The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Well done Mark, this sounds like a fascinating project. I am looking forward to sharing your progress. I think that there are many anglers who are obsessed with roach and roach fishing…..

Mark,

I just spotted a previous video about using caster and maggot together. I've normally found that fishing and feeding with caster produces a better stamp of roach which is interesting as it infers either the bigger fish move into the swim when using caster or they are already in the swim but not taking maggot. I tend to think it's the latter but it's difficult to prove.

I often fish for winter roach in fast or deep river swims using ground bait packed with caster (and sometimes hemp as well). Although I'm still mainly fishing maggot on the hook I still find I get better fish with caster in the ground bait.

I'd be interested to know your thoughts and experiences.

Phil

In my match fishing days I used casters extensively, typically buying three or four pints every week without fail, and using leftovers for pleasure fishing. I've done less well with casters in winter, that's not to say they don't work, but maggots and bread have been better for the big roach, though very dependent on conditions.
In recent years I've struggled to get consistently good quality casters (partly due to the vastly reduced demand nowadays) though notice a mate of mine has been sourcing good ones so will ask him where he's buying them. If I can source some decent ones I shall give them more of a try and film the results. Laid on casters was a deadly bait on the Stour in days gone by, not just for roach but chub and dace as well, as well as the usual trotting tactics.

A brief window of decent conditions got me out on the river bank:

This week I explore some of the pros and cons of hempseed fishing for roach:

This week I take a look at how top match anglers have influenced match rod design over the decades. It's often far from clear exactly who has had the influence. And a question for you: what's your favourite match rod and who do you think influenced its design?

This week's video is about a couple of recent, short waggler sessions where I found the roach feeding high in the water:

Some thoughts on the mysteries of roach behaviour: