A Spot of Roach Fishing - Part Two Greg Alexander - CC Moore

A Spot of Roach Fishing - Part Two Greg Alexander 

A Spot of Roach 

Fishing - Part Two 

Greg Alexander continues his account of 

his year-long campaign on CEMEX’s 

Roach Pit. Everything was now coming 

together perfectly – well, almost! 

110 

Greg was talking to his mate 

Lee as the rod roared off. 

The new season was now well under way and 

on my next session I finally got myself into the 

most popular swim on the lake, Pike Point. 

This is an area that always contains fish and gives 

you a huge expanse of water to fish, filled with a 

great variety of features on which to concentrate. 

Pike Point faces the deeper end of the lake but is 

well within reach of a huge plateau, which, at its 

shallowest is no more than a couple of feet deep. I 

would normally spend a long time walking round 

the pit before making my choice of pitch, but seeing 

the swim just as it was being vacated, I was in there 

like a rat up a drainpipe. Fish could be seen crashing 

at range as they always did in this swim, so my 

anticipation levels were high. 

With so many features to aim at I chose to spread 

out the rods and try different areas to gauge the 

response. The left-hand rod was fished to a dog-legshaped 

bar coming off the plateau in around 6ft of 

water at 70yds. The middle rod was fished to the 

only other shallow clear spot at 60yds. My righthand 

rod was fished out into deeper water towards 

the out of bounds bank on quite a large, silty area. 

This had not been a popular area in previous years 

but, due to the new rulings on the water, that was 

soon to change. I fished boilies on this rod but 

opted for particles on the plateau spots so that the 

birds wouldn’t clean me out. From experience this 

swim produced fish in the afternoons, unlike the 

rest of the lake where the mornings were more 

productive. So, after baiting up that night and 

receiving no action by the morning I rebaited 

the rods at about 11.00. You always feel that the 

pressure’s on when you’re in this swim; you can 

catch fish from every area of the lake but it’s from 

here that the big hits occur. 

I can remember sitting talking on the phone to 

my mate Lee and I had just admitted to him that 

any kind of carp would do, when the right-hand rod 

was away. Talk about Groundhog Day – it was the 

same 30-pounder as the week before! Certainly not 

what I’d expected. I was fishing a small, balanced 

110-117_SpotOfRoach_CW210.indd 1 20/2/08 14:08:57


The 30 featured at the end of 

Greg’s article last month made a 

return visit a week later. 

Snowman presentation with a big hook and 

big lead that helped keep the tench at bay. I was 

using Helicopter Rigs with the stops pushed 

up to suit the depth of silt; this allowed for shorter 

hooklinks and meant the fish didn’t have to move 

far before they felt the weight of the lead. 

An hour or so later, the same rod was off again. 

After I’d lovingly coaxed the fish through the many 

weedbeds and other firmer, more gravelly obstacles, 

the hook pulled. 

That was it. I kicked off 

my shoes, desocked, 

and jumped in, scooping 

it up straightaway 

Following the disappointment of this lost 

unknown, my mate Minnow was in the swim and 

while I was marking out the rod he shouted that 

one of the other rods was away. On getting back, the 

left-hand rod was bent round with the line out of 

the clip and something angry was sitting in a nearby 

weedbed. I pulled it free and a really heavy weight 

slowly started to inch towards me. I really couldn’t 

tell whether it was a big fish or not. The matted 

lumps of weed hanging down near the leader meant 

it wasn’t fighting, but as it neared the bank a huge 

black fish appeared on top. That was it. I kicked off 

my shoes, desocked, and jumped in, scooping it up 

straightaway. There in the net was a very spawnbound 

Horse, one of my target fish for the year – I 

was elated. She went a whopping 44lb 4oz on the 

scales, and was lovely and dark, if a bit misshapen 

due to her hefty summer load. I’d caught her on a 

double tiger, balanced out so that the hook laid flat 

on the gravel. It was difficult not to fish particles 

on one rod, particularly as I knew she was partial 

to them, and I was also aware that The Yellow Fish 

was another specimen who couldn’t resist a big bed 

of particles. Armed with the evidence of my proven 

theory, I hatched a plan to include particles on at 

least one rod every time I fished. It also made it 

cheaper than fishing boilies on all three. 

