to be the joint second largest authenticated roach in the UK. It joins the likes of the current best by Keith Berry at 4lb 4oz from Northern Ireland in 2006 and the iconic 4lb 3oz record by Ray Clarke from the Dorset Stour.
The full story and pictures will be in next week's Angling Times.
Pit session produces seven amazing roach over 2lb!
Britain's stillwaters are producing some incredible fish right now, and Mick Dinnigan took a catch of roach that many anglers could only dream about when he banked seven huge specimens.
Every roach broke the 2lb barrier, with the biggest tipping the scales at 2lb 13oz – and all were caught on simple maggot feeder tactics. The rest of the fish landed weighed 2lb 11oz, two at 2lb 9oz, 2lb 8oz, and another pair at 2lb 2oz apiece. They were backed up by roach of 1lb 15oz, 1lb 14oz and 1lb 10oz.
All the Yorkshire specialist’s fish came from a southern gravel pit where Mick has been concentrating his efforts for the last few months. This is easily his biggest-ever catch of roach over the 2lb mark.
“It was a two-night trip, and I decided not to put too much bait in because it would have attracted the attentions of too many carp,” he told Angling Times.
“Conditions were really good. I decided to base my attack at around 60 yards, which proved to be the correct decision.
“There aren’t that many venues that hold numbers of 2lb roach, but carp fishing syndicates have many big fish and are well worth targeting if you can gain access to them.”
All Mick’s roach were beaten on a rig constructed from a 0.12 mm hooklink and a size 16 hook. This set-up has proved deadly for the resident roach, but Mick has also enjoyed success with the lake’s carp stocks, landing fish to a best of 28lb 10oz.
Biggest roach of the year caught at 3lb 5oz on a single maggot!
A single maggot on a size 20 hook was the key to the capture of the biggest roach of 2017 weighing 3lb 5oz 8dr. It was tempted from a chalk stream in the south by passionate roach angler Matt Jackson. Years of targeting specimen redfins on the waterway have taught the Wiltshire specialist that the window of opportunity for catching these rare fish is small, so he got to the river over an hour before sunrise.
It paid off in style, as his only bite of his short session saw him bank his fifth river roach over the magical 3lb barrier. “I knew the conditions weren’t going to be perfect, so the only chance of a big fish was before the sun came up. Too many anglers leave it too late,” Matt said.
“I like to get to the river really early and then listen and watch out for big fish rolling on the surface. “If I’d got to the river at first light I would have missed my chance and, to honest, I thought I had because the sun was just starting to come up just before I got the bite. Matt comes from a carp fishing background and knows the importance of accuracy when baiting up.
He uses a bait dropper to deposit a tight bed of CC Moore hempseed and maggots, then casts a simple maggot feeder rig over the top. “Big roach may only feed in very short spells so, as soon as it’s on the feed, you need to be in with a chance of the fish picking up your hookbait quickly,” Matt continued.
“Loosefeeding by hand or with a catapult won’t guarantee that your feed is all in one spot because river currents can be deceiving and all baits sink at different rates. “A bait dropper is the most effective way and is the secret to laying a trap for huge roach.”
Two of Matt’s five roach over 3lb came a year after he banked one of the biggest roach braces of all time, 3lb 7oz and 3lb 2oz fish which he landed in the winter of 2015. The winning rig which fooled this latest stunner was made from 4lb Guru mainline, a 3lb hooklink and size 20 hook that held a single red maggot.
Another angler who made the most of a short session was Yorkshire’s Mike Townsend. He was fishing a small, local river with the float and a breadflake when a 2lb fish took the bait close to the far-bank reeds during a quick 30-minute session after work.
