Roach Fishing

Few anglers can explain their reason for such enthusiasm for this small and common coarse fish, yet they fish for them with such faith, almost a religion. If you ask most anglers why, they will probably reply that they come in such  a variety of shape, colour and size;with a variety of waters and baits.

More than any other fish the roach shows that fishing is more than just about catching fish. The roach is found commonly in southern, central and northern England as well as southern Scotland and eastern Wales. 

Roach are a fast biting fish which are difficult to catch on a leger, so float fishing with either a stick float, waggler float or a pole is the best approach. Roach are finicky feeders, so all tackle should be as fine as possible, making sure the whole hook is buried inside the caster. The force of your strike is enough to pull  the point of the hook through the shell and set the hook.

The first thing to look at is the colour of the water, if the water is crystal clear, you can rule out the use of groundbait and stick to the loosefeed approach. Bronze maggots will increase your number of bites but casters will get you the biggest fish. If there is colour to the water groundbaiting is a good idea, a good bait is Van den Supercup mixed with some of the hookbait.