Doncaster specialist Mike Townsend travelled up to Scotland to fish a beautiful Loch that has been producing some tremendous Roach recently, and certainly did the business with a catch that included specimens of 3lb 4oz, 3lb 2oz, 2lb 12oz, 2lb 4oz and 2lb 3oz!   Unfortunately Mike had to endure mechanical problems with his car, which curtailed the trip, but a truly incredible Roach catch probably eased the pain more than a little!

Mike used feeder rigs (pictured) to catch all but one of the big roach, incorporating Drennan Oval Groundbait feeders in 40g and 50g sizes and on the first night, a Drennan Wide Gape Specialist hook baited with 2 grains of corn – which tricked the first fish, weighing 3lb 2oz!  Mike then decided to make a tactical change for the rest of the trip,  switching to Carbon Specimen 18 and 20s (a sadly discontinued pattern) baited with Tutti Frutti / Pineapple flavoured corn hookbaits, going on to catch the rest of the haul on his third and final night of the trip.

Mike really rated the Carbon Specimen hook pattern, “I can honestly say I never had a hook pull with these on a big roach. I’ve got stacks of them stored up in the smaller sizes for the future!” he remarked.

We really like Mike’s incredible photo of the three monstrous Roach, seemingly dwarfing the keepnet opening on a Camo Specialist Keepnet, which is actually around 36cms (14 ins) across, but looks almost puny in comparison to these extraordinary fish… for full details on this net click here.