tiny river roach fishing

[Steven Ballard]

Hi all, Im in desperate need of some advice! Im on a syndicate consisting of 9 blokes on 3 miles of stream/river.
6-8 years ago ive seen photos of 2lb+ roach from the area we fish, also 3lb perch.
Literally no one fishes the river anymore due to "cormorant" damage.
Ive started fishing it with good results on lobworm, capturing perch to 2lb and plenty of chub to alb.
So I cant see it being totally devoid of big roach, surely there must be the odd lump left?
Anyway majority of the river is 6-8ft wide and ranges from 10inch to 2ft deep, but ive found several productive pools which are 20ft wide, slow and around10-12ft deep.
So what should I be doing to give me my best chance of cathching a decent roach? This time of year stalking/spotting is out of the question due to bankside vegetation being too high!
thanks in advance

 

[Gavin Hoe-Richardson]

Bread or sweetcorn on float or light feeder set up. Might get 'pestered' by chub but if they're there then roach will show up eventually. I generally fish for roach from September onwards as they tend to shoal up a bit tighter in areas like you mention.

 

[Dave Taylor]

Hi Steven
Agree with Gavin on bait. I like to trot sweetcorn and light ledger flake.
There is a millstream carrier next to a Thames tributary that I have tried for Roach this summer that fits your discription.
It averages 8 to 10 feet wide, a couple of feet deep with the occasional riffle and deeper pool.
The main river has seen it's population of Roach decimated by Cormorants, and with a decline in habitat coupled with erratic flow regimes they have faded into distant memory.
The millstream however, was given a habitat makeover in the mid nineties by the EA. The restoration included placing some huge boulders into the stream along with gravel to create oxygenated riffles and pools. Willows were also planted.
The stream doesn't recieve the same attention from Cormorants as the river as I believe they find it too confined. The exact same can be said for anglers, as the EA errected a fence a few feet from the waters edge to act as a buffer zone against livestock.
All this leaves the residents undisturbed and ready for me to spoil their day!
The tactics are simple really...Go light, no room for chairs...be very careful not to spook them.
A light quiver rod, 3lb line, a loaf. net and a few odds and sods in a waistcoat pocket.
I took a leaf from Falkus and Buller's lovely old book, ''Freshwater Fishing'' [circa 1975 ] , ...the chapter ''A swimfeeder technique on the Dorset Stour'' and carefully loaded a small cage feeder [ ''Like a pipe smoker would fill a pipe''], with breadflake and kneeling down, lowered it into the pool.
I would repeat this two or three times, and replace the feeder with a very small lead'
This method seems to work on that venue, as I have caught some decent Roach during an evenings fishing.
Unfortunately, as Gavin mentioned, there are often other residents in those pools who all like bread!
dt

 

[Chris Guy]

If your chosen swim allows it, I'd opt to cast upstream, if on leger/feeder. Easier to pull good fish away from the rest of the shoal.

 

[Dave Taylor]

Really good point there Chris, especially when using light gear.