The roach, which is popularly called the roach, is one of the most common fish due to its abundance in Russian water bodies. But, despite its large populations and the abundance of this fish, not everyone manages to catch it. Moreover, not every amateur knows how to catch roach.
With the onset of thaw
After the cold weather subsides, there comes a period when, according to many, fish are easiest to catch. However, fishing for roach in the spring is not always successful. This fish is active all year round. Winter fishing is gradually replaced by fishing with summer gear, which can be obtained immediately after the first gullies appear on Russian reservoirs.
Fishing for roach in the spring is gradually improving as the water warms. The fish bite turns into a real glutton before spawning. Since this fish does not spawn at the same time in different reservoirs or rivers, fishing in the spring can take place throughout all three months - from March to the end of May. You just need to change fishing spots to do this.
As a rule, in many regions spawning occurs at the beginning of May. And before that, as reviews indicate, fishermen catch quite large specimens, sometimes reaching up to a kilogram, and sometimes even more.
Before spawning, this fish, gathering in large schools, rushes to small rivers and streams. They are in constant migration, so active biting is periodically observed in the most different parts specific body of water. And even abundant complementary feeding is not able to keep this fish at one point for a long time.
Features of fishing
Roach fishing in spring (March) is carried out at shallow depths. This circumstance is explained by the fact that the prey, coming to the shallows, warms itself after winter and looks for food. At this time, bloodworms with worms are considered the best bait.
Since flood water in the spring is cloudy and has a consistency similar to jelly, bait, as a rule, turns out to be useless. It should be given only in clean rivers. Usually, many people use a mixture of sand or coastal soil with dry food for this. You can also mix a little food bloodworm with them, but it is not always relevant, and it also attracts a lot of small prey.
Catching roach in spring in complementary foods requires precise dosage of flavorings. For example, some fruit essences work well this season. Many fishermen also use regular garlic, mixing it into the feed mixture.
catchable places
Many fishermen have noticed that in spring, in river streams, roaches most often stick to areas where there are large clods that have fallen from the banks, from which a “plume” of turbidity is formed. This fish chooses such places for a reason: here it guards those food organisms that water washes out of the ground. In this regard, fishing for roach in the spring can be very productive if you use the old antiquated method of attracting prey. To do this, you need to take a long pole and, picking it along the bottom, raise the dirt.
When fishing in stagnant bodies of water, you need to cast the bait a little further from the feeding point, and then pull up the rig with a rod or by rotating the reel. The breaking wave brings food to the shore, thereby attracting fish. Therefore, experienced fishermen always choose a position for catching roach against the wind.
Tackle
Fishing for roach in the spring most often takes place with And if in still water you can fish almost at one point, then in the current the fishing is carried out, which requires a person to move frequently. No less effective is catching roach in the spring using a donka fishing rod. Its equipment must be highly sensitive. The gear for catching this fish should have a light rod with a length of four to six meters.
If roach fishing in the spring is carried out directly off the coast, then the main line must be tied to the tip. If it is necessary to obtain a casting range, then the fisherman will not need a very large one, but the thickness of the main fishing line must be taken with a diameter of 0.14-0.16 mm, and the diameter of the leader should be within 0.1-0.12 mm.
In this case, the hook size must be selected according to the size of the bait. Catching roach in the spring with a float has one, but important feature: it is very important to accurately load the float, so that at the slightest touch of the fish a person will immediately notice it.
Gear assembly
Sorozhka in March-April is well caught using pickers or feeders. It is important not to make very long casts. Usually the roach itself comes quite close to the shore, so you need to choose a feeder or sinker with the lightest possible weight.
There is nothing complicated about assembling feeder type gear. Simply take the blank links out of the case and assemble the rod. In this case, you must be careful during installation, always monitoring the alignment of the rings. Once assembled, it needs to be equipped spinning coil, then thread the fishing line or cord through the rings.
