Super roach banked from ‘dead’ lake

A stillwater syndicate in Norfolk, which was rumoured to have been destroyed by cormorants, was this week the scene of some of the biggest individual roach catches of the season... including a 3lb 8oz giant!

The superb redfin was the second of two caught by carp angler Shane Lord during a recent session at Highbridge Lakes – the first being another fine specimen of 2lb 1oz.

The 25-year-old told Angling Times: “The alarm slowly beeped away and I originally thought it was a bream, but after picking up the rod and feeling a little tug, I thought I must be into one of the bigger roach I have heard about in the lake.

“The first fish was the two-pounder, which was a new pb so I was over the moon.

“A few hours later things got even better. Following some drop-backs on the indicator I picked up the rod and reeled it in, this time to see an absolute monster of a roach on the end!

“I have never seen a roach that size before, it was amazing!”

Shane’s roach fell to a 12mm wafter hookbait presented on a multi-rig just seven rodlengths out. This was fished over a small bed of crushed boilies.

These weren’t the only specimen roach reported from the Norfolk venue, though – another carper, Sean Jackson, also struck silver this week with a clonking 2lb 3oz roach.

This fish showed a similar liking for a wafter hookbait, which was presented on a
combi-rig in 23ft of water. 

Fishery manager James Brown was pleased to hear of the reports of big roach, and said: “The lake is fishing its head off at the moment.

“It did have a five-year waiting list to join the syndicate but then the rumour mill got going with scaremongering about the cormorants destroying all the fish – which, as you can see, was rubbish.

“The damage was already done, leaving 10 spaces on a roach syndicate of 20. These recent results will certainly bring the focus back on to how good the roach fishing here really is.”