Willow lake 30th March four 3lb plus roach in just over 24hrs

Well after a few forecast showers during the night I was up and casting out at 5.45am. Hugh and Gary were about at the same time. The geese fight was still persisting on the island day and night. There was a slight breeze coming from the south but it was warm. The sky was clearish but rain was forecast for later in the morning. Sure enough after speaking to home at 9am in Bristol rain had arrived and it wasn’t long before it would arrive in Oxfordshire.
I missed a bite at 7.40am where the bobbin dropped a few inches however when I lifted the rod there was nothing there. Hugh and Gary had a couple of fish each early on which indicated that they were moving around (the fish not them).
Then at 9.30 the bobbin dropped down to the floor and lifting the rod the bend and nodding indicated that I was hooked up. The fight was the usual affair head shaking twisting and turning. As it came into the near bank the legs went to jelly again. Here was a huge roach waiting to be netted. The job done I kept it in the landing net and recast. I try to do this swiftly as if there is a shoal then I might have a chance of another.
There was nobody around on my bank, so rather than set up the digital camera I opted for the HD camcorder. You can take reasonable stills from the footage if required.
The weight was 3lbs 7oz which made it a “Trio of Threes”

It was more than I could have hoped for at the start of the session. The rain started to fall soon after this and we all headed for the shelter of the bivvies. It rained only for about a couple of hours.
1pm came and the bobbin dropped again, I lifted into the fish which didn’t feel very large at first. Sure enough this was correct at it turned out to be a small tench of about a pound. Perfection comes to mind.
Then between 1.35pm and 2pm I lost two hooklinks and had 3 more missed bites. I think some brown monsters (carp) had moved in and scoffed the maggots. I had already decided to pack up towards evening.
Hugh packed up at about 3pm ready for his drive to Dorset and we said our goodbyes. His final words were “you will catch a bigger one I’m sure”.
At 4.15pm I had one more drop back bite and lifted into another fish. The fight was the typical affair and it wasn’t until it surfaced in front of me that I knew something special was on the end of the line. The legs went the stomach turned and clenched. Slowly slowly I drew it to the net, first try and it found new life and was off again, then slowly this huge roach was drawn over the landing net edge and she was mine.
On the unhooking mat she looked huge. Gary watched the whole thing, I quickly weighed the roach and at 3lbs 13oz she was a new pb. I beckoned to Gary to come and have a look. He was soon winding in and around he came. He held the net while I set up the video camera and got the digital camera ready. It wasn’t until we lifted it out that Gary pointed out that it was the one with the orange mark and it had been out before at 3lbs 12oz and 3lbs 13oz. It had been the fish I had been after. So a few snaps and some camcorder footage and we slipped her back. A big thanks to Gary for coming around. It was the largest roach he had seen so he was very pleased.

So he went back to fishing and I just cast out once more. Four 3lb plus roach in just over 24hrs what a result. Time went by and 6pm arrived it was time to pack away the bivvie and the other stuff. The lake had given me some of it’s monsters. Who knows what will there next year?
I waved goodbye to Gary, the push back with the barrow only takes 5 minutes and I was on my way home a very happy man at 7.35pm.
Gary continued for the evening but didn’t catch but did have a couple of 3lbers the next day.