Fishing on a float
There are four types of fishing rods. Firstly, fly tackle with a blind rig, the line of which is attached to the tip of the rod. This float equipment You can throw it about two lengths. The second type is with a coil and rings. It also allows you to make long casts, and over longer distances than with the fly version. The other two types of float - match and plug - are used less frequently. In the first case, the rod is equipped with a spinning reel. Catching roach in the spring with this equipment occurs with the plug variety, which is distinguished by a long nine-meter rod, many knees and the presence of a special stand.
For amateur fishing The first two types of fishing on a float are best suited: with fly tackle and lapdog. Their advantage is that they do not require additional, sometimes complex, devices, and they are mobile for transportation. But the most important thing: catching roach, which is often found in coastal waters, is very easy with such tackle on a float.
Baits
Surprisingly, in order to say with accuracy what is the best way to catch roach in a given body of water, you first need to catch it. After cutting the fish, you need to examine the contents of its stomach and, depending on what you see, choose bait. The most popular bait is bunches of red worms; roaches also bite well on maggots. Some fishermen use a hook with bait, which, according to them, increases the number of bites. At the beginning of spring, roach is best caught using bloodworms. It is necessary to put several larvae on thin hooks at once. And with a bad bite, according to professionals, different combinations of baits, or so-called sandwiches, help.
Unlike many carp fish, roach spawns quite early, and by the beginning of summer it arrives without eggs. The post-spawning feeding period of the sorog also falls in May, so its behavior in summer is relatively uniform and practically does not depend on a specific month.
Where to look
To begin with, let’s decide where to look for and catch large roach, and we are not interested in small roach, from June to September. Flocks of sorogs are constantly on the move in the summer; they search almost the entire body of water in search of food, but there are still points that are worth paying special attention to:
- edges and riverbed holes;
- deeply sunken snag;
- steps near shallow water;
- aquatic surface vegetation.
Particularly noteworthy is the night catching of sorog. Especially large specimens weighing about a kilogram peck precisely in the dark. Like bream, roach, starting in June, rises at night from the depths closer to the front edge to a level of 2-4 meters.
What to catch
The roach bite is very careful, and therefore it is not possible to catch it with rough tackle. The most successful fishing gear, depending on the circumstances, are the following:
- Fly rod. Used on ponds for coastal fishing or fishing from a boat. The length of the shore swing can exceed ten meters; it is best to take a four-meter blank into the boat.
- Bolognese fishing rod. A fishing rod with a running rig is perfect for fishing at a short distance from the shore or for fishing while fishing. Often special inertial wire reels are used for such fishing.
- Match fishing rod. Used when a particularly long cast is needed. The optimal match length is four meters, a reel with a front-tapered spool.
- Plug tackle. It is applicable on a clean, free bank for spot fishing at distances from eight to twenty meters. The thickness of the equipment is 0.08-0.12 millimeters.
- Feeder. Ideal for bottom fishing for roach in June, July and August, both in currents and in still water. It is best to use the most sensitive rigs: asymmetrical loop, helicopter or inline. They will also work well in currents. The main line is braided 0.10-0.12 millimeters, monofilament shock leader 0.25-0.28.
- Onboard fishing rod. This tackle is used on rivers for fishing from a boat. It can work either according to the principle or be used with a separate feeder.
- Rubber. Many anglers have remained faithful to this gear and successfully fish with it both in the pond and on the river. As the main cord, a fishing line of 0.30-0.35 millimeters is used, and leashes are placed with the minimum possible diameter. On a small body of water, the gum is thrown by hand, otherwise it is brought in by boat.
When equipping summer gear for roach, it is worth using the thinnest fishing lines and the smallest hooks. Otherwise, this cautious fish may get scared and move away from the tackle for a long time.
What to feed
Catching roach in summer is impossible without bait. A flock of nimble fish will instantly go to another place if there is a lack of food, so the mixture must be constantly supplied to the fishing point. When feeder fishing, this happens with each cast of the feeder, and when float fishing You should throw bait balls regularly, with a break of five to ten minutes, depending on the biting activity.
Bait for roach in June can be easily purchased at any fishing store, and it may be written on the package that it is for bream or crucian carp - it doesn’t matter. All cyprinids have approximately the same taste and are tempted by the same mixtures.
