On becoming a roach...

My roach campaign has proved to be so unpredictable, that I have decided to fight fire with fire. I am going to have to become just as unpredictable as the roach themselves, every bit as enigmatic, flighty and fickle. I have decided, by way of methodical madness, that the only way with roach, is to become one.

Rutilus Rutilus! Wherefore Art Thou?

The canal big roach campaign had provided a few decent fish and a new personal best, but for what now seemed like a large effort. The warmer weather had had no influence upon roach feeding, and if anything had produced a downturn and so I decided that a trip to the river was in order, a return to the Avon at Bretford.

Canal Zander - Lucioperca Problematica - More Zeds from the canal

Of course, after catching that little zed on a worm, I had to return to the same spot just to see if it was actually a hotspot full of fish. I had some small roach in the freezer that I'd bought a month before for a planned future trip out

Canal Zander - Lucioperca Problematica - Zzzzzz.......

I'm not sleeping, though the roach seem to be...

I went out for short session on the canal and ended up, after a succession of rapid swim changes, from one wrong spot to another, at a spot that looked somehow, brooding

What can go wrong, will...

I'm not going to take the scenic route to my destination today, I am going to get this entry over as quickly as I can. In short, I took advantage of a half term shopping trip to Stratford and got myself a days barbel fishing at Evesham

Banks, Cranks, Bargains and Blanks

What can be said of a blank? Well, a blank with missed bites and lost fish is one thing, much can be learned from such a day, but an outright blank, an utterly bite less day without any action of any kind, tells an angler very little, if anything of use. Returning to Grassy Bend after a roach to top the two pound mark

Shy, by a Cats Whisker...

The big roach bug has bitten deep. I find myself drawn away from the warmth of a snug winter home and forced by urges beyond my control, to venture out into the snow, to catch them, or freeze in the attempt. I'd been toying with the idea of baiting the swims at Grassy Bend, where, on the scant evidence so far collected and collated, I believed my chances of a two pounder were not wholly unrealistic,

Thwarted, by Icebergs

I thought I'd chance a quick session down at Grassy Bend, even though the canal at my end was frozen over, because I'd noticed that the bend was actually one of the warmest places on the canal. Ice forms there reluctantly, the water being a degree or two warmer perhaps, and I hoped that there might be a clearing in to which I could cast a line