I returned the following Thursday and found a 

group of fish in a set of snags to the left of a swim 

called Sanctuary. This was a swim in which I’d done 

really well during my first season on the pit, but 

since then it had been very slow. There was only one 

clear spot out in front, a gravel hump in about 7ft 

of water, with the rest of the swim being thick weed 

from top to bottom. I placed a rod on the gravel 

hump and then flicked a Zig round the corner, 

just off the snags where I had seen the fish show. 

Just before dark the Zig rod was away on a strange 

take which, to begin with, I wasn’t sure whether 

to hit. Taking the plunge, I bent into the rod and 

soon witnessed a beautiful male fish, known as 

Bob’s Fish, wallowing on the surface, waiting to be 

scooped up. It turned out to be a nightmare to net 

as the overhanging trees are particularly low above 

the swim and the lead hadn’t jettisoned as planned. 

With a 10ft hooklink it was a real struggle, but 

eventually he was mine. At 33lb he was another of 

the stunning Roach fish that I’d always wanted, and 

although he was a bit battle-scarred from chasing 

the ‘harem’ he still looked a creature of great beauty. 

I was back again the following Thursday, but 

111 



Bob’s Fish returned to the 

bank after snaffl ing Greg’s 

Zig-rigged XXX pop-up. 

112 

I was to learn a painful lesson. I pulled into one of 

the lay-bys and had a quick walk up one bank to see 

how many were on. I was only gone a few minutes 

but by the time I got back to the car the back 

window had been smashed and the rods were gone. 

The police were seemingly disinterested and I drove 

home with my tail between my legs. I have to say a 

big thanks to everyone who offered me the use of 

their gear, especially Mike and Trev. 

After a few conversations with Trev, he persuaded 

me to come up the next day and use his gear. I 

snapped myself out of the despondency and got up 

there, as Trev was packing up. The Sanctuary was 

about the only area free so I got in there for a couple 

of nights. My disappointment was soon forgotten 

as I managed to sneak a 29-pounder off the gravel 

hump and I returned Trev’s gear, a happy man. 

After borrowing Mike’s not-so-lucky rods for the 

following weekend, I returned for another session. 

I arrived on a scorching hot day to find only one 

person on the lake – unheard of for the Roach Pit. 

I took a bucket straight round to Pike Point and 

watched a few groups of fish mooching around. 

This was to be a slow weekend. The sunbathing, 

lethargic stock just weren’t interested in feeding, 

and by Saturday it was just me on the lake. I made 

the decision to have a wander down to the shallows 

with the floater gear, where a few groups of fish 

were milling around. I started catapulting mixers 

soaked in CC Moore’s Liquid Mussel Extract into 

the vicinity. As expected, the gulls spotted them 

first and after an hour I gave up and just cast a single 

mixer towards cruising fish. I had one refusal at 

the last second down on the Lawns and eventually 

ended up in a little bay called The Swimming Pool. 

Here the birds seemed to leave me alone and I was 

able to get a group of fish regularly 

taking the mixers. They would 

drift out of the snags, have a few 

mouthfuls, and then disappear 

again. They looked to be a good 

average size and the next time they 

came out my mixer was right in 

amongst the free offerings. Soon 

a 30lb+ mirror slurped in the bait 

and all hell broke loose. The cast 

had been quite near the snags 

and on light gear it took me into them and 

proceeded to power 30yds up the margin until the 

hooklink parted – even if it hadn’t it was too far in 

to have pulled it back through. 

