Wintle’s World of Angling

Mark Wintle, an angler for thirty-five years, is on a quest to discover and bring to you the magic of fishing. Previously heavily involved with match fishing he now fishes for the sheer fun of it. With an open and enquiring mind, each week Mark will bring to you articles on fishing different rivers, different methods and what makes rivers, and occasionally stillwaters, tick. Add to this a mixed bag of articles on catching big fish, tackle design, angling politics and a few surprises.

Are you stuck in a rut fishing the same swim every week? Do you dare to try something different and see a whole new world of angling open up? Yes? Then read Mark Wintle’s regular weekly column.

A month ago, I described the pleasures of trotting for winter roach using bread punch. But there are times where quivertipping for river roach in winter is a better option. Furthermore it is also enjoyable fishing.

Dorset Stour Millpool (click for bigger picture)

So, what are the conditions that make quivertipping a better option? There are a number of reasons that come to mind. My preference is always for floatfishing but in recent seasons I have realised that there are many swims on a winter river that hold roach yet cannot be floatfished in a conventional sense. On a relatively natural river such as the upper Dorset Stour, (yes it was much dredged in the fifties and sixties but time has healed the scars) there are often a series of pools and runs with natural bends. When this occurs, there are many deep pockets of slow water overlaid with fast currents, often tucked behind old reed beds or willow trees. It is difficult, even impossible, to floatfish these swims as the fast current drags the float out of position.

Another criteria is where the roach want a completely still bait that again cannot be easily presented under float tackle. Another circumstance is fishing after dark. So we have a tactic that, whilst unlikely to produce huge bags of roach, is versatile enough to cope with conditions that defeat even a skilful float angler with the added bonus of producing big roach on occasion. It is also a good tactic for the roving angler travelling light with tackle bag, roving chair, rod-rest, rod and landing net.

Quivertipping for roach

Bait
Having mentioned bread punches I suppose I’d better state the case for using bread as bait. This is a method that lends itself to bread. Maggots can work but are best used with a feeder. Though I am suggesting the use of a feeder, I have found that it often pays to use just a tiny bomb instead, perhaps using the feeder to get some bait on the bottom initially then switching to a bomb. I like a fourteen hook with a bread punch to suit if I think I can get away with it. It might seem a big hook to those that reckon anything over a twenty is big for roach but it does work.

Setting up
I mentioned earlier about having a choice of tips for your quivertip rod. When tackling up you are looking for a compromise between a tip that registers the subtlest of bites yet is not pulled right round by the current. Only experience can guide you with the rod you are using and the conditions you face. As I am recommending this method for close in fishing and generally casting upstream, you ought to be able to get away with a light tip.

A nice roach caught quivertipping using bread as hookbait and feed

What I like about it is its simplicity – no beads, sliding rings, rig tube, or leger stops. All these things have a tendency to pick up debris and cause tangles, and scare the fish. As a starting point, a link of four to six inches and total hooklength of about two and a half feet is about right. Believe it or not, this rig was described in ‘The Book of the Roach’ in 1870 so it has a long pedigree. In a strong current, it may be advantageous to nail the hooklength down with a small shot or two near the hook.

Feeding
The purpose of feeding when fishing this way is to gently stimulate the appetites of the roach rather than attract large shoals. Furthermore, the type of pocket of water that this method enables you to explore tends to have small groups of fish rather than big shoals, and subsequently I would err on the side of caution. Several approaches can work as far as feeding is concerned. The first one is a variation on the feeding of groundbait described in my trotting article. Simply feed small balls of groundbait, sparingly, and fish over the top with a bomb rig.

Further variations on this involve the use of balls of liquidised bread or mashed bread. The second option is to use a small groundbait feeder with either groundbait or liquidised bread in the feeder. I have experimented with a number of approaches and found that all of them work if there are roach around willing to feed on bread! The best advice that I can give is to be very sparing, and there is a good case for using a feeder for just three or four casts to get some feed down before switching to a straight lead rig. It seems easy to overfeed roach this way or is it that the roach don’t like a feeder being bounced around their heads when you strike?

Bites and upstream legering
One of the greatest challenges of catching roach on the lead in a river is hitting the bites. Both Dick Walker and Peter Stone spent years trying to crack the problems, wrote many articles on the subject, and I’m not about to come up with some magic solution. Their joint view was that roach at close range felt the resistance of the rod tip and were difficult to hit. At longer range, the bow in the line gives you a bit more time to strike.

A nice roach swim on the Stour (click for bigger picture)

Where we do have an advantage over Walker and Stone is that the quivertip rods available today are awesome for detecting shy bites. This is where my own experience comes in. It is vital to use the tip that maximises sensitivity whilst remaining usable in the conditions. By fishing at close range, and I’ve had roach on this method just four or five yards from my feet, the effect of the current is minimised. Secondly, by fishing upstream, if possible, and holding the rod, supported by a rod rest, and using a lead or feeder that just holds bottom it is possible to hit a high proportion of the bites from roach. Not all of them. It does take practice and concentration so it’s best to use this method for short sessions of three or four hours. This doesn’t mean that fishing downstream or fishing across won’t work. Of course you can catch roach like this but the roach will feel the drag much quicker and I suggest that you will miss more bites.

Other considerations
I have concentrated on roach in this article. There is always a chance of a chub or bream with this method, or a few dace. If you get a chub then strictly speaking the tackle is a little under-gunned but compromise tackle is likely to put the roach off. Though chub experts like Dave Slater, who fishes with proper chub gear, are often surprised by roach taking big baits, even on size 4 and 6 hooks to 5lb line, to get numbers of roach the fine approach should pay off. Dace present a different problem in that they may give you lots of nibbles that you can’t hit leading to frustration and not much else. If you suspect dace, try double maggot on a size eighteen.

Much as I enjoy floatfishing for roach, it makes a challenging change to catch roach legering on a river. It does involve finesse and skill, and for me to catch a dozen roach up to a pound on this method can be as much fun as forty on the float.

Next week: ‘Floods’