River Roach on a whim
I have not managed to get out fishing as much as I would have liked this year but when I have I have been very lucky. Some may say jammy!
I was having a discussion with work colleagues about possible areas of river to go and have a bit of a trot for some roach. Many areas were discussed but I had one in mind. I knew of an area of the River Itchen which in the past had produced several good Roach to 1.8lb. I hadn’t visited this stretch for a few years and my mind started to go mental, imagining how big the roach had got or if they were even still there!
I decided to put my mind at rest and go and check out this old roach haunt. On arrival it was apparent the shoal was still there and the fish had clearly increased in size and numbers. I saw three fish which appeared over the 2lb mark and plenty around 1lb to 1.8lb. It was too tempting to leave, so I rushed home and grabbed the kit. Bait choice was white maggots, some bread which got blended into crumb and some CC Moore’s Hot Hemp to add to it.
I got back to the river just before dusk and started off baiting the area lightly with bread crumb and the Hot Hemp and a few maggots. I then let the swim settle and allowed the fish to get more confident in there feeding. During this period I set up my tactic of choice.
Due to the slowness of the flow I decided I might be able to use a rig I had been using for Rudd fishing earlier in the season on one of the Farnham AS waters.
I was fishing a light quive...