The fish were still there though and out of the 

corner of my eye I noticed a group at the end of 

the snags that looked like they may be persuaded. 

I sneaked round and for about half an hour 

I was itching to get to 

the lake and, when 

I did, the conditions 

were ideal 

repeatedly catapulted mixers. The fish would 

confidently come in much closer in this swim, 

which made life easier for presentation and if I 

hooked one I’d hopefully have a bit more control 

over it. With a slight ripple on the water giving them 

confidence, one group of three fish started feeding 

really strongly. The surface movement made them 

difficult to identify, but I was sure they were all good 

fish. The slight chop on the water certainly helped 

Greg was not afraid to ring the 

changes and, seeing carp on the 

surface, cast out a Zig Rig. 

disguise the end tackle and after two or three failed 

casts, the smallest of the three fish gladly took the 

mixer. As the controller slid across the surface, an 

explosion of water met my strike with the attached 

fish angrily heading straight out of the bay in a bid 

for freedom. It stayed on top the whole time and 

even with 10lb line I was able to pull it back through 

the high weedbeds. After that first run it gave up 

the ghost and soon a fish called Orange Scale was 

netted. I’d caught her twice previously, but at 35lb 

8oz she was a new floater-caught PB and she looked 

incredible in the bright conditions. A mate was due 

down soon so I gave him a quick ring, not knowing 

he was already setting up around the corner, and we 

got some superb photos before slipping her back. 

I finally received my insurance claim and visited 

Mike at Poingdestres to replace the stolen gear. It 

was like Christmas, going into the shop and walking 

out armed with brand new Century rods and 

Shimano Techniums. I was itching to get to the lake 

and, when I did, the conditions were ideal. A strong 

southwesterly had been battering the deep end and 

I knew my mate Trev was pulling off on Friday 

morning from Pike Point. He had heard a lot of fish 

crashing out in the night over the deeper area and 



A new fl oater-caught PB – Orange 

Scale at 35lb 8oz. 

felt sure the fish had done him. I was in his swim 

early in the morning just in case other anglers arrived 

and, by 10 o’clock, had three rods out and ready to 

go. I’d even taken the risk of spodding out bait ready 

for the afternoon, something I would normally leave 

until just before dark. It didn’t take long for them 

to respond and at 3.00 in the afternoon I had a nice 

scaly 23-pounder off the deep spot. 

That night I filled it in with XXX, putting 

six kilos of bait on the spot and moving 

another rod down onto that area, fishing them 

about 15yds apart. This seemed a bit risky with 

the added lines, but I was sure the spot was 

going to go off – and it did. 

The next morning, about 11.00, the rod was 

away and after a very long battle I landed a superb, 

lean, fighting fish called The Other Long One at 

32lb. I always get the rod back out immediately after 

catching, particularly during what is a productive 

time, and before someone had come round to 

do the photos that rod was fishing again. Just as 

we were slipping that culprit back, the same rod 

pulled up tight and again I was in. This one came 

off about halfway in, but the flurry of activity 

was quite remarkable. It’s interesting that I never 

saw fish rolling on this spot – you would see 

them move down from behind the island in the 

morning, and at certain times they would roll for 

hours on other spots around the lake right on the 

money, cleaning their gills as they fed, but here 

you wouldn’t know they were there, other than 

from what Trev had heard the previous night. 

As the fish approached 

them I had to wind like 

mad and bully it through 

With the rod back out I sat back and made a cup 

of tea, then realised, to my horror, that it was my last 

teabag. This was soon forgotten as within minutes 

the same rod was off again. The usual battle of wills 

then commenced, with the fish sitting in a weedbed 

for a good 30 minutes. I walked up the high bank 

behind me and, with the rod at full compression, 

she moved. I didn’t budge an inch and it eventually 

came through the worst of it. The spot was out at 

80yds and even in the dull conditions you could see 

three weedbeds, which were just under the surface 

between the spot and me. As the fish approached 

them I had to wind like mad and bully it through. I 

had been tying on the leads with light line and PVAing 

them for the cast, which helped, and luckily a big 

scaly mirror was soon engulfed by the landing net. 

