Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Shearwater Lake
With tales of roach thriving on neglect and growing big on carp baits, top all- rounder Chris Ponsford returns to one of his favourite venues
Wiltshire
THE roach. A perennial favourite. Although not a large fish – the British record stands at 4lb 4oz – there cannot be many anglers who don’t like catching or simply admiring this ubiquitous silverfish with its blue back, red fins and pretty red eyes.
They are common in most waters, often living in big shoals, and a favourite food item for predatory species such as pike, zander and perch. They are also a great target for specimen and pleasure anglers alike.
Roach do have the annoying habit of shedding the hook just as they are about to be netted and often leave anglers to frustratedly watch them swim off to freedom!
One interesting fact is that with the popularity of carp fishing and the use of boilies and pellets, silverfish such as rudd, roach and bream have taken advantage of the additional food source. In some waters they have grown to massive sizes which has led to more specialist anglers targeting them with big- fish tactics such as helicopter rigs and feeders with short hooklinks and maggots. Many monster roach, however, are caught by carpers using big hooks, heavy leads and boilies.
That’s not for me, though. My approach is far more traditional and more akin to the matchmen who want to put a netful together. It’s all about getting lots of bites and catching whatever is in front of me. Size doesn’t matter so much as it’s often the case that the first fish caught are the smallest, but as the session progresses and their confidence grows, the bigger roach move in and begin to get caught.
Most commercial fisheries have big stocks of silvers which tend to be largely ignored by match anglers who are more intent on catching triple- figure weights of carp and F1s. In truth, these fish can be pretty ravenous and easy to catch and avoiding carp while pleasure fishing is a skill in itself and something I love to do.
Returning to an old haunt
Many of the country’s large lakes and reservoirs are also full of roach. One such water is the stunning 36- acre Shearwater Lake, one of three lakes on the Longleat Estate in the heart of the Wiltshire. The lake is well- known for its impressive carp stocks, but it actually offers some incredible mixed fishing with good numbers of bream, roach, perch and tench.
I lived in Bath for many years and back then it was one of my regular venues. Recently, after a long absence following a move to Worcester, I rekindled my love of this special water. Lined with rhododendron bushes and surrounded by woodland with huge old trees towering behind most pegs, it is without doubt one of the most scenic venues I have ever fished.
My first couple of return visits were spent sampling the brilliant bream fishing on feeder tactics, but more of that another time. Word was that the roach were thriving on neglect and flourishing on the plentiful carp bait being fed by bivvied- up carp anglers. I’ve been told that they run to more than 2lb, although I have not witnessed any specimens that big so far.
Whenever I’m planning a visit, I tell some chums I am going and we all meet up for a session. Our Facebook Messenger is called ‘ The old codgers and a guy from Frome’! We recently added another ‘ young codger’ from
Frome by the name of Rob Hughes, the current England Carp Team Manager. He’s a dam fine angler and a good friend of mine and he always joins us for the frivolities if time permits. This social side of fishing is important to me. I don’t find individual fishing anywhere near as much fun as when I can share the ups and downs with good mates and have a bit of banter.
The regulars include Dave Giddy, Ian Gruncell, Gary Dolman and Roger Lee who all travel miles to fish as well as an occasional younger ‘ codger’ called Kelvin Tallett.
But enough of the ‘ codgers’ one and all! I’m sure what you really want is for me to tell you how to catch these Shearwater redfins…
Whip magic
My favourite and most devastating tactic is to fish a whip to hand. The killer lengths for me are four, five and six metres, with five metres being my favourite fished to hand with the length of rig allowing for the bend in the tip when swinging to hand. This is the best way to get big weights. I only net the fish if they can’t be swung easily.
The ideal scenario for this type of venue is to sit on your box on a platform in the water with a depth of 4ft to 6ft ( though deeper is still okay) at whip distance and be able to loosefeed over the top. Plumb up accurately and mark the depth on the whip with Tippex.
“Word was that the roach were thriving on neglect and flourishing on the plentiful carp bait being fed by the bivvied- up carp anglers. I’ve been told that they now run to more than 2lb”
Start by fishing just off the bottom, feeding a pinch of hemp and caster or maggots every cast, and see if you start getting bites. Feeding a couple of balls of a dedicated roach groundbait at the start– I use Sonubaits Black Roach – laced with a few casters can really kickstart the peg and help to hold roach in the swim for longer. I then top up with small nuggets of groundbait as required.
It’s important to have your keepnet positioned correctly and all your feed and bits to hand so that you can get into a rhythm of swinging in and out.
The importance of being adaptable
On this particular session we’d been joined by IYCF photographer Lloyd Rogers. The plan was to catch bream in the morning – that’s a story for another day – and then switch to roach at lunchtime.
I’d selected a peg by the boathouse as it would enable Lloyd to really capture the beauty of the place and there was a peg next door for Rob Hughes who was joining us to shoot a carp feature.
The bream fishing went well but my inside roach line was rocky due to the spoil from building the boathouse. This ruled out whip fishing as I would need to fish slightly further out at around 10m. A few ideas raced through my mind as a change in approach was required.
There was a gentle breeze ruffling the surface of the water and I toyed with the idea of fishing a waggler. However, I eventually settled on fishing rod and line whip tactics.
To be successful in fishing you have to be adaptable and prepared to change things during a session. The peg I was in was terrific for bream at range but wasn’t the best roach peg. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I started slowly, loosefeeding casters and hemp over my specific roach groundbait, while constantly adjusting rig depth.
My set- up consisted of a 1.5g slimline float with a 1g olivette and two No. 10 Stotz as well as a 0.10mm hooklink and a size 16 hook. I had a selection of hookbaits to rotate between including casters, maggots, worm head sections together with chunky sweetcorn that would deter tiny nuisance fish from having a go.
A word of warning when using sweetcorn: feed only enough for the roach, but not so much to attract any carp.
My plan was to draw the fish off the bottom by constantly drip- feeding caster and hemp, just six to 10 baits at a time.
When you can get the roach competing, big catches are on the cards. And when things are really going well you’ll be able to see the roach boiling just beneath the surface like carp.
I had a second rod rigged up with a Korum Blob Float for really shallow fishing in depths of 1ft- 3ft. This just slides on the line and I trap it in place between a couple of No. 10 or No. 8 Stotz. These slide easily on the line which enables me to quickly alter depth as required. I then add one more No. 10 Stotz just above the 0.10mm hooklength which terminated in a size 16 or 18 hook.
When fishing for roach you need a rod with a bit of action and a forgiving tip. The jagged fight roach give makes them experts at slipping the hook, the bigger ones in particular. My favourite is the Preston Innovations Absolute at 13ft, and I also have an old Normark Titan Match 13ft which is brilliant. A small and light reel will help as the rod is constantly being swung in and out.
As the afternoon went on, the sport got better and better. The roach, and the odd perch, started competing for the loosefeed and I was able to catch some lovely redfins high up in the water on the Blob Float set- up.
Rod and line fishing is a brilliant tactic, and I will often use a pole float rig close in if there’s not much wind. It can be devastating.