How to Catch Roach in the UK: A fish that will get you hooked for life.

A lovely specimen roach - Image courtesy of Scott Allan

I will say it plainly - I love roach. There are not many fish that has given me more pleasure over the years than the humble redfin, and I suspect I am not alone. They are feisty little things, all silver flanks and blood red fins, and a bar of gold on a cold morning is one of the finest sights in coarse fishing. You do not need a big pit or a barrow of gear to enjoy them either. A roach on a light float rod, tip dipping under, is fishing distilled right down to the good bit.

This is our guide to catching them - where to find them, what to feed them, and how to tell them apart from their flashier cousin.

Ask almost any UK angler what they caught first, and there is a very good chance it was a roach. There is a reason for that. They are widespread, found in rivers, canals, lakes and drains all over the country, and they are obliging feeders that will happily take a bait in front of a nervous beginner. The bites come quickly, which keeps a new angler interested, and you can catch them on the simplest tackle imaginable.

They teach you the craft, too. Roach are delicate feeders, so learning to hit those little dips and lifts on the float sharpens your timing better than any other fish. Catch roach well and you can catch anything.

Roach or rudd? How to tell them apart

A rudd in the hand

This one trips up a lot of people, and it is worth getting right. The quickest tell is the mouth. A roach has a level mouth with the top lip protruding slightly, because it feeds looking down and forward. A rudd has a distinctly upturned lower lip that juts out, because it feeds looking up at the surface.

The dorsal fin is the clincher. On a roach, the front of the dorsal fin sits directly above the pelvic fins. On a rudd, the dorsal is set further back, behind the pelvic fins. Rudd also tend to wear brighter, more brassy gold flanks and vivid red fins, while a roach is more silver with a lovely red or orange eye. Be warned though - roach and rudd happily hybridise, so if a fish leaves you genuinely scratching your head, a hybrid is often the answer.

Where to find them, and where the big ones live

The beauty of roach is that your nearest canal or club lake almost certainly holds them. For a proper netful, look to slow, steady water - canals, drains and the gentler glides of a river. Feed a little and often, keep quiet, and you will find them.

If it is a specimen you are after, the picture changes. Big roach are a genuine prize, and there are famous waters worth the trip: the Hampshire Avon around Britford and Fordingbridge is the classic big roach river, while the Dorset Stour and the Fenland drains up in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire produce real slabs through autumn and winter. Stillwaters like Linear Fisheries in Oxfordshire have thrown up some of the biggest roach in the country in recent years.

To put it in perspective, the British record roach stands at 4lb 3oz, caught by Keith Berry back in 2006, and it has resisted every challenge since. A two pounder is the fish of a lifetime for most of us. Get one of those and you will understand exactly why I love them.

The best bait for roach

Keep it simple. Maggots and casters are the roach angler's bread and butter, and a single red maggot trotted through a swim is deadly. Bread is the other great roach bait - punch for numbers, flake for the bigger fish - and it costs next to nothing. Over the colder months, a bed of hemp with caster or tare over the top is a classic big roach tactic.

Feed sparingly. Roach have small mouths and are easily overfed, so little pinches of bait kept going in regularly will hold a shoal far better than piling it in. Fine lines, small hooks and a sensitive float do the rest. Our float and match tackle is put together for exactly this kind of fishing, and a few well chosen floats and fine hooks will make more difference to your roach fishing than anything else you can buy.

Give the redfin a go

Roach are proof that the best fishing does not have to be complicated or expensive. Grab a light float rod, a pint of maggots or some bread and a quiet swim, and you have the makings of a perfect few hours. Whether it is your first ever fish or a specimen two pounder you have chased for years, the roach rarely disappoints.

If you are putting a roach setup together and want a hand, browse our coarse and feeder range or drop us a message - we are anglers first, and we could talk roach all day.