Large Floodwater Roach.

 A couple of weeks spent on holiday and then a stag do I had a somewhat hectic schedule but having returned from Brussels I'm now into my last week off, this evening the rain was still coming down but I really wanted to get out on the bank.

 The conditions for Roach upon arrival were almost perfect, the river was up maybe 1.5ft and was running very cloudy, from what I understand it's rained for a whole week so I wasn't too surprised to find it in flood, with the water running cold I thought it would be hard work to find some feeding fish but the target was a Roach and the larger ones were what I really wanted. At 6pm it was 11c at the end of August, madness that this is supposed to be summer.

 To begin with I trotted sweetcorn along a far bank crease at roughly 6ft deep which was slightly overdepth, to overcome the stronger than usual current I bulked a 5AA avon float down to try and keep the bait tight and slow where I thought the Roach may be, it didn't take long for a swift pull of the float and a decent fish hung deep in the flow, at first I thought it was a Roach but the fish was fighting dirty which is the way Chub scrap, it wasn't long either before a Chevin surfaced and approached the net, a sturdy fish of 4lb or so was quickly unhooked and released, this happened 3 times in seven casts, all the Chub were of good sizes but then it went very quiet before a surprise surfaced in the shape of a baby near Linear Mirror Carp, a massive surprise given the conditions and pace of the river, obviously wasn't deterred though.

How very pretty!!

 After that little Carp it was very slow going again and thought of changing to the feeder, I stalled on that decision for a while as dusk was still a while away, the very next trot through my float slid under confidently, immediately I thought it was a Roach and a very good one at that, after you've had a few the fight can be a dead give away and the tell-tale "jag jag jag" followed by a sharp dive down again towards what I think was a weed bed as the line and fish went solid for a moment, my heart skipped a beat before it became loose again, within seconds a big red dorsal fin cut through the murky depths, with the strength of the current I couldn't play the fish any harder with the fear of loosing it but having seen what was a certain 2lb Roach on the business end I wanted to slip my net under it asap, she still had one last attempt at freedom but I guided it through the pacey water to safety on my net, a rest was required as the redfin had given me a good scrap.

Another 2lb Roach at 2.3, which was very long.

 On the Rueben's this beauty settled on 2lb 3oz and in fantastic condition barring a nick out of it's back, probably from childhood by a heron or cormorant, but in fine fighting condition she had a few piccy's then back to the torrent. I continued to fish on but bites were hard to come by and even a change over to the feeder yielded only a few little knocks which were probably small Chub, a brilliant Roach was enough and I packed up. 

 Tackle used today was a:

 Maver 12ft trotting rod, Greys Centrepin loaded with 4lb "Cameleon", fished in conjunction with a Drennan 5AA avon trotter and a size 10 wide gape barbless hook.