Winning tactics for canal roach
Middy’s Joe Oakes helps you win with quality fish
MATCH anglers who prefer a traditional approach can perhaps be forgiven for hanging up their rods and poles between March 15 and June 15.
But if they do they’ll miss out on some fantastic sport – and they don’t have to go to a commercial to find it.
The fact is that Britain’s canal network is in most areas fishing better than ever. Quality fish are showing in most canals the length and breadth of the country, and you can even be selective about the species you want to catch.
Bream, chub and carp can all be targeted – and what about that ‘purist’ match angler’s favourite, the roach?
Well, the good news for redfin lovers is that quality fish can now be found in ‘cuts’ nationwide. It’s a far cry from the tiny silvers that used to be the mainstay of canal match hauls 20 years ago.
One reason for the revival in roach sport in canals is down to clubs such as Leicestershire’s Wigston AS which, after a pollution, saw its stretch of the Grand Union restocked last winter with good numbers of quality fish, including plenty of big roach.
As a result, anglers here are reporting bags of over 30lb – and these haven’t gone unnoticed by match organisers, who are now booking events on the stretch at Glen Parva in Leicester.
But how should you target these fish in a match?
One man who knows how to make the most of a swim containing quality roach is Middy-backed Joe Oakes, who is happy to share his tips...
START DOWN THE TRACK
“The canal here was restocked recently and among the fish introduced with the help of the Environment Agency and Canal & River Trust were lots of big roach,” said Joe. “Since then sport has been spectacular in places. But you still need to think about your approach if you’re to get the best from your swim in a match.”
For the 37-year-old Leicester man, this usually means a two swim strategy, starting off along the middle but being ready to move across to the bottom of the far shelf as the day progresses. “The thing about quality canal roach is that they will naturally want to be in the deepest water and the early part of the match will find them here – which is usually along the middle,” he said. “So I will start here.
“In spring I think that you still can’t beat a ball of liquidised bread to kick-start the session. However, quality roach do like a caster, so I’ll add some casters to the pole cup and also loose feed casters over the top. You should catch here instantly, with either a piece of punched bread or a caster on the hook.
“Depending on circumstances on the day, such as boat traffic and water colour, chances are this swim won’t be productive for more than two hours. That’s
when you need to move across to where the deeper water starts to shallow up. On this canal that tends to be at around 3m, but obviously you need to plumb the depth carefully to find it.”
MOVING OUT
Once the centre track line starts to tail off it’s time to feed and fish at the bottom of the far shelf, but instead of liquidised bread, Joe prefers to feed a dark groundbait, especially if the water is coloured.
“Again, I’ll start with one ball of groundbait and a sprinkling of casters, then loosefeed casters over the top – not too many, otherwise the fish will want to come up in the water – and introduce another ball of groundbait after every boat.”
THE SESSION
Following his own advice, Joe started the session on the County Arms stretch as he would do in a match and caught a dozen quality roach down the centre track before moving across for the rest of the session and most of his 20lb haul.
Today, caster was the best hookbait and this bait will continue to dominate as the weather warms. “Leave those small baits at home – this is not a canal for squatts and pinkies!” Joe concluded.