Traditional Big Roach Conundrum

[Gurn]

A Chapmans 500 with a threaded tip ring would make a nice rod for this method.

I do have a 500 with a threaded tip ring, this is all coming together nicely.

[GloucesterOldSpot]

The feeder and swing-tip tactic is a good one, but I'd be inclined to try a sliding float first and only revert to the feeder if conditions made float fishing impossible. There's a good description of Bill Penny's set-up in the roach chapter of Walker's Stillwater Angling, an adapted version of which I used to use on the deeper gravel pits - and would again if I found one containing good roach.

A small cube of compressed breadcrust on a size 12 for hookbait, 3lb line, a shot to just sink the crust (a no 1 usually) fixed to the line anywhere between one and six inches from the hook - the distance dependant on the nature of lake bed; closer to the hook on a clean bottom, further away if weedy. Don't fish over silt or twiggy debris as the roach don't seem to like it. Three feet from the hook place a string of BB shot - three usually - to cock the float, which slides on the line above these shot and is stopped by a rubber float stop (or piece of rubber band clove-hitched to the line) at the correct depth. In calm conditions the correct depth is one where the bottom shot is just touching the lake bed, but as it's usually not flat calm I generally fish overdepth and allow the natural drift to swing the float to one side until the line tightens up to the bottom shot. You may have to move the BB shots further up the line if you go more than a couple of feet overdepth, or they'll be too close to the bottom.

How do you cast this forty yards? Easy. Mould a ball of groundbait around the hookbait and the tell tale shot. The trick is to make sure the combined weight of float and bulk shot is less than the weight of the groundbait ball - hence the much smaller float than is usually recommended for slider fishing. As long as the groundbait ball is the heaviest part, it will carry the rest out cleanly without swinging around or breaking apart. The groundbait needs to be fairly stiff - not as much as a method mix, but rather stiffer than the ususal fairly soft stuff most people use. Don't worry about it not breaking up - it will.

[Gudgeon Jim]

With all that great advice i fancy giving stillwater Roaching a try myself.
Id prefer to eat the malt loaf am and the madeira after lunch but agree with lashings of hot tea :thumb:

[Greentura]

The most traditional method I can think of is the swing tip. Maybe veteran is a better description! I'd go with what Moley says and use maggots or casters on a longish tail with a 1/4 ounce bomb (or maybe 1/2 oz if you need it to make the distance). Feed groundbait by catapult with a few dead maggots or casters in each ball.

A Chapmans 500 with a threaded tip ring would make a nice rod for this method. Many 70s swing tip anglers made their own rods from fly rod blanks with 9ft being the favoured length.

I have a pair of Fred J Taylor roach rod based rods with 22' cork handles and Avon tops especially for swing tipping but i have yet to use them as a pair and for bream and roach there is no finer way to detect a bite when a float is out of the question the rods are 11'4", the same length as my carboniferous Drennan ledgermasters. My 500 was occasionally used with a swing-tip but not since i got the other rods and it was indeed a good rod for the method, but not up to the big water fishing I do