A 3lb-plus river roach is unquestionably the fish of a lifetime, with very few anglers having achieved the rare feat of catching one.
One man who did this past week, however, is Mark Hewett, who topped an incredible session on the Hampshire Avon with a 3lb 1oz giant.
"It was the roach catch of a lifetime," he told us.
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"My catch included fish of 3lb 1oz, 2lb 3oz and six others between 1lb and 1lb 15oz.
"All were caught trotting, but the majority, including the biggest, were caught just a few feet beneath the surface."
Feeding liquidised bread into his swim and fishing flake on the hook, Mark got off to a great start but as bites slowed, decided to shallow up and switch baits.
"I started feeding maggots and casters, and soon noticed some big fish, which I initially thought were chub, rising in the water to take them," he said.
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Swapping his large 6.4g chubber float for a version half the size, it didn't take long before he started putting the quality roach in his net.
"I was blown away by that fish. When river roach are that big, somehow they just don’t look real," Mark said.
“The key to catching was to feed a pouchful of maggots and casters, then drop the float right on top of the bait, so my hookbait was falling alongside the free offerings.
"It was almost sight fishing, as I could watch the roach intercepting maggots on the drop. Some were almost taking baits off the surface – they were that confident!"
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