28/02/2014 - Roach catch from Avon at Britford

Charlie Kemmett a site manager Charlton all Saints Salisbury put in a good shift yesterday 28th Feb on the banks of the Hampshire Avon at Britford where his hard was well rewarded with five 2lb roach 2lb 4oz ,2lb 2oz ,2lb 2oz, 2lb1oz , 2lb 1oz in a bag that was about 25/30 lb which contained roach at 1lb15oz ,1lb 8oz,1lb 7oz 1lb 4oz. Charlie caught all these roach long trotting, the fish were all hooked at the end of the swim.

As he said “My heart was in my mouth bringing these big lumps to the net at such a distance” .the rig was a Dave Harrell avon type float at 5grms 0.12 main line ,hook length 0.10 to a 16 hook ,double red maggot hook bait. He said I had to work hard fishing for about 2hrs befor my first fish a roach of 1lb8oz, the water was gin clear, and the bites came by increasing the depth till I was just tripping bottom .

 He then went on to tell me the following which I reckon should be told. “I was reading an article on line, titled avon roach do they exist? ,where this Muppet thinks he can just turn up to catch big roach then  fails to catch he questions the advice given to him by Stuart the river keeper. Because none of the other 19 anglers fishing in the match with him caught any roach that day he decides to spout garbage, despite the fact that I fished that same day and caught plenty of roach. The answer to his question is yes Avon roach do exist but they are not easy to catch ,and only the real quality anglers catch them consistently and only then with skill and bit of luck. Without all the hard work that Stuart puts in to the fishery regarding predation habitat etc there would be a lack of roach at Britford.

Back to the News List