THE BITTER BUSINESS OF WINTER ROACH FISHING
Bitterly cold, bitterly difficult but ultimately, when things go well, deeply fulfilling. When that glorious winter Roach finally comes to hand, the frosts, the rain, the cold and the floods are quickly forgotten. It's one of those pursuits that both asks why one bothers and one minute, one hour or one day later gives you the answer in a combination of silver tinted blue and blood red.
One of the glorious side effects on a day as cold as this one was is that there is no bait or method that you can use for Roach fishing that does not exclude an interesting by-catch. Last week's attempt had cheered up a slow morning with a single three pound plus Bream; not exactly unexpected when Roach fishing. The two go hand in glove really. Slow mornings are a feature of my fishing generally but that's fine.
After a few average specimens it is not unusual to encounter a stripey interloper or two as well as the occasional Bream. On Wednesday I'd assembled a handful of vary average Roach in the first hour before the bites died away. I was still getting a few indications that there were a few fish about but no bites were forthcoming until my last cast.
The tip pulled slowly round and I was fast into a decent fish. It was showing far more vigour than any Bream so I had my fingers tightly crossed but it was not to be the hoped for redfin. It was a cracking Perch of just over two pounds though. It was bitterly cold by now; so cold in fact that my rather tired old phone battery had expired. Try as I might I could not coax enough life out of it to get a picture. I retired happily if somewhat frustrated by my technological difficulties. Just to rub salt into the wound, by the time I got to Pete's the phone was working fine and the battery was showing a 60% charge. That really sums up my love-hate relationship with technology and somewhat mirrors the unpredictability of my Roach fishing of late. Onwards and upwards, then, as the weather warms a little; fingers crossed ever more tightly.
One of the glorious side effects on a day as cold as this one was is that there is no bait or method that you can use for Roach fishing that does not exclude an interesting by-catch. Last week's attempt had cheered up a slow morning with a single three pound plus Bream; not exactly unexpected when Roach fishing. The two go hand in glove really. Slow mornings are a feature of my fishing generally but that's fine.
The club lakes are very unpredictable as far as big Roach are concerned. They are there in moderate numbers but I've never heard of anyone catching a bag of them. Both pools are heavily fished and consequently carry a large stock of fish of all species and sizes, and picking the better Roach from this diverse assembly is virtually impossible. There are always other species and sizes which will take whichever bait one uses.
After a few average specimens it is not unusual to encounter a stripey interloper or two as well as the occasional Bream. On Wednesday I'd assembled a handful of vary average Roach in the first hour before the bites died away. I was still getting a few indications that there were a few fish about but no bites were forthcoming until my last cast.
The tip pulled slowly round and I was fast into a decent fish. It was showing far more vigour than any Bream so I had my fingers tightly crossed but it was not to be the hoped for redfin. It was a cracking Perch of just over two pounds though. It was bitterly cold by now; so cold in fact that my rather tired old phone battery had expired. Try as I might I could not coax enough life out of it to get a picture. I retired happily if somewhat frustrated by my technological difficulties. Just to rub salt into the wound, by the time I got to Pete's the phone was working fine and the battery was showing a 60% charge. That really sums up my love-hate relationship with technology and somewhat mirrors the unpredictability of my Roach fishing of late. Onwards and upwards, then, as the weather warms a little; fingers crossed ever more tightly.
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