Bread is boss for big Trent roach

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Tackle

Rod

Leeda xgt 13ft feeder

Reel

Garbolino 5000 size feeder reel

Mainline

6lb Maxima

The rig

On this session opted for my standard free running feeder rig. To learn how to tie the rig see the link below.

Free running river feeder rig

Bait

Hookbait

The hook bait was a tiny piece of bread flake squeezed gently around a size 10 kamasan b611. I squeeze the bread flake around the shank of the hook making sure the hook point is left exposed to hook the fish.

Groundbait

The groundbait is a simple combination of liquidised bread and hempseed.

I drain all the water from the hempseed before adding it to the liquidised bread, This stop it from becoming too sticky and clogging in the feeder.

Session

With the fish now starting to shoal up for winter in numbers on the Nottingham stretch of the river Trent, I decided it was time to have my first session targeting the big roach. I chose to fish a peg I was familiar with and fished just last week. The session was going to be a quick one with me only having around two hours to fish. I didn't want to waste time searching out snag free areas in a new swim so a familiar peg would maximise fishing time. 

My tactics where simple opting for my simple quick change free running feeder rig with a combination of hemp and liquidised bread in the feeder and a bread flake hookbait.

I clipped up at around 20 meters in a deep channel and after compressing my mixture of bread and hempseed into the feeder I made the first cast of the session. I cast, hit the clip but rather than tighten up I put the rod on the rest allowing the river to take up the slack like creating a bow. The rig had only been out a few seconds when the tip dropped back and I struck into the first fish. After a short jagged fight the roach rolled on the surface before being scooped into the landing net. I placed the fish in the keepnet and repeated the process. I then landed another two nice roach of a similar size on the next two casts. I went through a period where I missed five or six bites in a row, this is expected on such tactics as there will be periods when the bigger roach back off the bait and the smaller roach and dace get chance to attack the hookbait. Rather than change anything I just check the hook point is still sharp and keep repeating the process. Eventually I once again struck into some resistance landing another nice roach. The roach had obviously re-gained there confidence and moved back into the swim as I caught steadily eventually landing ten quality roach in just under two hours. A beautiful days fishing for a stunning yet often overlooked species.