Homemade bait for catching roaches in June and other summer months may include the simplest ingredients available to everyone:
- millet;
- barley groats;
- oatmeal;
- semolina;
- pea flour;
- milk powder;
- corn grits;
- poultry or fish feed;
- ground roasted sunflower seeds;
- ground crackers.
For example, catching roach in July-August will be successful if you use the famous “Salapin” porridge. This interesting recipe also works well:
- Cook millet porridge from one glass of cereal and three glasses of water.
- Add two glasses of barley and a glass of semolina to it.
- At the reservoir, we break the mixture with ground breadcrumbs to the desired consistency, depending on the fishing method: for the feeder - more breadcrumbs, for feeding with smaller balls.
- Before throwing the ball or feeder into the water, roll them in pea flour.
When using such bait on the river, it is worth adding rolled oats flakes for stickiness.
In order for larger roaches to peck in August, large fractions are added to the bait, such as:
- barley;
- corn or pea grains;
- pellets and small boilies.
When catching roach in June with animal baits, also do not forget to add them to the bait mixture!
Lures
Roach fishing in August, as throughout the entire summer season, is characterized by a change in feeding preferences. In addition to animal baits come plant attachments. Therefore, you can catch ram in the summer using almost all popular baits for carp fish, such as:
- maggot;
- worm;
- bakery products;
- dough;
- semolina chatter;
- peas;
- corn;
- pearl barley;
- wheat grains;
- pasta;
- Hercules flakes.
Here is a recipe for preparing dough for catching summer roach:
- Break the egg and separate the white and yolk.
- Place only the yolk in the bowl.
- Add a teaspoon of honey.
- Pour a teaspoon of unrefined sunflower oil there.
- Gradually add wheat flour and mix well.
The finished dough should roll perfectly into a ball and mold into a flat cake.
And this is how bread bait for roach is prepared:
- Part of the loaf or roll with a crust is moistened with water from the reservoir where you are going to fish.
- The moistened bread is kneaded in your hands until it forms a dough.
- Add a few drops of maggot attractant to the finished bait and knead again.
However, you can use other flavorings, but maggot really works, it’s been tested!
The snow on the rivers and lakes is melting, and many fishermen are already drawn to fishing. Of course, early spring, by many indicators, is not best time for fishing, but I don’t have the patience to wait until summer. Today we’ll talk about the secrets of catching roach at this time of year. - a fairly common fish, popularly called a sorozhka.
Features of catching roach in early spring
Despite the abundance of roach in Russian waters, few people manage to unravel the secret of catching it. You can come for it to the banks of a river or lake all year round. You can go fishing for roach immediately after the ice melts, without waiting for the water to warm up.
Spring floods and the presence of cold water may seem like negative factors to most fishermen, but they can be used to their advantage.
Note that roach spawning occurs mainly at the beginning of May, and before it the fish begin to really eat.
During the period before spawning, you can catch decent specimens weighing about a kilogram. In order for the catch to please you, you will need to follow all the rules:
- choose good place and time;
- pick up gear;
- provide complementary feeding.
Choose a place and time
Let's start with choosing the place and time of fishing. After the snow and ice melt, cold water encourages roaches to actively search for a warm place and food. She wants to warm up and treat herself to something very tasty. Based on this, the fisherman must act.
In bright sunshine, the fish will most likely go to bask in shallow water. Depths of one and a half to two meters are not considered maximum for this fish. For feeder fishing, a depth of 2-4 meters is recommended. You won’t be able to find a roach where the water is approximately knee-deep. This is due to the nature of the fish, which we will discuss below.
The fishing period is quite short and will be no more than two weeks.
Having noticed that the water in the reservoir has brightened, you can go after the roach. You need to pay attention to the following places:
- sand spit;
- exits from bays;
- thickets near the banks;
- deep holes and creeks (if the weather is cold).
In spring, roach can be caught throughout the daylight hours, from early morning until the evening. Often a good bite occurs before and after lunch. When choosing between a sunny day and a cloudy one, it is better to give preference to the first. You need to choose places where the current is very weak. This is due to the fact that the roach is not yet strong enough in early spring and is rather lazy. All that drives her is hunger.
