Fishing for roach in the fall is no less interesting than summer trips, rich in catches and the joys of a stable bite. In addition, the autumn period is valued for the increased culinary qualities of caught fish. After all, a fattened ram differs in size and fatness compared to fish that have overwintered and spawned during the spring and summer seasons. Even if the roach is not so willing to go to the float in the fall, but knowing that you can have a decent trophy in the catches, it is worth being diligent in searching for fish and attractive bait for it.
The period of onset of cooling makes adjustments to the behavior of roach, which cannot but affect fishing strategies. The autumn months differ significantly from each other in temperature and weather stability, and these factors greatly influence the food preferences of fish and where they stay. Having understood these features, the angler will be able to confidently determine promising fishing areas and the most suitable bait for the season, thereby remaining with decent catches throughout the autumn season.
This article will give the fisherman answers to a number of important questions regarding equipment and fishing tactics, and will also help determine the preparation of effective feeding mixtures and selection of baits based on the conditions and time of the fishing session.
Roach behavior in autumn
Catching roach in the fall depends on its behavior, which in turn varies depending on the structure of the reservoir. In flowing water bodies, fish practically do not change summer stopping points until November. During this period, flocks stay in relatively shallow deep areas of the reservoir close to dense vegetation, continuing to feed in the underwater thickets themselves and at the boundaries of clear water. The fish do not go out into the currents and do not migrate, therefore, focusing on promising summer points, you can confidently continue fishing on them. With the onset of serious cold weather, even on a small river in October, flocks of roaches may begin moving to wintering grounds, which will entail a search for fishing spots closer to the pits and away from the vegetation that is beginning to rapidly rot.
In relatively stagnant bodies of water, on lakes and reservoirs, roach behaves completely differently. With the beginning of the first cool September mornings, flocks leave the summer thicket banks on the shallows into the deep part of the lake with more oxygenated water. They return to feed on coastlines and shallows only after strong winds and rains, when the water becomes cleaner and clearer from dying algae and fresher from rising water levels. The hydrology of stagnant reservoirs forces fish to migrate early, and the fisherman to constantly search for places to feed the fish.
When needed
Roach bait is almost always needed , only it varies in composition and quantity depending on the time of year. As soon as you come to the pond and decide on the fishing spot, do not rush to throw away your gear; first decide on the bait. If you are fishing in the current on a small river, cast the feeder above the place where you cast the tackle. In still water, throw bait directly to where the floats will be.
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Therefore, you need to add fertilizer of such a composition that it washes away before reaching the bottom. True, it’s not worth scattering it just on the surface, especially in summer in any river a large amount of small things of the most diverse types rise there, but large or medium-sized roach will not go there.
While the balls of food or the food in the feeder are being washed away, you prepare your gear (most often, a float rod or several of them) and start fishing.
Here you don’t need to rush with complementary foods, just occasionally throw them in balls the size of a walnut.
During winter fishing, this fish should be fed rarely and from the bottom , where it sinks in cold water.
Roach is a small schooling fish that is distributed throughout the country. In order to hold the fish in the fishing area, it is necessary to use bait.
Roach bite depending on the month of fishing
The roach bite in September is stable and long-lasting, just like in the summer. The still warm waters of the reservoirs provide the fish with generous food in the thicket of underwater vegetation rich in both plankton and fresh algae. The activity of the flocks begins at sunrise and can last until sunset, stopping only in the dark period of the day.
Important! The bite is favored by sunny days with low wind strength and stable pressure within 740 atmospheres.
October days are already much shorter in terms of the intensity of the light flux, and they are not particularly encouraging with the stability of the weather with changes in atmospheric pressure, which makes the bite periodic.
Important! On a cool October morning, the first bites can begin by 10 o’clock and this is on days with clear and windless weather. Typically, the greatest activity occurs in the afternoon, ending abruptly with the first signs of dusk.
Rainfall for several days completely stops the bite. Frosts with the formation of an edge of ice along the edges of the reservoir provide the prerequisites for increasing the intensity of the bite with the daytime heating of the water area on this fine day. It is most difficult to catch roach in November. The fish becomes unpredictable, and for unknown reasons may not show activity for several days, retreating to depth.
Important! With the relative stabilization of the weather, the duration of the daytime bite may be limited to a couple of meager hours in the afternoon. In November, cloudy but relatively warm days with no wind are considered favorable days for fishing.