As I unravelled the folds I could see it was the Big 

Fully, not a true fully-scaled fish, but almost. 

This stunning fish went 34lb 4oz on the scales, 

To boost his mixers’ attraction, Greg 

soaked them in CC Moore’s Green 

Lipped Mussel Juice. 

Greg’s fl oater box, with all the 

essentials for surface work. 

Greg’s tackle was nicked from his van, 

but the insurance fi nally paid out. 

113 


To combat the weed, Greg used a 

light link and PVA to attach his leads, 

so that they’d come off more easily. 

a pound bigger than when I caught her last 

December. I slipped her back and made the decision 

to wind in the rods and bolt to the shop for supplies. 

I was back in 15 minutes and got the banker rod 

straight back out, followed by the rod just off the 

bait. As I was foaming up the third rod I had a take 

on the first, a really savage take which by the time 

I’d reached the rod, the reel was down by the alarm 

and the sticks were being pulled round. The fish 

was solid immediately and I proceeded with the 

dodgy walk backwards up the bank. For 10 minutes 

it was stalemate but, by slowly walking backwards, 

something gave and I was in contact again. I could 

feel the fish lunging at range and it weeded me twice 

more before I got it within 30yds of the bank. It 

kited round to the left where a few shakes of the 

head dislodged some of the Canadian round its 

head and the leader knot. It didn’t really feel that big 

now but I think that was because the rod was no 

longer at 90 degrees. However, as it neared the bank 

it just kept growing and growing. It was very pale 

in colour and I caught sight of a two-tone 

flank. In it went and the greatest feeling 

I’ve had in carp fishing came over me. It 

was Old Yellow Belly, the fish I’d always 

wanted. After all the time I’d put in, and all 

the repeat captures, my dreams were finally realised. 

I flipped her over just to make sure, but there was 

no mistaking her. Like quite a few of the fish that 

year she’d clearly not spawned so I knew she’d be 

big. My mate Jase wound in from the furthest swim 

possible to do the shots, and he took some cracking 

pictures. Fair play because Jase had caught a few that 

day as well and had fish all over him. She’s a nicely 

proportioned fish, even with spawn in her, just big 

all over and she went 46lb 6oz on the scales, a new 

PB for me. She swam off strongly and left me to 

simply collapse in the bivvy. 

I could feel the fi sh 

lunging at range and 

it weeded me twice 

more before I got it 

within 30yds of the bank 

It was a cracking session but it wasn’t to end there. 

Throughout that day I’d noticed a small glowing 

patch out on the plateau. You could just about see 

a small spot had appeared; it was a long way out 

but I really fancied getting a bait on it and I could 

hit it with braid on the marker rod. It was a lovely 

piece of gravel that the lead really donked down 

onto, however trying to get on it with mono was 

a nightmare. It was pot luck whether you landed 

on it or not as it was too shallow to feel the lead 

down at that range. I was so happy with the results I 

thought, sod it, and broke out another spool loaded 

with 30lb Whiplash. I never use braid really, but 

have a backup spool just for whacking baits out at 

extreme range on the big waters. With the braid on 

I had that bit more sensitivity to feel the lead down 

onto the spot. My only concern 

was that you could see the 

line going out for about 

30yds, which I wasn’t 

keen on, but I had no 

reason to complain 

after the day I’d had 

and I proceeded to put out a whole bucket of bait. 

