Flavours for roach

[Tommy Bee]

I didn't mean to sound gruff, I was just asking mainly what is it that he wants to flavour?

Try boilie paste for roach mate - 'pure' paste with eggs, not mixed by water

you can make paste stiffer with extra base mix - simply make it drier -
albumen makes paste tough and is as great high protein attractor in its own right

I wouldn't use boilies for roach personally, I don't think they're the one for small fish where other much more 'openly' attractive things will score better - you barely need to touch paste with flavour compared to boilied baits, and I don't think roach are picky - I suggest a fruity/fishy combo I remember some noise about roach liking confectionary flavours years ago

I use some secret cheffy trickery with fine condiments and simple loosefeeds personally

 

[Alan Palmer]

What are you flavouring mate (and why)!?

I know of some distant (40s era), extremely fine big roach and rudd specialist anglers - they never used anything remotely complicated:

because there was no need....

Very bizarre comparing today’s angling scene to the 40s!
Occasionally I fish a small farm irrigation reservoir with some very big roach.. catches have become harder last couple of years, fish are still there so just trying options….I always considered that getting an edge!

 

[Nigel Whittingham]

Does the Reservoir have an undertow in strong winds?
I find that big stillwater roach seem to feed well with a good blow on the water. If the lake suffers from a serious undertow in strong wind even better! (Not all venues seem to get undertow for some reason but ‘bowl’ shaped waters seem to be best i.e meres, reservoirs etc)
One mere i used to fish had a really pronounced tow in even a moderate wind and when it was really blowing it could pick up 1oz feeders and move them the opposite direction to the wind direction. I even used to ‘trot’ a float sometimes!
If the wind was blowing in the direction from 10oclock towards 4oclock i’d position myself at about 6oclock on the lake (if that makes sense?). They were always there and i’ve carried it on to other waters with the same success. As long as there is an undertow, there will be roach! When there was no undertow, they were almost impossible to find in any numbers.
Sorry that doesnt help with flavourings but i dont think it matters when they are feeding well as they are so competitive i dont think its needed. When they aren’t in a frenzy on a flat calm day a flavouring might be an advantage. Just as an afterthought, we used to really rate bronze maggot back in the day but they aren’t the same now.

 

[Tommy Bee]

There's a lot of point looking back in the mists of time, and a lot to learn from the past re: fishing

-a lot of basics in fishing never change, all we have is slight improvements on a theme and materials (a lot of that is questionable, and relative)

lines and hooks have improved in spades
some of the old rods were definitely better, split cane is much better than carbon fibre for fish playing, reliability/strength/dependability, feel and sensitivity - so is GRP - carbon will only win a distance casting competition over them, not an allround quality one..

anyway baits remain the same, nothing has changed at all we cannot conjure up ingredients that Nature produces

That is what I was getting at - I might share a cheffy trick or two with basic staples like Artisan bread and Green Giant sweetcorn, depending on how well I get on here -
the trick is to enhance quality food in a subtle, slightly laborious way, at home in small batches - rather than using mass produced low quality food and trying to trick it up with potent flavours and ''hydros'' etc etc etc etc

 

[Alan Palmer]

Does the Reservoir have an undertow in strong winds?
I find that big stillwater roach seem to feed well with a good blow on the water. If the lake suffers from a serious undertow in strong wind even better! (Not all venues seem to get undertow for some reason but ‘bowl’ shaped waters seem to be best i.e meres, reservoirs etc)
One mere i used to fish had a really pronounced tow in even a moderate wind and when it was really blowing it could pick up 1oz feeders and move them the opposite direction to the wind direction. I even used to ‘trot’ a float sometimes!
If the wind was blowing in the direction from 10oclock towards 4oclock i’d position myself at about 6oclock on the lake (if that makes sense?). They were always there and i’ve carried it on to other waters with the same success. As long as there is an undertow, there will be roach! When there was no undertow, they were almost impossible to find in any numbers.
Sorry that doesnt help with flavourings but i dont think it matters when they are feeding well as they are so competitive i dont think its needed. When they aren’t in a frenzy on a flat calm day a flavouring might be an advantage. Just as an afterthought, we used to really rate bronze maggot back in the day but they aren’t the same now.

Yep they love a strong wind and undertow, flat calm seems to be the kiss of death.