26/08/2026
BAG UP ON ROACH!
Now is the time for great redfin sport…
We’re just over ten weeks in to the season and on many of our rivers, you would have been forgiven for thinking that there weren’t any roach in many of the stretches until the past week or two.
Quite why it has been like this is open to debate. Many people have blamed it on late spawning while others have insisted that the fish have been gorging on natural feed and not been interested in what us anglers have thrown at them. Whatever the reason, the good news is, they’re now feeding on our baits again! Rivers like the Trent are on fire at present so this week we’re looking at how to go about getting the best possible weight of roach from the various swims that you are likely to encounter from now until the autumn months.
LOCATION, LOCATION…
Roach are likely to turn up just about anywhere but for big weights at this time of year I’ve found the best depths are between 4ft and 8ft deep, running over fine gravel with a decent pace.
Deep swims that hardly move are best avoided until the winter months when there is more water in our rivers.
REEL LINES AND RIG LINES
The best way to tempt a shoal of roach into taking your hookbait is to fish fine. I use 3lb (0.14mm) and 4lb (0.16mm) Pro Match reel lines and for pole rigs I use 0.12mm or 0.14mm Pro Rig.
HOOKS AND HOOKLENGTHS
Pro Rig hooklengths of 0.08mm, 0.10mm and 0.12mm, depending on how well the fish are feeding. These are tied to fine wire hooks from size 20 to size 16.
TOP AND BOTTOM RIGS
There are so many variable to float choices for roach fishing. For smooth flowing water, a stick float with strung out shots takes some beating and I use the No3 Heavy Base model in sizes from 3No4 to 8No4. These are shotted with strung out No8 and No9 shots in the smaller sizes and No6 shots for the three biggest floats in the range.
It’s always worth considering a bulk rig if you’ve got some depth and for 8ft of water, I’d use 2g or 3g No4 or No5 Bolo floats. These are shotted with an olivette and one or two No8 droppers.
WAGGLER RIGS
My favourite float patterns for this time of the year are my Thin Insert and Thick Insert wagglers. These are shotted with most of the weight either side of the float and a No8 shot down the line for every 2ft of depth. An 8ft deep swim would only require four No8 shot with the bottom shot on top of the 30cm hooklength.
POLE RIGS
My DH23 (up to 2g) and DH17 (up to 3g) patterns cover virtually all my roach fishing on the pole at this time of the year. The smaller sizes of both up to 1g are shotted with strung out no8 shots. For the 1.5g size and upwards I use an olivette and three No9 droppers.
BAITS
Roach love h**p so there’s always a can or two of Bait Tech’s Super Seed in my bait bag. These are complemented with half a pint to a pint of tares, which I cook myself. If you struggle to do them, try my way, as it’s simple.
I get a large glass casserole dish and measure out one pint of dry tares. I then fill the dish to within one inch with warm tap water. Don’t be tempted to put more in, as they will swell up considerably over the next 24 hours.
Once they are soaked add a teaspoon of bicarb and the same of sugar to the bowl and give the tares a stir.
Next, put them in the oven on 180c for about 40 minutes. I always do some in the summer months when I’ve got something else cooking in the oven.
From this point, I spoon out a few tares every five minutes or so and do a ‘squash test’. What you’re looking for is a seed that is firm but which compresses rather than splits. Over the course of the next 15 minutes, you will find that the tares are perfect and this is the time to carefully take them out of the oven.
Drain all the water off, sprinkle two teaspoons of sugar over them and cover with kitchen roll. I then put them in my bait fridge to cool down. Once this is done, bag them up in half pints and freeze. I then just take a bag or two out for each session and let them thaw out in the car on the way.
Other baits include casters, maggots, pinkies and, on some venues, breadpunch.
GROUNDBAIT
On some venues it can pay to ball in several big balls of groundbait at the start and then loose feed over the top. My favourite mix for this is a bag of Bait Tech Pro Natural Original and a small amount of molehill soil. Into the mix I add casters, h**p and a few pinkies.
LOOSE FEEDING
The best way to tempt roach has always been on a ‘little and often’ basis. Keep small amounts of feed going in all the while and you will soon get them interested if they in front of you. Hempseed is a key feed at this time of the year so always use it, regardless of what you are using on the hook.
PELLET FEEDER
I would imagine most people didn’t expect to see this picture in a feature about roach fishing but over the past few season, anglers on the Severn have been catching some very big roach on banded or lassoed 4mm and 6mm halibut pellets. Use 3mm and 4mm feed in a small feeder and a long tail and your next bite could be a barbel…or a 2lb plus roach!
