Now’s the time to get your kids out and on the bank!

APRIL always tends to be a bit of a strange time of year for fishing – certainly for the big fish specialists out there.

Obviously the rivers are out of the question, the predator season is pretty much over and, depending on what the weather decides to do, we’re probably still a few weeks away from prime conditions for tench and bream.

Yet, with longer daylight hours and more comfortable conditions, spring is generally the time when a lot of pleasure anglers start to get out on the bank a bit more than during the winter. Especially if they’re planning on taking their kids with them.

If this is something you’re thinking about, check out our guide to 20 of the best familyfriendly fisheries on page 26. I’m sure there’s one near you. Some venues have very kindly agreed to offer free tickets for children, or ‘buy one get one free’ day-tickets, making this upcoming Bank Holiday the perfect time to introduce your kids to fishing.

But if you’re an angler who prefers to target a particular species, what should you be setting your stall out for at the moment? Big roach are probably your best bet. They don’t generally start to spawn until around mid-May, so they’re currently approaching their top weights. If you want to try and catch one over the magical 2lb barrier, now’s the time to do it. Roach may have been knocked off the top spot as our favourite species in recent years, but I don’t think anyone could argue with how impressive a big roach looks. I’m sure we’d all aspire to having a pic with a pristine specimen redfin in our photo album or on our social media profile.

If you fancy having a crack at them we’ve got some top advice from Amer Jawad and Martin Bowler to help you on your way.