Winter Roach Part Two.

 Last weeks session for Roach was a successful one with a healthy bag of fish to nearly twenty pound, I felt like a match angler for the day and I enjoyed the sport no end, so naturally I fancied another bash at it and this morning I packed light with my trusty keepnet and a loaf of white bread. The tackle used was the same as last week and once the fish were found it was a case of simply keeping the shoal interested and once caught keep them isolated in the keepnet to avoid returning fish and spooking the remainder of the Roach.

 Roach were the target from the get go but a Barbel of about 7lb didn't read the script as I hooked it on 3lb bottom but unfortunately as it got 4ft from the net after all the hard work done negotiating it - the hook popped out of it's top lip and she was gone. After that somewhat disappointing passage of play I moved as the Roach would have been put down.

 The Roach did however put in a great show on a couple of trots but one in particular where in just under 3 hours I had 46 Roach with the largest at 1lb 4oz and they averaged around 12oz, along with 5 Gudgeon to over 3oz, unfortunately the bag of Roach was so heavy it would have bottomed my scales out but I estimate the bag to weigh between 30-35lb, a fantastic bit of fishing and the session was to get just a bit better as I carried on my Roach exploits as I headed downstream of where I was originally when on probably the third or fourth trot the float disappeared, with that I struck firmly and the rod hooped over immediately and with that I knew it wasn't a Roach and the culprit became visible fairly quickly as a very large shape cruised through the water upstream, on 3lb bottom I was playing the Barbel very carefully but luckily as most big fish do it was staying deep and moving fairly slowly, after a few minutes she laid up in the net. Happy days.

A great morning's trotting.

Best of the bag @ 1.4.

Monster Gudgeon over 3oz.

A lovely double at 10lb 6oz, not quite a Roach.

 With the Barbel photographed and weighed I sought out some more Roach swims but with nothing showing I decided to have a go somewhere else where I thought some may be playing ball as the weather conditions were perfect for them. After arriving at my last port of call I put my gear down and put the polariod's on to have a scout around to try and locate a shoal of fish or some rogue Roach amongst the gravel bar's and weed, this tactic unfortunately didn't work so a swim was decided on and that was where I spent the late-afternoon/evening with the hope that building up a swim would get the Roach feeding by dusk.

 Twenty minutes before dusk my arduous task of getting the bait out in the right area and getting the fish to feed seemed to have paid off brilliantly as my quivertip slammed over as a Roach made off with my feeder fished flake, just what the doctor ordered indeed.

1.6 of pure Roach.

 As night fell I started to get more bites but the fish seemed very cautious as most bites actually weren't hittable, at around 7o'clock I had a quick succession of bites which provided me with a 5lb 2oz Chub and my biggest Roach of the day at 1lb 8oz, not a 2lber but great sport and both Roach were in fin-perfect condition.

Stunning Chevin that certainly looked bigger in the net than 5.2.

Biggest of the day at 1.8.

 All in all it was a great days fishing, red letter day it was indeed.