Thursday 6 August 2015

Canal Roach — What Really Matters

When fishing for roach only one weight really matters. Not two-pounds as you may have been led to believe. That target weight is for general anglers who never fish for roach seriously and never will but occasionally might snare a big one by accident. No, one-pound is the target when you fish by design and this rule applies wherever a roach angler might fish, because, if you can't catch pounders there on a regular basis something is seriously wrong with either you, your approach, or the venue. 



Today, for a change, my perennial one-pound target served two purposes. Firstly to determine where I might catch better much later in the year when roach fishing is slightly less tricky than it is by default the whole year round. Not every peg on a canal is a good roach swim. Few are. Secondly, to secure points on the scoreboard and progress up it by degree. I started very late and have some very fine anglers to compete with who I must be in contention with or I'll not sleep soundly...

"Number five, have you got ants in your pants or what? 
Keep still boy, this a year class photo!"


First swim was skimmer central. I had five between four boats in half an hour. The bites were confident   at first, but the mash was then stirred up and bites could not be got straight off the deck so I shallowed-up and fished mid-water where I continued to catch till suddenly the swim died. That's fishing bread in canals for you. When it's terminal, you either move along or go home because once destroyed a bread swim is a very tricky thing to rescue.



I moved two pegs down and decided to fish there without groundbait. It worked well. First fish was a roach of half a pound, the second and third and fourth were blades in the two-ounce range. This was at the very least a roach swim and not a skimmer swim.

They look kindly enough, but are the purest evil...


More boats came through but the lack of groundbait and the scattering of the same throughout the breadth of the cut by propeller wash, seemed to keep fish coming. They were not scurrying off chasing bits of it, I do believe. And there was just the one dollop of white stuff to focus upon, which had my hook in it. 

At last I hit a proper fish, and banked my target for the day. A roach, and a pounder.




Beautiful fish are one-pound roach. They do look large, are very, very handsome, and mean all the right things if better is what you are after. 

Then a pair of voles exited the brambles. Could I get both in frame at the one time? As heck as like...



Very pleased to see them in town, though. But I wasn't so very pleased to see the culprit of the next 'roach' bite...

 I'm just a littleun', innocent, like... I surrender. Spare me!"









16 comments:

  1. I knew it was only a matter of time before you raced into the lead on the canal roach front. A lovely looking fish Jeff. I'll have to see if I can take back those bonus points soon. As far as tench go I haven't been able to get to that part of the canal as my car is knackered at the moment.

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  2. My bonus won't last long, Mark. We both have George to contend with who catches pound plus roach from canals like others catch skimmer bream. If he doesn't catch a two pounder I'll be surprised...

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  3. Good selfie of the Roach but you could have cropped your bollocks out!!

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  4. Lovely red fins for a canal roach too.

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    1. The City roach are all like that. Like river roach. Further out where the water is always coloured they're different creatures, Jayzs

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  5. Love it!, well done Jeff on the Roach front but I hope the Crayfish ended up flaked in a pasta!

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    1. Trying to establish roach swims, James. Found one. Never easy but worth the effort for later. Might have had the signal for lunch but had an onlooker so plooped it back. They're not a serious problem round my way due to steel lined banks and lack of burrowing opportunities, but out in the sticks they're a real pest. As you may remember from the zander match?

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    2. I certainly do remember, that float barely stood still at times. But I'm glad you have pinned down some at last, I will get around to targeting some big ones this season but I do really want to catch some 2lb+ Rudd and then hit Walthamstow again for a couple of 24hour sessions for those slabs, I really want a 13+ but a real monster is certainly possible!.

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    3. Knowing you, James, a real monster is probable!

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  6. Is there a finer sight than a lovely big roach? A fish I've always loved but never got close to understanding. Entertaining read as ever Jeff.

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    1. I doubt there is. Close to understanding is where I'm not, Matthew. Have caught very many now but each is a lesson in how little I really understand. I think I have it, then it slips away!

      I think you'd really enjoy catching a Coventry City roach. It always seems improbable to me that such a perfect thing could thrive here. But they do.

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  7. Steve in Colorado8 August 2015 at 22:44

    Not to go off topic, but you let the cray go because of a witness... does this mean you're not allowed to take them in Blighty? We can take 30 a day here, with only a fishing license. I put out a pot in Carter Lake for the tasty little buggers.

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  8. Yes we can take them, Steve. In fact we are ordered to by the law to kill any we catch. But then it gets very, very complicated because we are not allowed to keep them. They must be kept a few days in clean water to cleanse them before cooking, but that is illegal and punishable by a hefty fine.

    They are a threat in every way to every safe house that holds native crayfish, who suffer extinction wherever signal crayfish are introduced because of the plague they carry. But it gets worse.

    If an angler fishes a signal infested water then goes to a native crayfish water without thoroughly dried or un-disinfected nets, the plague spores may then be transferred and the native population destroyed indirectly.

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  9. Steve in Colorado9 August 2015 at 21:13

    Ah. I had no idea they were carrying plague... bad news indeed. We don't have signals here in Colorado (zebra mussels are big concern vis-a-vis invasive species)

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