A THREE-POUND river roach is a fish most of us will go a lifetime without seeing, but Charlie Baumber hit the impressive angling milestone last week at the tender age of just nine years old!
He landed the rare and coveted fish, which weighed 3lb on the nose, during a trip to the Dorset Stour with his dad Neil. They’d been targeting barbel over a spot baited with hemp and buckwheat when they saw a handful of big redfins enter the swim.
“Charlie was feeling a bit disheartened after losing his first barbel at the net, but when we saw the big roach we switched to a maggot feeder set-up,” Neil said.
“He hooked one, and when it surfaced, I instantly knew it was a massive roach. The spot was very weedy and only three yards off the bank, so it was ‘hit and hold’ and the fish was netted in no time. It’s a fish we won’t forget in a hurry!”