Having chosen a place, they feed and wait about 15 minutes before starting to catch. The hook should not lie on the bottom when casting and waiting. After feeding, you need to behave as quietly and carefully as possible, without making sudden movements on the shore.
Fishing methods
Roach is a very careful fish. When going for it in early spring, you need to provide camouflage methods. The silence must be perfect. Having scared off the fish, you will have to move to a new place. When there is wind, experienced fishermen advise choosing a position against its direction. If the gusts are strong enough, it is better to postpone fishing until the next day.
How to catch more fish?
I have been active fishing for quite some time and have found many ways to improve the bite. And here are the most effective:
- Bite activator. Attracts fish in cold and warm water with the help of pheromones included in the composition and stimulates its appetite. It’s a pity that Rosprirodnadzor wants to impose a ban on its sale.
- More sensitive gear. Reviews and instructions for other types of gear can be found on the pages of my website.
- Lures using pheromones.
Other secrets successful fishing you can get it for free by reading our other articles on the site.
The most popular fishing method during this period is a simple float rod. You can also successfully use it in early spring:
- winter gear;
- wiring;
- bottom tackle.
In the current, they use wire fishing, gradually pulling it towards the shore, and in completely calm places you can use float rod.
Bait plays a huge role. In early spring, you should not offer high-calorie food to cautious roaches. She does not need it due to the fact that metabolic processes in cold water occur differently, in addition, such food can scare away roaches. The same rule applies to flavors and activators. If they are summer, leave them until warm. Activators without a strong odor, on the contrary, can be a positive factor when fishing for roach in early spring.
Tackle
Since it is shy and moderately cautious, the choice of gear is of great importance in its capture. Additional factor- this is the purity of water in early spring. In some reservoirs, after the ice melts, it becomes completely transparent. The roach will clearly notice any imperfections in bright light.
For feeder fishing during this period, it is enough to cast the feeder close to the shore. Both the sinker and the feeder should be light in weight. It is enough to take a rod up to 3.9 meters, and a test up to 30 grams. The main line for this type of fishing with a thickness of 0.2 millimeters will be just right. The line should not stretch. The leash itself should be approximately 0.16 mm thick and reach half a meter in length.
When fishing with a float rod, the thickness of the main one is selected with special care: 0.14-0.16 millimeters in thickness will be enough. The float should be as sensitive as possible so that the slightest touch of the fish is immediately noticeable. The fisherman must understand that in early spring the roach is not only weak, but also small. The same rule applies when choosing a hook. It is selected in accordance with the expected size of the fish and the amount of bait for it. The hook should be as thin as possible.
Groundbaits and baits
The most popular baits during this period are:
- bloodworms (several pieces per hook);
- worm;
- maggot;
- wheat grains (steamed);
- dragonfly larva.
Of course, bloodworms are the natural food of roaches in early spring; they will be the most familiar food for this fish. A small amount of bloodworms and light tackle is all you need to catch roach in early spring. If it's April, you can use dough and wheat grains. This is food for large specimens.
The bait will be more attractive if you put 3-4 worms or bloodworms on the hook at once. You need to pay attention to biting activity. If the roach approaches the bait with extreme caution, you can choose one of the scenarios for further developments:
- apply flavors, bite activator;
- replace the bait with another one.
Always take several types of bait with you, not just one. You can additionally remove caddisfly larvae from the bottom by pulling out a bunch of bottom vegetation from the bottom. The main thing is not to get lost in place, and the catch won’t take long to arrive.
Roach is a very common fish, but not everyone is able to catch this fish in the same way and few people know how to catch roach best. Best fishing roach is the kind of fishing when you are sure that you won’t return home without a catch. Of course, no one wants to return from fishing empty-handed. This article describes in detail how to catch roach so that the fishing is always successful and, as a result, brings maximum pleasure from fishing.