Flavorings for bait
To attract roaches, it is necessary to use flavorings. Anglers have successfully used a variety of scented ingredients. The most popular of them is vanilla. It is important to consider that culinary vanillin, which has a bitter aftertaste, is not suitable for bait. It is better to purchase branded vanilla; it can be added up to 100 g per 1 kg of bait mixture.
Attracts roaches and coriander. This component is good because when it gets into the water, the aromatic particles float up and increase the activity of the bait.
Anise is considered an excellent additive for catching roach. It gives off a pleasant smell and also increases the fish's appetite.
Manufacturers often add flavorings to dry mixtures for feeding roaches, such as:
- almond;
- chocolate;
- hemp;
- caramel and others.
The fisherman has ample opportunities for feeding roach. It’s easier for some to purchase a ready-made store-bought mixture, while saving time on preparing for fishing. Some anglers prefer to experiment with bait, making changes to the composition as the seasons or weather conditions change. In any case, a properly selected bait mixture should have a beneficial effect on the contents of the fisherman’s cage.
Where to look for fish
In autumn, roach fishing on the river continues at the borders of coastal thickets with clean waters adjacent to currents. In the first half of the season, fish are looked for in windows among algae, near the crown of trees hanging over the water, and especially in places with slow currents. Schools of fish rarely go to depths of more than three meters, continuing to stay in shallow waters. Areas with snags and rubble from trees that have fallen into the water also attract roach with the opportunity to hide from a predator, where it is worth trying to catch, choosing a trajectory that is safe from snags for posting.
Catching roach in late autumn with a float rod shifts to deep-water areas of reservoirs. These places, which are often winter stops for roach schools, are fished both in dumps and directly at the very depths.
Important! In thoroughly cooled water, the roach stays closer to the bottom, rarely rising to the middle horizons and almost never reaching the surface of the reservoir.
The presence of a submerged object, driftwood, artificial construction or engineering object at the bottom of the depression concentrates fish in the immediate vicinity of the shelter and knowing the presence of such an anomaly, you can purposefully conduct both feeding and subsequent fishing with an eye on this landmark.
Bait for roach on the feeder
To catch roach on a feeder, the appropriate store-bought bait is suitable.
Sometimes anglers mix a packet of roach mixture and a packet of feeder bait. All that remains is to add a little bait to the moistened bait mixture, check the consistency of the finished bait and you can start feeding the fish. Feeder bait usually contains the following components:
- breadcrumbs;
- corn grits and flour;
- biscuit;
- living components;
- nuts;
- salt and sugar;
- flavorings;
- clay, sand.
Feeder baits from Trapper, Sensas and Dunaev - the best offer for feeder fishing for roach
Autumn bait
Autumn bait for roaches has its significant differences from summer analogues of feeding mixtures. First of all, this difference lies in the obligatory presence of an animal component in the mixed feeding mixture, which during the period of warm water is not as important as in the autumn season.
Important! Bait for catching roach in the autumn is formed on a base of breadcrumbs and fish feed, without including boiled vegetable porridge and crushed cereal grains.
A distinctive feature of the preparation of bait is its fine fraction, for which crackers and mixed feed are passed through a sieve, removing all the large components. The same is done with thinners, which are soil or sand with a clay component. In cold water, attractants are used carefully, trying not to oversaturate the mixture, which can lead to the opposite effect of not luring, but scaring away fish. The bait recipe should include ingredients that help create a dusting effect, the most popular and affordable of which is milk powder. Additives of animal origin are prepared from chopped dung worms, fresh feed bloodworms or maggots.
Important! At the same time, the crushed meat of the toothless shell or pearl barley will become the animal component and an effective attractant in the bait.
Recently, canned maggot has become a popular additive, which is available to fishermen all year round in a network of stores specializing in fishing.
Catching roach in spring: equipment, groundbait, bait
In order to successfully catch roach in the spring, you need to carefully prepare and start using your equipment.
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Equipment for catching roach in spring
The best option for spring roach fishing is the following equipment:
- Light rod of medium size;
- Durable fishing line with a thickness of no more than 0.12 mm;
- Leash up to 0.08 mm;
- A spindle-shaped float attached to a leash at two points (if you plan to fish with a float rig);
- Small strong hooks according to the size of the bait.
The fact is that if you choose a “coarser” equipment, then there is a chance that the roach will fall out of the hook and you will be left without a catch.
Choice of bait
Since in the spring, especially early when the ice melts, the water in reservoirs becomes more turbid than usual, roaches rely more on their sense of smell and the sensitivity of the so-called lateral line during feeding. That is why you need to choose the right summer bait, which will emit an alluring aroma in order to gather a school of fish at the fishing point.
