Bumper roach haul after three day feed

A prebaiting campaign on his local River Itchen paid off handsomely for big-fish man Roman Vann when he put together an astonishing haul of roach to a top weight of 2lb 5oz.

Priming his swim with hemp for three days prior to his session, Roman waited until a low pressure front had moved in and he could see numbers of roach in the swim.

This resulted in a catch which included three fish over 2lb to 2lb 5oz, along with half a dozen over 1lb 12oz.

He told Angling Times: “The last three relatively calm and mild winters seems to have bolstered roach numbers and weights on the southern rivers.

“The plan seemed to work perfectly as each time I checked the swim the concentration of roach was increasing.

“When roach are feeding actively there is no need to fish too fine because you will just lose more large fish to hook-pulls.”

Romans haul fell to maggot feeder tactics with three maggots on a size 12 hook tied to a 5lb hooklength.