Paul Parish etched his name into the annuls of angling history this week after landing one of the biggest roach ever to come from British waters.
The Buckinghamshire rod banked the mighty 4lb 2oz fish from Brasenose 1 lake at Linear Fisheries – a hugely popular day-ticket carp complex in Oxfordshire which also holds huge examples of many other coarse species.
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The 39-year-old arrived at the lake to find several swims free that he knew would be right in the teeth of Storm Debi, which was set to roll in the next day.
“I felt this area would give me the best chance of a big roach or two,” said Paul.
“I set my kit up and baited an area 50 yards out lightly with a large feeder, filled with black groundbait, maggots, chopped worms and casters. My aim was to create a small patch of loosefeed, over which I could fish two rods tightly.”
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After a quiet first night, the wind picked up the next day and started hammering into his peg, bringing the fish with it!
“I landed a 3lb roach, plus a 3lb 3oz perch and a few large bream that muscled in on the action,”he said.
“Things went quiet again that night, but the next morning I rebaited again hoping for another busy afternoon.”
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After recasting his maggot feeders, fished heli-style with size 14 hooks carrying three red maggots, Paul received a slow drop-back bite at 11:30am and lifted into a heavy fish which gave the tell-tale ‘sharp headshakes’ of a very big roach.
“The last moments of the fight were nervous as I’d seen that it was a roach,” he added.
“But nothing could prepare me for what lay in the net. It was a truly enormous fish – the best I’ve ever caught and am likely to ever catch. I’ve had my best year of specimen fishing and have broken five PBs, but nothing comes close to this capture.”
The fish caps what’s been a phenomenal few weeks for big stillwater roach, with a handful of upper ‘threes’ reported, but Paul’s fish takes things to a new level and is the joint-fourth largest roach ever caught.
“The first fish I ever caught was a roach, so I’m thrilled. Landing it was a moment I’ll always remember,” he said.
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