Roach are maybe a staple of a lot of people’s catches. They’re in virtually every inland water we fish in, and it is possible to overlook them. We all catch them as youngsters, and there are a few who carry on with the love affair all their angling lives. Others, like myself, prefer to catch bigger and less numerous species. I know I always prioritised tench, barbel or chub over roach fishing, unless it was in a match.
The current match and pleasure scene has seen a massive concentration of people prioritising carp. That’s doesn’t float my boat either, however. Mixed bag fishing is what I enjoy the most. Fishing those aquarium swims where your float goes under, and you just don’t know what you’ve hooked next. Still, since my return to the sport I’ve slowly discovered that I’ve started to fall in love with catching nets of never before caught roach, and hopefully catching some real clonkers amongst them.
I know Alan Barnes prefers to call them “crumpers” but he’s wrong; it’s “clonkers” where I come from. However, one thing Alan has got spot-on is the Cadence CR10 15ft #0 Match Rod. I remember him telling me that it was under development and when it comes out, I’ll want one. He was so right, and after holding one for the first time, I knew I had to buy it. What got me even more excited was hooking my first fish on it!
Before the river season opened, I decided to try it out at Portland Fisheries near Newark. You don’t need a fifteen-foot rod there, I usually use the Cadence CR10 11ft #2 Match, however playing a 2 1/2lb chub on it was incredible. I was hooked.
Next, I used it on another lake at Woodland Waters near Ancaster, in a 10ft deep swim on the waggler. Some nice roach and bream confirmed this was a special rod; however, it was for the rivers that I’d bought this rod for, and in particular some specific stretches of the Trent.
I’d caught a few nice bags last year when roach fishing on the Trent feeding hemp with either casters, tares, or my favourite, elderberry on the hook. These were 100% never seen a hook before in their lives fish up to the 1lb mark. Stunning fish that I wanted to make more of a concerted effort to catch this season. Hopefully, the Cadence CR10 15ft #0 Match would be the perfect tool for this, fishing the stick float one to two-rod lengths out.
I was also conducting some experiments on normal hemp versus amino preserved hemp from Evolved Baits to see if it made any difference or not.
I picked two stretches of the Trent to fish each on consecutive days, four sessions in total, all with as near to the same weather conditions as the previous day.
The same rig would be used on all four days which consisted of the Cadence CR10 15ft #0 Match, Cadence CS10 3000 reel loaded with Dave Harrell 3lb 0.14 Pro Match mainline, Dave Harrell Pro Rig 0.1 hook length, Dave Harrell 5no4 shouldered wire stem stick and a Kamasan B520 size 18 hook.
The float would be shotted shirt button style, and after the first day’s fishing, on each stretch, it would not be altered at all.
On both first days, I fished with the normal hemp, and on the second day, it would be with the amino hemp.
On the first stretch, I fished with elderberry on the hook, and on the second stretch, I fished with casters, so it was as controlled an experiment as it could be. I also dipped the hook baits on both second days in the amino liquid.
I’d decided to fish the normal hemp on both first days because I knew from experience that the second day on the same peg fishes typically harder. I thought this would be an excellent test for the amino hemp.
The swims were 5ft and 7ft deep.
On the first day’s feeding the normal hemp at each stretch, I caught 12lbs and 15lbs respectively.
On the second days feeding, with the Evolved Baits amino hemp, I caught 20lbs and 21lbs respectively!
All four days were great sport and the last day on the second stretch on the amino hemp should’ve been even harder, as the conditions were much brighter and windier, yet I’d had my best weight. Eye-opening stuff and needless to say I’ve been using amino hemp ever since!
The best of all though was how the rod performed. It was just absolutely awesome! The only bumped fish were due to blunt hooks, which you get over gravel and stony bottoms, and over the four days, I counted five bumped fish. That takes some doing. It’s easily the best roach fishing and small fish rod I’ve ever owned, however, it plays bonus fish wonderfully.
I’ve had 4lb+ chub and bream out on this rod, plus a bonus 2lb 10ozs ide in quite pacey water, so playing bigger fish on this is no problem at all; in fact, it’s a delight. I struggle a little with a painful lower arm and right wrist but holding this rod with the CS10 reel is no issue whatsoever.
I’ve now got two of them and have recommended them to all my friends and anglers I meet.
So, has this rod made me fall in love with roach fishing even more? I think so because sometimes I fish stretches which have chub and barbel in them, but I specifically target and fish just for the roach! I don’t know if that makes me nuts, however, If you’re looking for a river silvers rod, then this is the rod for you.
