Rolling Roach

[John Bailey]

I’ve just had a lovely email from that great defender of rivers and crucian carp, Bernard Cooper. If ever there were a more kind, generous and caring angler than Bernard I have yet to meet him – or her, of course. Bernard talks about rolling roach, a phenomenon I used to witness, and write about, all the time back in the Seventies when such a sight was commonplace. In fact, so frequent was the activity that some dawns I would not start fishing at all 'till I saw “rollers” that obviously gave away the shoal’s location.

However, Bernard writes that he rarely if ever sees “rollers” these days and, when I think about it, neither do I! I’m really delving into my memory bank here, and I cannot think of seeing roach roll this century... or even back in the Nineties. It would have been Bintree Mill on the upper Wensum circa 1983/5 when I last saw “rollers” in any numbers. What has happened?

Dawn used to be a hot time for “rollers”. Perhaps not enough of us fish then, certainly not me or Bernard!

Roach have changed their habits. Perhaps rolling was associated with a particular feeding pattern? Perhaps an invertebrate feeding source that is no longer available?

Rolling was associated with bigger roach... generally two pound plus in my mind. Perhaps those fish simply do not exist today, certainly not in numbers?

But I’d love to know what “rollers” you might be seeing in 2022... and so, I know, would dear Bernard too!

 

[john step]

The only ones I see are the "toppers" at dusk.

 

[flightliner]

I see roach "topping" on a stillwater local to me, some big but mostly smaller ones in abundance.
If the smaller fish do it then it will carry on when they're bigger, its instinctive whatever water they inhabit.
Maybe on the river you're talking about there are far far fewer roach than existed before in some halcyon days long gone.
Interesting thought tho!

 

[Philip]

You need to get over to France, they still roll there.

I had several instances towards the end of last year were I had rolling Roach in a river. They would arrive not quite at dusk but as the light started to drop. I would watch them rolling slowly upriver towards my baited spot and then the bites would start.

& yes now that you mention it the rolling did conincide with catching some of the larger fish. I dont know if thats just conicidence but its an interesting point never the less.

 

[Keith M]

The only ones I see are the "toppers" at dusk.

I remember reading about the ‘toppers’ that you often get from fish during dusk hours and how it was mainly due to the micro organisms in the water which rise up to the surface; from the bottom at dusk time as the light starts to fade; and which in turn brings the fish up to the surface to feed on all of these organisms that are on or close to the surface.

Maybe; when the surface topping no longer happens on a fishery; it might be that these organisms are no longer present in their previous numbers because of the state of the water?

For example: it is said that every drop of water in the river Lea has gone through about 5 people by the time it reaches the Thames because of abstraction and its subsequent return after being filtered; so it may not be that surprising if the water no longer held the same number of micro/small organisms that it used to. Resulting in the lack of fish topping.

Keith

 

[Pete Shears]

Probably conditioned to hide when it is light because of constant predation by cormorants.