Should I give roach a second feed of groundbait?

I FEED a lot of groundbait at the start of a session when river roach fishing but have been told to do the same again when the swim dies. Is this correct?

Wayne Thrupp, Carshalton

THIS is known as ‘re-balling’, and is common when fishing for large numbers of small roach.

An initial bombardment of bait will quickly draw numbers of fish into the area but when this feed has been whittled down, they will drift off again. Throwing in another four large balls will start the process afresh and pull the fish back to you.

However, sport will rarely be as good as on that first hit, so feeding more bait en-masse should be carried out only once. Should the fish show a liking for groundbait, though, try feeding a small walnut-sized ball every two run-throughs and gauge the response of the fish.