Chalkstream Specimen Roach.

A teaser for what's to come.

 For Roach this season has been good already and I have high hopes for the rest of Autumn and Winter as plenty of trotting will be done during the colder months, looking at the forecast over the last few days this morning didn't look appetizing at all so I caught up on some much needed sleep and a few errands which needed sorting out, as mid-day came and went I decided to grab the trotting gear and some waders with the view of spending around four hours on the bank.

 I arrived at the river with maybe three hours in total, so I got straight to running maggots and casters through whilst I got my gear sorted, the wind wasn't really affecting me as it turned out I was slightly protected which was lucky and the river was a bit coloured up so I fancied some fish trotting and with my recent form for big Roach I wasn't discounting the fact that I "may" end up catching at least one. The sport to start off with was very slow and it took nearly twenty trots to get a bite and maybe another ten to hook up, first off was a stunning silvery Dace of 6oz or so which was sporting a very podgy frame, this is good news as they are clearly munching in earnest for the cold months ahead.

A lovely brace of Autumn Chub.

One of my typical trots.

 Talking about the cold, I had only been fishing for maybe 20 minutes by that point and my hands were at the point of falling off!, it was a challenge to keep them warm to a point I could operate the pin, but a few more fish started to fall to my single caster trap and a quick succession of Dace and Chub got the hands warming up, although I avoided putting them in the water as I didn't fancy ice-block mits, the Chub were starting to come in at a good size and managed two of 4lb plus which was accompanied by a dozen or so Dace to 11oz roughly although I didn't weigh them. The bites started to tail off as dark was falling but I knew that if I was to come into contact with a leviathan Roach now was the time, a couple of Dace came to the net around 8oz and then out it happened, it had to, the river looked perfect, up half a foot or so with a lovely tinge to it and cold night before usually gets them feeding.

A right fat....stonking Dace at 11oz.

A stunning 2oz 1dr Gonk for good measure.

And some big minnows too....

 The bite was just like any other but the fight was hard, today I changed from a 3lb bottom to a 5lb bottom as I had a couple of line breaks with Chub snagging me up, this made no difference to the Roach as it was clear she wasn't in a mood to come in, the fight was dogged with the tell-tale "jagged scrap" whilst it stripped line from the pin, when she broke the surface I shat myself mentally and almost physically, it was big and I could see my puny size 18 hook in the top lip with the maggot dangling on the line by the knot, seriously I've never got a net ready so fast before, Mr Bolt would have been impressed by that speed!, but I knew this fish was very big, three-pounds??, I did for a while think so as she dived back down towards the bottom, I just had to keep the tension, a few more nervous moments passed by, then the head slipped into the net quickly followed by the rest.

Absolutely stunning, my largest for quite a few years. 

What a "clonker" as Wilson would say.

 I said to myself "It's bloody big but is it that big?", what it lacked was depth I believe to do 3lb, the length and width were perfect to reach or surpass that "Holy Grail" landmark, she went on the scales to dispel any doubts about the weight. 2lb 10oz of pure and utter jubilation, immense, amazing.....I could go on but alas I shall leave it there, the rest of the session was spent trying to coax more Roach into the net but it seems that I found the only feeding redfin or the only one to be foolish enough to be caught, I believe it was the latter but I digress. I'll just look at the photo's with the largest of grin's. It's been a great day. Off to settle an old score in Warwickshire tomorrow, it's Zander, Pike and Perch time.