The end of the 2023-24 river season will go down as one of the best for UK anglers in recent years with a raft of huge specimens landed, and Mick Donohoe can certainly say that was true for him too after banking this 4lb 8dr roach.
Mick was fishing a stretch of the Dorset Frome the day before the season ended and had to wait till 4pm for the huge fish to make an appearance.
“I was targeting the species using a groundbait feeder, with three red maggots on a size 16 hook," he told us.
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"Usually I prefer to float fish, but the river was running hard, so the feeder was the best option.
“The roach put up a brilliant fight in the heavy flow and was in fabulous condition, with all the scales intact.
"It looked like it hadn’t been caught before!"
Many believe catching big river roach by design like this is one of the toughest challenges in angling, something Mick now agrees with...
“I cut my teeth match fishing on the Thames where I won a few big contests," he said.
"Now I live in Dorset and have to say, trying to catch specimen fish is very hard.
"Especially these big roach on the Frome. I’ve not had more than one in a session, and if I get that I’ve done well!"
GET THE BEST TIPS FOR SPECIMEN ROACH IN THIS EXPERT ADVICE ARTICLE.
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