Operation 'Roach'..phase one complete!

Yesterday all the hard work I have been putting in lately paid off. A session using feeder tactics saw me land a beautiful Roach of 1lb 4oz. Now in a water that seems to contain a gazillion Roach, many of them less than 8oz, that is quite an achievement. Over the last few weeks I have been wading through the hordes of small fish, applying a little prebait in between sessions, and the average size of fish I have been catching has slowly been creeping up. So far I have relied on the Pole, but yesterday the wind was just not conducive to this tactic, so with a little thought I came up with a plan that would hopefully work as well as the Pole has been. Fishing the same swim I have been focusing on, but from the opposite bank, ( the lake is fairly narrow here ), I used a small spod to apply a measured amount of Hemp to the area, and cast small maggot feeders over the top. I utilised a two rod approach and used 'speci' tactics using bite alarms and bobbins for bite indication. The day went well, with a reasonable stamp of fish falling to the tactic, and with one fish nudging the magical mark at 15oz I felt I was getting close. Mid afternoon, I hooked a fish that felt quite good, at first I thought I may have hooked a skimmer bream as the odd one had put in an appearance amongst the Roach, then I thought possibly a Perch as there was the odd jag and it seemed to be fighting quite hard for a bream...funny how I didn't allow myself the possibility that it might be a Roach....when it came up just below the surface, my heart skipped a beat, it was just in a another class compared to the fish I had been catching.  Safely in the net I knew I'd cracked the pound mark, the scales conforming it at 1lb 4oz, a good fish, not a 2lb'er, but a personal milestone in my quest, and a lovely fish. It showed that my persistance was working along with the approach, and that maybe, just maybe I may eventually get close to or actually achieve my goal.

For scale the reel is a '4000' size.