About roach
The roach belongs to the family carp. Widespread and familiar to every fisherman. Has great similarities with . The body of the roach is oval in shape, compressed from the sides, resembles a palm in shape, and is covered with dense small scales. The roach stands out among other fish with its bright orange-red fins; only the dorsal and caudal fins remain dark, but they also have a slight reddish tint. The brightness of roach fins can vary depending on conditions and habitat. The sides are silvery, the back is dark green, the belly is almost white, the eyes are golden yellow with a red spot above the pupil.
This fish is not large, the maximum recorded weight of a roach is just over 2 kilograms, but this is an exceptional case. In most cases, its weight does not exceed a kilogram, and this is provided that it lives in a large body of water with favorable conditions and an abundance of food. In fishermen's catches, roach up to half a kilogram is usually found, and more is considered a great success.
How do roaches bite?
The roach bite is careful, but at the same time very sharp, fast, and often it turns out that the fisherman doesn’t even have time to understand anything before the roach has already pulled the bait from the hook. If a large roach can still please the angler with a bold bite, after which all that remains is to pull it onto land, then bites from small roaches can pretty much fray the nerves of an unrestrained fisherman. But you shouldn’t take the bite of this fish as a mockery, the fish just wants to live, it senses some kind of danger and tries to eat the bait without being hooked - it’s actually a very smart fish. If you perceive the bite correctly, then watching the float brings great pleasure.
With such tricky roach bites, it is advisable, of course, to use small bait that is not so easy to steal, for example, a dung worm, maggot, or bloodworm. If you still rarely succeed in hooking, set a minimal hook so that the fish can swallow it completely. It is very interesting to choose the best tactics for catching roach.
When to catch roach
Roach fishing lasts all year round. She doesn't even lose her activity. And fishing for it in open water begins immediately after the ice begins to melt. Gradually, as the water warms up, the roach begins to prepare for spawning, its appetite begins to grow and soon develops into a glutton. This period is the best time for roach fishing. Catching roach in the spring is notable for the fact that the fish stops looking closely and picking at the bait and becomes less careful. This occurs approximately at the end of May-beginning of June. Also, having been slightly ill after spawning, she will again begin to eat heavily, restoring her strength after spawning. The periods before and after spawning are the most favorable for catching roach.
The best time to catch roach is in the spring, when her post- and pre-spawning glutton passes. But this does not mean that it is very difficult to catch it in the summer. In order to successfully catch roach in both summer and spring, it is necessary to take into account the fact that roach becomes more cautious and more demanding of bait.
In order to satisfy the whims of the roach and provide yourself with a catch, you should now take a more careful approach to the gear. It is necessary to use a thinner line and a smaller hook. A fishing line that is too noticeable, as well as a hook made of thick wire, can have a detrimental effect on the number of roach bites, especially on specimens of decent size, which may not approach the bait at all, suspecting something is wrong.
Roaches are just as picky in the fall. Starting to move to deeper places before winter frosts, she is also wary of rough gear, and you also need to guess with the bait. We’ll talk about what’s best for catching roach and how it depends on the season a little later.
Where to catch roach
Another factor in successful roach fishing is its favorite habitats. Before you start catching roach, you need to choose a place to catch it. Where is the best place to catch roach? First of all, you need to remember that roach is a schooling fish. Schools of roach are formed by size, but usually even in a school of small roach there is one large individual, as if acting as a leader. Schools of large roach usually try to stay deeper than their smaller relatives, at a depth of about 3-4 meters, while smaller roach stick to a depth of 1-2 meters. The larger the individuals of the flock, the smaller the flock. This is due to the fact that not every roach manages to reach a respectable size and out of a large flock of small roaches, perhaps only a small part of them will gain a weight of more than 500 grams.
River roach tries to avoid strong currents and therefore often chooses such places as:
- creeks,
- backwaters,
- oxbow lakes with the presence of aquatic vegetation, where the flow is noticeably slower or completely absent.
It is in such places that it is best to catch roach on the river. But the best way to look for roaches living in lakes is:
- in shallow areas of the reservoir,
- near coastal thickets of vegetation,
- where the water warms up well,
- roaches also like to gather in schools near the mouths of flowing rivers.
