Mission spotlight

Tips for your roach badge

Use a dark coloured groundbait when fishing on the deck for roach. Lighter mixes stand out on the bottom and fish are less likely to settle and feed confidently.

Commercial fishery roach eat lots of pellets. A 6mm soft hooker pellet makes a brilliant hookbait, especially when fishing in the margins.

Pineapple flavour is excellent for roach and is great for boosting the attraction of your maggots. Coconut and orange flavours are also extremely effective, as is the spice turmeric.

In deep stillwaters, a cage or open- end feeder works brilliantly for roach. Use a dry groundbait mix that will explode out of the feeder as it falls, along with a hooklength of 3ft- 4ft because many bites will come on the drop.

If you feed on a little and often basis the fish will start to come off the bottom and intercept the bait mid- water. Make sure your hookbait falls through the water at the same pace as your freebies to get positive bites.

If you’re looking to catch river roach then the colour of the water will determine your approach. If you can see down at least a foot into the flowing water then opt for a float rig. In faster and coloured water use a leger or feeder rig.

If you are being plagued by small fish and want to try and target bigger specimens, use a big bait – everything from a big pinch of breadflake to a mini boilie will work.

When fishing the bomb for roach, always cast around the area you are feeding. Spray maggots over a two- metre diameter casting to different spots in that zone. This won’t spook the roach.

Study the layout of the lake you’re fishing. Look for areas where the lake narrows or channels alongside or between islands which the roach use to travel around the venue.

Be careful not to make the mistake of overfeeding when targeting roach. While a bed of hemp can keep the roach interested for hours, only feed maggots and other baits sparingly.