Specimen Redfin Hunting

I love my roach fishing and spent a considerable amount of time last year finding a water that would give me the chance of some magical two pounders and possible a 3lb plus fish which in my eyes is the holy grail of specimen fishing. I wont mention the lake that I finally selected as my roach venue but it has a track record of producing some enormous roach to over 4lb! Yes 4lb and a few over three that have mainly been taken by the keen carp angler on double 15mm bottom baits. The lake is around six acres in size but the water level fluctuates when the farmer decides to use the water for the crops. During this session the water was down by around 20ft and I was actually bivvied up where I was casting my rods to on the last session!  I like to think I am quite an optimistic person and looked at the low water level as an advantage over the fish. Less water means less places for the roach to hide I thought.

 

I decided to stick with what I knew best and fished short 5lb flurocarbon hooklinks with a size 12 Drennan super specialist micro barb hook. To ensure tangles were avoided I used esp stiff booms to project the line from my 6lb mainline. Bait was originally going to be maggots but due to the unseasonably warm November the small fish were still very active and this was not an option. I decided to use 10mm mico boilies and corn to deter the smaller fish.

 

On the first night I managed a few small fish up to around 14oz but kept the swim topped up with bait including corn and few handfuls of hemp. This steady, consistent baiting plan eventually paid off and I landed a nice 1lb 10oz roach on the second night. The fish was scale perfect and a great specimen but still not the monster I was after. I continued to catch some small roach and the odd bream when come evening the real action started. The same rod on which the 1lb 10oz fish came to was away and I landed a fish of 1lb 15oz 8dr!!!! half an ounce of my target for the session but no matter how many times I weighed it the scales didn't lie. Still I was happy with the result and a near two pound roach was a cracking fish. After some quick pictures I got the rod back on the spot and it didn't take long for another decent roach to make an appearance. I thought this fish was going to be around 2lb 6oz but the scales settled on 2lb exactly. I had achieved my target for the session and was now a very happy angler.

 

The lake went quite for the next day and it wasn't until the last night when I received a drop back on the same rod yet again. After a quick but frantic fight I netted another specimen redfin which weighed in at 2lb 2oz and was the best of the session. Due to the time and my camera self take mode not operating efficiently I only managed to get a few poor quality self takes on the iPhone. In conclusion the session was a success with two fish over two and a scraper two pounder for good measure. I am looking to get back when its a bit colder and the smaller fish become more nomadic. Maybe I could get some sleep then unlike this session. Until then tight lines