Roach

Quick facts

How to identify it

A deep-bodied but slim silver fish with a bluish-green back, silver flanks, a white belly and reddish-orange pelvic, anal and tail fins; the eye has a distinctive red iris. The dorsal fin starts directly above the pelvic fins and the mouth is terminal, pointing straight ahead. The rudd is its classic look-alike: rudd have a golden tint, brighter red fins, an upturned mouth and a dorsal fin set clearly behind the pelvic fins. Bleak are slimmer with a long anal fin, white bream are deeper and flatter with pale grey fins, and roach hybridise readily with bream and rudd, producing confusing intermediates.

Where it lives

Roach thrive in almost any lowland water: slow and medium-paced rivers, canals, gravel pits, reservoirs, ponds, weedy lakes and even the brackish coastal lagoons of the Baltic. They prefer some cover — weed beds, reed margins, overhanging trees, moored boats — and moderate depth of 1–4 m, holding in the slack water on the inside of bends and below weirs in rivers. Shoals move with light and temperature: onto shallow, weedy shelves at dawn and dusk in summer, and into the deepest, slowest holes, harbours and marina basins in winter. They tolerate poor water quality and mild pollution better than most native species, which is why they are so widespread.

Season and behaviour

Roach spawn in April–May at 10–15 °C, gathering in weedy shallows where the males develop rough spawning tubercles; some countries protect them with a spring closed season, most do not. Spring before spawning brings the biggest fish into shallow water and feeding hard. Summer roach are active all day, but the best sport comes at dawn and dusk, when shoals feed close to the surface. Autumn is the classic big-roach season, with fish fattening in packed shoals as the water cools, and winter fishing on mild, overcast days in slow, deep water can be superb. Roach feed in temperatures from 4 °C upward, which makes them the winter mainstay of European coarse anglers.

Fishing methods

Float fishing is the heart of roach angling: a light waggler or stick float on 0.10–0.14 mm line, size 16–20 hooks and a single maggot, caster or hemp seed, presented with the bait just off bottom or on the drop. Trotting a stick float down a river swim while feeding a few maggots every cast is the classic river method, and the pole with fine elastic gives the ultimate control on canals and lakes. When fish are far out or the water is deep and cold, a small groundbait feeder or maggot feeder with a short hooklength picks them off the bottom; the feeder is also the method for big winter roach in slow rivers. Keep everything fine and balanced: roach bite delicately and drop a bait the moment they feel resistance.

Baits and lures

Maggots and casters are the universal roach baits, with casters selecting bigger fish; hemp seed on the hook and in the feed is deadly in summer and autumn. Bread — punch, flake or paste — is the number-one bait for big winter roach in clear water, and sweetcorn, small worms and a single pellet all work on still waters. Feed little and often: a fine, dark groundbait with hemp and casters holds the shoal without overfeeding it.

Tips from the bank

1. 01Feed in rhythm — a few maggots or a pinch of hemp every cast keeps the shoal in your swim without filling it up.
2. 02Change depth until you find the feeding layer; roach often take on the drop, so watch the float as it settles.
3. 03Switch to caster or bread when small fish are ripping maggots — it selects the bigger specimens.
4. 04In winter, seek out the slowest, deepest water: marinas, harbours, bends and canal junctions.
5. 05Fish the finest hooklength you dare — 0.08–0.10 mm and a size 18–20 hook can double your bites.
6. 06Strike with the wrist only — the soft mouth tears easily, and a big roach is lost at the net more often than at the take.
7. 07Look for big roach along the weed edge at dusk, not in the middle of the small-fish shoal.

Where to catch Roach

Waters where Shoalmap's fishing reports list Roach.

• Rumenački kanal
• Banjska reka
• Veliki bački kanal
• Ugrinovački kanal
• Čik
• Hallingdalselve
• Csertői halastó
• Narva jõgi - Narva
• Ločka Provala
• Veliki bački kanal
• Šodroš
• Čik
• Malokamenički potok
• Ludaško jezero
• Liqeni i Gramës
• Jarkovačko jezero
• Mali Begej
• Krivaja
• Čukarički zaliv
• Glibovac
• Homokbánya
• Mali Begej
• Κηφισός
• Lekma
• Fosso Vorga
• Šidina
• Mika jezero
• Koča jezero
• Vrbica
• Peskara

Related species

• Rudd
  Scardinius erythrophthalmus

  The golden, red-finned surface feeder of weedy lakes and summer evenings.

• Ide
  Leuciscus idus

  The silvery all-rounder of big lowland rivers — grazer, riser and hunter in one.

• White bream
  Blicca bjoerkna

  The small, silver cousin of the bream that fills keepnets on slow rivers and canals.

• Bleak
  Alburnus alburnus

  The flashing surface shoal fish — and the bait every predator angler wants.

Frequently asked questions