The next day saw the fish moving at range again 

and they gradually moved up onto the plateau. I 

wasn’t quite prepared for a take using braid and, 

when it came, I was left in shock. The rod tips had 

been at quite a steep angle and under the water, 

but, by the time I got to the rod, all that remained 

in contact with the setup were the butts in the 

back rests. The rods were virtually levitating. It 

was scary stuff from then on, trying to play the 

carp gently enough for the lack of stretch, but 

not so gently that it weeded me up. Eventually, 

I netted a nice scaly fish, which turned out to be 

Bob’s Fish again at 32lb, followed an hour later 

by a 20lb common on the same rod. By the time 

I packed up I was shattered, but overjoyed by the 

results; two 20s, three 30s and a 46 in one session. 

This was good going on the Roach but it’s the sort 

of catch that is possible nowadays. 

There was still one of the big residents to 

go – Barbs. This was quite a frequent visitor 

to the bank, but another that just seemed to 

elude me. I felt sure she’d be 40lb by now and I 

wasn’t leaving without her. 

The following Thursday I got down and had 

a good look around. Barbs didn’t seem to have 

any preferences about where she fed, so unless I 

actually saw her it was like searching for a needle 

in a haystack. I got chatting to a bloke in Pike 

Roach Pit’s Big Fully 

at 34lb 4oz. 


The Other Long One 

at 32lb 8oz. 

It didn’t take long to 

christen the new gear. 

115 



The fi sh put on a real show 

and the fi rst to slip up was 

this 27lb scaly beauty. 

and he told me he was leaving in the morning. To 

be honest, I felt a bit guilty about going back in 

there, but no one else had been enquiring so the next 

morning I moved in. This time I had two banker 

rods, the deep spot and the one at range that I again 

fished with braid over a bed of particles. The other 

deep spot I filled in with XXX again. The following 

day I didn’t even see a fish or have a bleep. Perhaps 

they’d all moved down to the other end. I stuck with 

it for another night and by the next morning the fish 

appeared again. They moved closer to the spot on 

the plateau and eventually they were right on me. 

Over the next two hours I saw the most spectacular 

show I’ve ever seen. The fish just rolled non-stop 

on the shallow spot, I must have seen 70-80 shows 

in that time as they really smoked up the water. I 

managed a couple as well, a cracking 27 and a fish 

called The Translucent, another stunner at 29lb 

15oz. I think if I’d stayed on I’d have caught more, 

but it was now time to go and I didn’t want to risk 

upsetting the missus any more! 

September arrived and the fish would be getting 

towards their biggest weights and possibly residing 

in some of the more wintry swims. I pulled up in 

the car park and started my usual trek around the 

lake. As I walked past the first swim I noticed a fish 

roll just off the treeline, and then another. I sat there 

for the next half an hour just watching, and a few 

bubbles appeared here and there. I grabbed a rod 

from the car and flicked a single just off the trees 

into a deep hole using just a light lead to minimise 

the disturbance. I laid the rod on the ground and 

watched intently as a few more bubbles appeared. 

Suddenly, the line picked up and the loose clutch 

started screaming. A long battle followed, the fish 

going in and out of the weed and snags before it 

finally gave up and I netted the thickwristed 

fish again, this time at just 

under 30. I spent the next three nights 

flitting about from swim to swim 

but had no more luck. I was sure the 

fish would be getting back down into 

the Ivy Bank water and I planned to 

return the following week. 

I managed to arrive on the Wednesday night but 

couldn’t get on the Ivy Bank. On looking around 

I found some fish down in the shallows sitting out 

in the thick weedbeds. Amongst them I managed 

to find a small clear spot surrounded by weed from 

the bottom to the surface, and I knew that any clear 

area out here could be productive. This spot was in 

a prime location but at about 100yds it was again 

difficult to hit with the mono. When I missed the 

spot I’d spend the next 10 minutes hauling back 

huge lumps of weed, in fact one cast became so solid 

I had to pull for a break. I was getting increasingly 

frustrated and in the end I cut my losses, packed up, 

and went home for a few nights. 

