The roach, as every angler will know, is a shoal fish. Rarely seen alone, on catching one, there’s always the hope alongside the probability that we’ll catch another.
Small roach are abundant in most waters and even today’s commercials can admit to having thousands if not more within their stock.
A scourge of those looking for larger carp, roach, however, are still one of the finest ever fish any angler could hope to catch, and by that, I mean… big roach.
A favourite of mine since a boy, the roach, a ‘proper red fin’, taken on a natural venue, is a fish of a lifetime for many anglers. Easily recognised as a silver fish, with a back generally holding a bluish steely sheen to it, roach, particularly bigger ones, have an eye that is somewhat ruby-like when held in ones palm.
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These big roach are difficult to locate to be fair, preferably haunting the quieter venues away from the huge shoals of smaller fish. They leave the open water to the large shoals who very often make their presence known in rafts.
Once again it is noted that roach have again dominated the local match scene at Maghull.
Although of a smaller stamp, sport on the Leeds Liverpool Canal has been superb this last month, as catches have captivated just what winter fishing is all about.
A winner on Wednesday with a superb catch of small roach for 5.3.0 from Maghull’s cricket pitch, Blundellsands rod John Easton extended his good form with another win on Sunday as the L&DAA played host on Maghull’s British Legion length of canal.
Easton, who is captain of Liverpool AS, focused his attack completely with roach as his prime target. Opting for a bread approach at 10m, Easton steadily primed two swims at 11m and 5m with hemp seed to take another winning 7.2.0.
On the club scene, the Alliance made the best of the cold spell by staying at home on Chapel Pool, where Lydiate’s Colin Pellow took the honours on Sunday with 58.3.0.
Southport’s Dave Langton took a creditable 30.2.0 for second place, which painfully pushed Kirkby’s Glyn Jones into third place as he offered 30.1.0 to the scales.
Finally, as I look back fondly on my own angling memories, my thoughts this week are in respect of a great angler who has put his life into the sport he loved in his pursuit of specimen fish.
David McGibbon (below) from Page Moss has specialised in fishing for carp, pike and barbel all his life. Now, at 83, he has turned off his alarms, and put down his rods to relax.
His rods have been kindly donated to me to go towards helping junior anglers fulfil their own angling dreams.
Thank you, David.