First of all, you need to look for roaches in places near the edge of reeds or cattails, where the depth is about 2-3 meters. Here she feels safer, hiding from her ardent enemy -. Mostly roach stays near the bottom, but often rises to the middle layers of water, so if the bite from the bottom has stopped, try fishing in half the water. Also, fishing for roach often becomes noticeably more effective if the bait is not placed on the bottom, but slightly raised and placed 10-15 centimeters from it; often this trick leads to an improvement in the roach’s bite.
On hot sunny days, roaches try to hide from the sun in the branches of trees fallen into the water, in flooded bushes or among water lilies, or simply near the shores, where direct sunlight does not fall on the water. In such heat, roaches can also peck at the surface, since on hot days they often rise to the surface of the water and collect insects that have fallen into the water; this is especially often observed in thickets of water lilies.
Roach is an almost omnivorous fish, which is why the choice of bait for catching it is very large. Let's look at the most catchy roach baits that work best:
- maggot;
- muckworm;
- crawl out;
- mastyrka;
- bread;
- corn;
- pearl barley.
As you can see, the list of baits is quite large, although it is still far from complete. In order for the roach to bite better, you can use various combinations of these baits, putting different baits on one hook and thus awakening the fish’s appetite. Very often it is precisely such tricks that lead to good result, when it would seem that you can’t wait for bites.
You should also consider the seasonality of each bait. So, in the spring, roach is best caught using maggots, bloodworms and dung worms, and in summer and autumn it prefers baits of plant origin - dough, semolina, pearl barley, corn.
In different bodies of water, the preferences of roach can be different. While in one body of water roach fishing is successful using bloodworms, in a neighboring one it can bite exclusively on plant baits.
The size of the roach is also one of the points that should be taken into account when fishing for roach. Usually only large roaches are caught with bait such as corn, since small fish will not be able to swallow it, especially if there are several grains of corn on the hook at once. But dough or semolina is bait mainly for small roach. So before fishing, you should determine what size roach is found in the fished reservoir and what size fish you plan to catch.
Small roach bites can follow one after another immediately after casting the fishing rod, but a large roach can wait for hours to arrive. If you are ready to wait quite a long time for a large roach to bite, then you should put several grains of corn or pearl barley on the hook, and if it is animal bait, then you should put such baits in bunches - several worms or 3-4 maggots, or a dozen bloodworms, etc. p.
Methods for attaching maggots to a hook
When you start fishing for roach in open water, the best bait for roach will be bloodworms and dung worms. These are the main baits for roaches in the spring. Maggot can also work, and roach is also distinguished by its love for the so-called sandwiches made of worm and maggot. The roach begins to take on plant bait only when the water is sufficiently warmed up. It is best to start using vegetable baits already with the onset of summer, then corn, pearl barley, dough, etc. can be used. The advantage of vegetable baits is that when the roach begins to peck at them, then with the help of baits such as corn or pearl barley , you can filter out bites small fish, which can fray your nerves when fishing with bloodworms or worms.
By feeding the area you will significantly increase your chances of success. Because with bait you will attract not solitary roaches, but whole schools of these fish. But you should not overdo it with this matter, so as not to overfeed the fish. It is better to throw the bait in small portions, not allowing the fish to leave the fishing spot.
The roach bite is recognizable. First, the float begins to jump slightly, and then goes under the water. If the float is light enough and properly loaded, then the roach bite will be noticeable in its first stages and you will not miss the moment at which you need to hook. Catching roach with bottom gear also requires increased attention, since its bite on the bottom is not always noticeable. If there are no bites for a long time, it is better to check the bait; small roaches could have pulled it off or wet it. Happy fishing!
Roach fishing gear
They catch roach using both floats and bottom gear. A fishing line with a diameter of 0.15 mm is used, and a leash with a diameter of 0.1 mm can be used. You will need a small hook for catching roach, with a short shank. When the roach bites reluctantly and behaves cautiously, it is better to use a yellow hook; it will alarm the fish less. The float is light, with a camouflage color, since roach often has to be caught at shallow depths or even at the surface of the water.