I grabbed a rod from the 

car and flicked a single 

just off the trees into a 

deep hole using just a 

light lead to minimise 

the disturbance 

With a calmer outlook I arrived back on the 

Saturday morning and went straight down the 

Ivy Bank, which, surprisingly, was free. This is 

the opposite side of the main bay to Pike Point. 

Typically, many of the fish were in their usual place, 

sitting out of range behind the main island. I picked 

a swim halfway along the bank and had a bit of a 

lead around. In front of me it was very clear and 

showing 15-16ft of water, in fact I had a job to find 

any weed to fish near. However, the further to the 

One of the Roach Pit’s most 

sought-after residents – the 

Yellow Fish at 46lb 6oz. 

Greg was on a roll and 

banked The Translucent 

at 29lb 15oz. 

116 


left I cast, the more weed I found, and eventually 

I settled on two spots, one close in to my left at 

40yds, and, following the weedline, a spot about 

80yds straight out in front. Whilst leading around, 

a couple of fish showed in this area so I quickly 

got the rods in and waited to bait up. Nothing else 

showed all day and that night I reset my traps and 

baited with about three kilos on each. I changed 

my presentation very slightly as everyone seemed 

to be using some sort of Snowman. I fished a single 

18mm XXX cork ball pop-up with a camo BB shot 

pinched underneath to weigh it down. Again, this 

made the big hook lie flat and the pop-up sat the 

length of the Hair off the bottom. 

My mate Martin came 

down that night and 

over many cups of tea 

we discussed whether it 

was really worth staying 

on Roach for one big fish 

My mate Martin came down that night and over 

many cups of tea we discussed whether it was really 

worth staying on Roach for one big fish. There were 

a few more good fish in the lake that I would dearly 

love to catch; The Pretty One and Big Mouth could 

both be upper-30s, but they’d been on the missing 

list for quite some time. Martin disappeared and 

told me to ring him if I got any and I settled down 

to sleep. I was awoken at 3.00 a.m. by a take on the 

left-hand rod and I slowly cranked in a heavy fish. 

After a very quick battle I glimpsed the flanks of 

another large fish, which slipped into the net first 

time. It was all over in what seemed like seconds 

and as I shone the headtorch into the folds of the 

net, there was my sulking prize – Barbs. I couldn’t 

believe it, only hours earlier I’d been talking about 

her and how I could track her down. Now there 

she was, well and truly fluked, in the bottom of 

my net. I phoned Martin who kindly ‘zombied’ 

down to the lake to do the honours. The night 

photos didn’t really do her justice, as she’s a lovely 

dark fish. There’s no sacking on Roach and, to 

be honest, I was happy to get the pictures done 

and get her back home. She went 41lb 1oz, which 

Within minutes of turning up Greg spotted 

some fi sh and didn’t have to wait long to 

bank the thick-wristed mirror. 

meant I’d caught all the possible 40s from the lake 

that year. 

It was a funny feeling after that, I was obviously 

ecstatic at the result, but I knew my time on the 

Pit was coming to an end, so I was also quite sad. 

I had a 28 in the morning on the other rod before 

packing up and heading home. It was difficult 

to stay away for a while and I fished another 

nine nights up until mid-October with nothing 

banked, although I did lose a few. That was it then, 

my time of serious fishing on there had come to an 

end. I still hope to keep my ticket just in case Big 

Mouth or The Pretty One put in an appearance, 

and, of course, to do a few socials with the many 

good friends I’d made over the last four seasons. I 

might even have another go just before the end of 

the season – who knows? 

One last thing; good luck Jase, that linear is yours 

soon mate, and she’s just done 40lb as well! GA 


Another rig change accounted 

for the fi nal target fi sh. 

Catching Barbs at 44lb 1oz 

completed Greg’s captures of all the 

lake’s known 40s that year. 

117

A Spot of Roach Fishing - Part Two Greg Alexander - CC Moore

Transform your PDFs into Flipbooks and boost your revenue!

Delete template?

Save as template ?