Mykie Pollard reveals why an overhaul of your presentation and baits is vital when targeting the redfins residing in specimen carp waters
AN ACTIVE angler will almost always outscore a lazy one when roach are the main target.
As a species that is renowned for being unable to resist competing for a steady trickle of bait falling through the water column, they can be whipped into a frenzy by the steady feeding of casters or maggots using a catapult.
This way of attacking a swim rarely fails on rivers, canals and most stillwaters, but there are a growing number of the latter where the roach simply don’t seem to have read the rulebook.
Those that live in venues where big carp are the main focus of anglers sat behind a bank of bite alarms have developed quite different instincts when it comes to finding their food.
On such waters, big hits of loosefeed are often introduced by the specimen carp anglers present, with the freebies plummeting to the deck soon after being delivered by a Spomb or similar feeding device. As a result, the roach are used to ‘taking their meals’ hard on the bottom, and aren’t at all accustomed to the regular trickle of feed often enjoyed by their counterparts in more traditional waters.
The roach in House Pool at Birmingham’s Alvechurch Fisheries behave precisely in this manner and venue manager Mykie Pollard has had to forget most of what he knew about the species and go back to the drawing board.
“When I first started working here a few years ago I was excited to have a go on this lake on one of my days off, with the big roach being my focus,” he said.
“I’d been told there were plenty of 1lb fish, with a dozen or so over the 2lb mark. A waggler and maggots seemed like the ideal way to catch, but I barely had a bite all day and it was a bit of a disaster to say the least!
“I began wondering why that style of fishing didn’t work and soon came up with a strategy that has since helped me to catch roach to over 2lb from the lake.
“I’m convinced that it will work on any water that has similar hallmarks to House.”
Bomb it down
House Pool is only an acre in size and Mykie therefore turns to the pole to provide accurate presentation.
“I can shot my float in such a manner that only a tiny section of the tip shows and lower my rig in exactly where I want it, without creating any disturbanc
