Steve Ringer
Six cutting-edge tricks to help you bag up on stillwater roach
Groundbait brings bites quickly.
FILL IT IN TO CATCH EARLY
If you want a fast start when targeting roach there is no doubt the best way to go about it is to ball it in with groundbait.
Roach tend to respond instantly to groundbait. In fact, the response can be so rapid that if you put a baited rig in while you ball it in, by the time you have finished you will already have had a bite from a roach!
Of course, balling it in relies on the fact that you can throw groundbait accurately on the tip of the pole.
If this is something that worries you then of course a very similar effect can be achieved by potting the groundbait in. Just release each ball from a height so it makes the same fish-attracting noise as when thrown.
KEEP THE CASTERS FALLING
I’ve always felt the secret to catching bigger roach is to feed little and often. Roach spend most of their time off bottom, so a great way of attracting them and holding them in the swim is to keep bait falling through the water, and the best bait for this purpose is casters, not maggots.
Maggots are great for just getting bites, but if you want to catch big roach then casters are without doubt the way to go. Being inert, they seem to attract a much better stamp of fish.
When I say ‘little and often’ I’m talking about feeding 8-12 casters every 60 seconds or so to begin with.
Then, if I start to get lots of bites, I will increase both the amount of casters I’m feeding and the frequency to take this into account.
Even if I’m not getting many bites I will always keep feeding, as I am totally convinced it’s the best way to draw a few roach into the swim.
LIGHT RIGS FISH ALL LEVELS
Without doubt, the best way to catch roach is to fish with a light rig, not because they’re small fish, but because it allows you to fish your hookbait right through all the layers of your swim.
Roach don’t tend to feed on the bottom, therefore most bites tend
to come as the rig is falling and the float is about to settle.
For this reason, in deep water (6ft-plus) I will fish with a bulk placed 24ins-30ins from the hook and three droppers spaced at even intervals below this.
On shallower venues (5ft or less) I will just use a strung bulk so my hookbait is fishing from the moment it hits the water.
It’s crucial that you lay your rig out and keep tight to the float so that the hookbait falls in a nice arc that roach find hard to resist.
HIT MORE BITES ON CASTERS
Big roach can be a nightmare to hit when fishing casters. For this reason I hook them in two ways.
The first is to bury the hook in the caster, and this is something I do if I’m struggling for bites and the water is clear.
On the other hand, when I’m catching steadily I like to thread the caster on but leave plenty of hook point showing, as this ensures I will hit a lot more bites.
For speed fishing, though, you can’t beat fishing a worm head on the hook.
A worm head nicked on looks just like a caster in the water and will fool even the wariest of roach.
Better still, because a worm head is a lot more robust than a caster, I can catch multiple fish on the same hookbait. Casters can be hooked in two ways.
THE RIGHT GROUNDBAIT
Picking the right roach groundbait all depends on the venue you’re fishing.
If it’s a natural water I’ll always use a sweet mix such as one part Dynamite Frenzied Hemp Black to two parts Van Den Eynde G5.
On a commercial the choice isn’t so simple and you have to work out how tuned into pellets the roach are.
If they are used to seeing a lot of pellets I will use a fishmeal mix such as Ringers Natural to take this into account. If you are in doub, though, go for a sweet mix.
DON’T FORGET THE CHOPPY
Roach love a bit of finely chopped worm, so whenever I’m introducing groundbait I will add some finely chopped worms to the mix.
Worms seem to have real pulling power as far as roach are concerned, and for a five-hour session I will often feed up to half-a-kilo.
The secret is to make sure the worms are chopped finely so you are attracting the roach and not feeding them up.
If the roach are really coming to the worm then quite often I will stop the loosefeeding and instead feed small nuggets of groundbait packed full of fine choppy on a regular basis.