Everyone knows that during cold water you can’t get by with bait alone. To achieve maximum efficiency, it is worth adding chopped dung worms, small feed bloodworms or maggots to the bait mixture. You can also use special flavors and bite activators. Thus, the bait will attract roaches with its aroma and “stirring”.
Important! The bait should be dark in color. To do this, you can use crackers, food coloring or ordinary soil from a pond.
In order to quickly attract roaches to the fishing spot, you should feed the point well and throw in bait every 25-30 minutes to retain it.
Bait for catching roach in spring
When it comes to bait, spring is the best time to use live bait. The best ones for this are:
- Maggot;
- Worms;
- Bloodworm.
Some fishermen, in addition to live bait, also put foam balls on the hook to provide buoyancy.
That's all. We hope that our advice will help you and that your catch will please you. Good luck and no tail, no scales!
All fishermen, regardless of the type of fishing, pay special attention to luring their prey before casting a fishing rod. Tasty and aromatic bait for roach is a guarantee of a catch. Many people make mixtures on their own, cook porridge and add secret ingredients, but it is much more convenient to use a ready-made product that lures fish and forces the school to stay at the fishing spot.
What to use to catch roach in autumn
The transitional autumn season forces carp to more intensively gain calories, which are so necessary for a long and relatively hungry winter. The bait for roach this season is selected from a purely animal component. If in the first ten days of September the weather is still warm and favorable for fishing with plant baits, then by the end of the month the fisherman is unlikely to enjoy fishing with sweet corn and dough, which are so familiar and reliable in attaching roach in the summer.
Important! Bloodworms and maggots come to the fore when using baits.
Dung worms are also of particular interest to roaches, especially if selected in small and thin form . Large specimens are advised to be torn into pieces 1–2 cm long. For inert baits, the meat of any shell that lives in the fished body of water is used for fishing. Especially attractive for ramming is the meat of the zebra mussel mollusk, which is a favorite natural delicacy in almost any body of water. It is worth focusing on combinations of animal attachments, so-called sandwiches.
Important! The use of sandwiches is actively used when the number of bites is low. The most popular combination is maggot and bloodworm.
The white larva is clamped with bloodworms in the center of the hook, making the bait both mobile and at the same time attractive in appearance.
Tips for feeding roach
To summarize, we can give the following tips and recommendations from experienced fishermen regarding feeding roach:
- Live bloodworms are a popular component for bait used in the spring. It is recommended to add it only to homemade mixtures, since store-bought products usually contain salt, which quickly kills bloodworms.
- Aromatic additives are introduced into the composition in moderation: it is better not to add them than to add them, since strong-smelling bait can alert the roach and scare away its fishing spots. The concentration of flavorings in each case is determined individually, since the speed of odor propagation in the water space depends on the water temperature.
- Any bait mixtures should be used in moderation, since overfed and well-fed fish will not respond to bait.
- When fishing in reservoirs with stagnant water, you can use pieces of white bread, previously soaked and pressed in your hands, to feed the selected area.
- Bait in the form of compressed balls is well suited for fishing on fast-flowing rivers. Additionally, they can be rolled in clay before casting; this weighting will allow them to reach the bottom surface faster than the product will be carried away by rapid flows of water.
- Feeding the area must be done before unwinding and preparing the gear. Often strong splashes of water frighten the roach, so it takes some time for it to show interest in the abandoned mixture.
Fishing techniques and equipment for roach
Float and bottom fishing methods are used as equipment, among which the leading role is occupied by Bolognese tackle and a feeder in the form of a picker. Under some conditions, the role of catching trophies with a plug rod is justified. Bolognese tackle is selected in lengths from 4 to 6 meters with tests of 15–25 grams. The inertia-free reel is installed with the simplest functionality. Mono fishing line is used as a cord.
Installation includes a light float, maximum 1.5 grams, with an extended antenna and a load of lead pellets distributed along the fishing line. The leash is taken 0.02 mm thinner than the base, no longer than 30 cm, completing the installation with a hook with a long shank, numbers 12–14. Picker feeder rods are equipped with a braided cord 0.12 mm thick.
With classic feeder rigs in the form of an asymmetrical and symmetrical loop, they respond to the presence of bites, guided by the activity of the fish. To reduce noise when feeding rigs, they try to use plastic feeders with a small mesh. Measures to reduce the roughness of the rigs help catch roaches in the fall using a float rod and bottom equipment. Cool autumn waters become much clearer than summer and spring waters, which are cloudy due to the intensive proliferation of algae and bacteria. This factor negatively affects bites, making the fish wary of suspicious rough rigs. Compared to summer, they begin to use thinner fishing line, moving from the classic diameter of 0.18 mm to 0.15-0.12 mm.
