Paul Houghton has just joined a small but elite list of anglers to have landed a 4lb roach after catching this specimen of 4lb 1oz.
It was tempted from a southern stillwater, which, interestingly, was not Linear Fisheries – the venue that produced a 4lb 3oz record-equalling redfin to Dai Gribble last spring. Lancashire angler Paul is an all-round specimen angler, and whilst he usually keeps his catches to himself, knew that this fish was too big not to share.
“With a storm coming, I drove south to this lake for a 48-hour session, keen to make of the good conditions before it hit. This pit has produced a few ‘threes’ and is also home to carp. As is often the case with roach, it’s the bait of the carp anglers that they grow large on.” As such, Paul introduced a hemp plus chopped corn and crumbed boilies to a spot 60 yards out, over which he fished maggot feeders on heli-rigs. “I don’t feed with a spomb as I think the crash of it attracts carp and can also scare big roach,” he revealed. “So, I use a small spod with which I can introduce a handful of feed, and land it quietly on the cast. I crumb the boilies and chop the corn so I don’t fill the roach up.”
Paul’s first bite came on his first evening from a 10lb 6oz bream, which was followed by a 3lb 6oz perch. “Although not my target species, I couldn’t complain at catching them. I landed a few roach too around the half-pound mark, which I took as a good sign.”
On his second evening, Paul landed more roach to around 1lb, before a few grebes started diving on the spot and bites dried up.
“Around an hour after dark, I had a bite out of the blue, and judging by its characteristic head shakes, I knew it was a roach, and a heavy one too. I played it slowly, and when it surfaced in the clear water, I couldn’t believe the size of it. I knew I’d beaten my 3lb 2oz PB, but when I weighed it, I was amazed. You never expect to see the scales go past 4lb when weighing a roach! “I spoke to a few close friends after the capture, and we agreed that, around March, that fish could well be a record.”
