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.
Roach fishing tackle
Float tackle for catching roach in the fall differs from the summer one. Since fish should be looked for near deep holes and further from the coastal zone, a fly rod should be used that is long enough, from 5 to 9 meters. The nozzle should fall on the dump, and if the reservoir does not have a dump, then it should be located further from the shore.
A plug rod is perfect for autumn fishing, especially if the fishing takes place not from a boat, but from the shore. In addition, the plug rod has become quite popular in Russia in recent years and many float anglers have switched to this type of fishing.
In a long-casting rod, match or Bolognese tackle, everything remains almost unchanged.
Float equipment
Float equipment for roach Equipment
for roach should be strong and at the same time light. It is best to use a small hook, No. 3-4 according to Russian qualifications or 12-18 according to international qualifications.
For the leash - monofilament line with a diameter of 0.01-0.12 with a breaking load of 1 kg, since in the fall there is every chance of catching a fairly large specimen, and not necessarily just roach - it can be bream and crucian carp. The main line is slightly thicker than the leader.
As a weight, it is best to use a small olive and several pellets below, distributed along the line at a distance of 10-20 cm. The position of the sinkers is adjusted more precisely during the fishing process.
See examples of mounting equipment for different fishing conditions in the picture above.
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.
Catching roach (roach) in late autumn
Autumn time of eyes charm (c)
Still, there is something in the words of the classic! Residents of the continent of Eurasia, namely its middle zone, have a unique opportunity to fully see all four periods of the life of the planet: hibernation, spring awakening, summer riot of colors and autumn preparation for bed. At the moment, while the white blanket has not yet covered the ground, autumn is preparing for sleep, both on the ground and in bodies of water.
As the water gets colder, life in the pond changes dramatically. The algae begin to fall to the bottom and die; the dragonfly larvae have long since hatched. Microorganisms, mosquitoes and other insects stop reproducing, the bloodworms burrow deeper into the soil and no longer show their “nose” from the silt. This order of things forces the fish to change their behavior. Decaying algae saturate the water with carbon dioxide, the lack of food and clearing of the water force the fish to move away from the shallow sections of the river, and those thickets of vegetation that saved the fish all summer from predators and provided a well-fed existence now cause it to starve of oxygen.
In search of food and a better oxygen balance, the fish is forced to leave the once secluded corners of the reservoir and rush to places where there is water circulation, which can relieve the fish from the lack of oxygen, and will also help wash out food particles or odors that indicate the presence of one at an accessible distance, where the soroga immediately rushes.
It is a well-known fact that in the fall, not only the track, but also other species of peaceful fish gather in large schools. This makes it easier to feed and confuses the predator, which makes it more difficult to concentrate on attacking. An angler who stumbles upon a school of whitefish can have a great time catching it no worse than in the spring, but he can also ruin everything with the wrong approach to fishing. What do you need to remember and know so that the search for the track is successful, and the fishing does not “end” after catching several specimens?
Search
It is best to go for roach fishing on small rivers or channels of large rivers, where the depth near the shore is 3-4 meters. On the bed of large rivers such as the Kama or Volga, for example, finding a path is much more difficult than, say, in their channels or tributaries. On small rivers, searches are shorter and more successful. Most often, the path on them is located under a steep slope, sometimes almost right under the shore. It is clear that when fishing in such conditions, there is no need to use a feeder and a good old float comes to the rescue, which will make fishing more dynamic and enjoyable. Ninety percent of fishermen started with a float rod, and for many it remained the most favorite recreation by the river.
Usually, searching for promising sections of the river does not cause problems; there will be a steep drop at the bottom from the side of the steep bank. Places with a reverse flow, which is also very interesting for fish, will be where the bank “cuts into the river. A tree that has fallen into the water will immediately catch your eye. Sometimes the tree stands on a steep bank near the water, which is also a remarkable place, since fish hide under its roots, which go deep into the water. It's not all that complicated.
More questions arise when the fisherman caught a couple of caps and everything became quiet. He seems to know that she is a schooling fish, all the more so he realizes that in the fall the schools should be large, but here are a couple of magpies... what’s wrong?