Roach fishing in September
In September they still fish according to the principle of summer technology, mainly using float gear. At short distances at a baited point, the plug shows particularly significant results in terms of the number of trophies.
Important! Baits are fed into windows between aquatic vegetation, and if there is a current, the bait is carried out at the very edges of the junction of the thicket with clean water, holding the equipment.
It is on the holds that the overwhelming number of bites occur. Baits are carried out both in the bottom layer of water and in the middle horizons.
October roach
In the fall, roaches begin to catch the float less frequently during the October days, shifting to deeper water areas. It becomes more difficult to keep fish that have begun to migrate at the fishing point. A competent selection of feeding mixtures according to composition and their serving in portions is required, which does not contribute to saturation, but only to the attraction of the flock. Already from the second half of the month, feeder gear takes a priority position when choosing a fishing method, relegating float rigs to the background, the use of which will be justified only when roach approaches coastal zones at moments when the weather stabilizes, especially in areas of bridges and dams.
Fishing in November
November is not the most productive month for roach fishing. If the baits and groundbait remain October and do not require decisions on their refinement and a radical change in the direction of taste, then the first place comes to the search for a site for the flocks. Having found a promising fishing spot, feeder gear is used for coastal hunting. When fishing from boats, the list of equipment used, in addition to a float rod with a sliding rig, is supplemented by a nodding tackle equipped with a jig. During this period, the fish are already inactive and mostly stay at their winter mooring point. When the number of bites decreases, they are stimulated by feeding small portions of complementary food into the fishing zone, balls no larger than the size of a walnut.
Features of bait
Main components
There are many options for bait mixtures for roach; they differ in consistency and composition.
The main components are usually used:
- Peas or lentils.
- Boiled cereals.
- Breadcrumbs.
- Seaweed.
- Clay.
- Chopped sunflower cake.
- Ground worms or maggots.
- Corn.
- Wheat bran.
- Powdered milk.
- Various cereals.
- Compound feed.
Note! When preparing bait, you can experiment by selecting and mixing several main components at once in different proportions.
Flavors and Additives
Additional ingredients and aromatic additives are introduced into the bait to increase its effectiveness and increase the area over which it will act. They must be used carefully so that the finished mixture does not have too strong or pungent odor.
The following additives can be used:
- Roasted hemp seeds.
- Ground sunflower seed shells.
- Ground and unhulled roasted sunflower seeds.
- Caramel.
- Coriander.
- Natural honey.
- Cocoa, which additionally contributes to the darkening of the bait.
- Activated carbon, which performs the same functions as cocoa.
- Anise seeds.
- Flax seeds.
- Cinnamon.
- Thyme.
- Basil.
- Biscuit.
- Orange zest.
- Hemp oil.
- Semolina.
- Sugar.
- Crushed cookies.
Baits and groundbait
In autumn, vegetation in reservoirs slowly dies and sinks to the bottom. That is why the fish rushes deeper, because now all its food is the remains of the larvae. In addition to this circumstance, a good fisherman must understand that by October-November the roach has already accumulated enough fat to chase unfamiliar or too bright food.
Roaches lose interest in plant baits already in September; they will have to be content only with animal food:
- dung worm;
- bloodworm;
- larvae that can be found in the morning at the bottom of the reservoir;
- maggot;
- shell.
You can attach several pieces of bait at a time, but without overdoing it. It is important that the hook is hidden from view as much as possible.
As for complementary feeding, it is necessary in the fall, but in small quantities.
The purpose of complementary feeding is not to feed the fish, but to lure it to the fishing spot. The rules in this matter are:
- The bait should be finely dispersed and should be used in small quantities;
- you need to knead the mixture right before use, and not at home several days in advance;
- flavoring can be used minimally;
- Complementary foods should not be high in fat.
Its composition is also very important when fishing for roach in the fall. For example, the presence of a large number of herbal ingredients is more likely to alert an already cautious roach than to attract its attention. So, the composition may include:
- breadcrumbs;
- cake;
- food for aquarium fish (very effective in October and November);
- powdered milk;
- egg powder;
- dry kvass;
- soil from a reservoir (required);
- chopped maggot, bloodworm or worm.
Using bait is half the success, but fishing tactics are also of great importance.
