REVEL IN A ROACH REVIVAL – IT WON’T LAST FOREVER!

The Trent isn’t the only river to see an upsurge in big redfins

WHY is there such a boom in Trent roach catches? There haven’t been such redfin results since the 1960s, and even then they weren’t spread so far and wide. And, of course, it’s not only the Trent by any means that is enjoying such terrific sport.

For several years I’ve been commenting on the Thames roach ‘revival’ – and the Severn, even though results fluctuate, and Wye (apart from the main barbel sections) are similarly blessed.

The Lea and its tributaries such as the Stort, despite a total lack

of water and flow, are alive with roach and, looking east, the Great Ouse, Lark, Cam and Thet are similar. Further east the Broads rivers – Thurne, Waveney, Bure, Wensum and Yare – have massive roach stocks.

So what’s the reason? My theory is based on observation. I mentioned the Trent in the 1960s as a roach river. From the 1970s and through the 1980s into the early 1990s chub took over, certainly on match results. The shutdown of power station warm water outflows was cited, as the reason but once the chub thinned out, through age and general depletion, there were few roach. Matches were dominated by barbel and bream, both of which demand a sock-on draw, while specimen anglers enjoyed a carp bonanza.

What appears to have happened on the non-tidal Trent is that the barbel and bream have thinned out, leaving plenty of natural food for what must have been a few good spawning years for roach.

I can promise you it won’t last forever, so if you like your fish silver and your fins red, get out on the rivers right now.

I have a theory as to why the Trent is producing more and more roach like these near-two pounders.