Successful fishing can be ruined by incorrect feeding tactics or the consistency of complementary foods. Any porridge in cold water is pure evil for the bite. If in the summer, when fishing for roach, it is possible, and even necessary, to use steamed millet or a little pearl barley in the mixes, then in the fall the fish will quickly become saturated with high-calorie food already at the starting feeding, which will inevitably affect the bite. The point here is the metabolism of fish, which proceeds much more slowly in cold water. At this time, the fish needs more time to digest the food and it becomes full faster.
In this situation, it is much preferable to use “dusty” bait, which does not have much nutritional value. At the start, you should make no more than three or four feeding balls. The size of the ball should be approximately the size of a tennis ball, and the density should be such that it begins to crumble at the very bottom, or directly touching it. Further, during the fishing process, you can throw one ball every 30 - 40 minutes. This will allow you to keep the track on the point and not feed it. Some floaters use a different method. They add complementary foods in small portions, but often. Those. a cloud of turbidity is almost always present at the point, but it only makes the fish spin around in place, and does not feed it. Both methods are time-tested. It all depends on the specific situation in the reservoir, the strength of its current, the density of the school of fish, weather conditions and the activity of the sorog. Whatever feeding method the fisherman chooses, the following remains unchanged:
1. Dusty, finely dispersed bait with floating particles, in the form of which fried hemp seeds, ground in a blender, are well suited;
2. Pungent aroma - seasonings such as coriander, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, dried garlic or garlic dip;
3. Feeding is carried out according to the strength of the current, above the float, so that the bait is in the train of bait particles.
Compliance with these simple rules will allow you to successfully catch sorog throughout the daylight hours, provided that the bait and depth of fishing are correctly selected, which will be discussed further.
Bait
In cold water, the most successful bait was, is and remains bloodworms, but other animal baits, such as maggots and dung worms, should not be ignored. The mood of the fish on autumn days, just like on spring days, is not stable. Sometimes the track pecks strictly on bloodworms until lunch, then suddenly some turning point in the bite happens, it subsides almost to nothing and begins with renewed vigor, but this time on a piece of a small dung worm or maggot. Since there is no stability and preferences change, you should have different animal baits with you.
The article will not be entirely complete without returning to water transparency. All competent actions of the fisherman can be confused by this factor. Due to the fact that the fish is very close to the shore, it can simply see it, so an improperly equipped fisherman will punish himself with a lack of bites. Clothing should not only match the weather and temperature conditions, but be as unnoticeable as possible, and ideally blend in with the coastline. The equipment must be delicate, using a leader greater than 0.10 mm. It is not advisable, just as it is not advisable to use hooks made of thick wire, and it is better to keep a fish tank a little away from the fishing rod.
It is also necessary to remember that often the track is located in the water column, so it will not be amiss to experiment with the loading of the float and the fishing depth. I hope the article will help a novice angler understand the intricacies of autumn fishing. No tail, no scales for everyone!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tackle and equipment
With the right approach, autumn fishing with a float rod can be even more successful than summer fishing. On large bodies of water, of course, it is more convenient and easier to fish from a boat, but with the right gear, fishing from the shore is no less effective.
Float rod
- The rod should be as light and responsive as possible, since while fishing it is advisable to hold it in your hand all the time so as not to miss a bite. Its length is determined by fishing conditions. Passage rings are needed only when using tackle for long-distance casting. In other cases, a high-quality fly rod is sufficient.
- Fishing line. In autumn, water is usually clearer than in summer, so you should use a high-quality monofilament with a diameter of no more than 0.12 mm. Additionally, you can install a leash with a cross-section of 10 mm. In the first half of autumn, you can also use braided wire, half as thick as monofilament.
- Float. The best one is “needle-shaped”, with a thin antenna. Load capacity - 1-1.5 g.
- Sinker. Two pellets are enough, with the help of which the float is loaded so that only the top of the mast rises above the water.
- The hooks are of impeccable sharpness, no larger than No. 8, even if you are catching roach weighing 1 kg.
Feeder
On the feeder in the fall they catch mainly large roaches on large rivers.
- The rod is a medium feeder, 3.6-3.9 m long. The test is selected depending on the weight of the feeder and casting distance.
- The fishing line is 0.2 mm in diameter. A discreet fluorocarbon leader is also desirable.
- Reel – any inertia-free class 2000-2500. 100 m of fishing line is wound onto the spool.
- Feeder - any design, small or medium. The equipment is “paternoster”.
- Hooks - 1 or 2 No. 8-10 on the international scale.
