The Roach (Rutilus Rutilus)
Roach are undoubtedly the most common coarse fish in the UK. They are a silvery, deep-bodied fish with red fins and eyes. The front edge of the dorsal fin is in line with the base of the pelvic fins. Roach/bream and roach/rudd hybrids are sometimes common and can cause confusion. However, the mouth is less upturned than that of the rudd.
They are a shoal fish probably both as protection and also to help find rich patches of food. They can be found in most types of water and even tolerate quite brackish water. Slow and fast moving rivers contain roach as do still waters and canals. Roach mainly eat invertebrates - shrimps, snails, insect larvae, etc. Where food sources are scarce they can also turn vegetarian albeit, in these circumstances, it would be rare to find any decent sized specimens.
Although roach can be caught at any time of the year they are mainly summer feeders. However, whilst the smaller fish tend to feed very little in colder weather, the occasional 1lb+ fish can be encouraged to feed in the winter (especially during comparatively warm periods).
They can be caught on a variety of baits - maggots, casters, worm, bread and sweetcorn (in the summer). Perhaps the best summer bait is hemp where the fish can be encouraged to fish up in the water by loose feeding the bait with hemp on the hook. Roach can be found throughout Taunton AA waters.
The Tench (Tinca Tinca)
Tench are deep-bodied with a thick wrist to the tail. They have small scales embedded under a thick layer of slime and have a single pair of small barbules. With small red eyes, they have varying coloration depending on the habitat - from almost black through olive green to a brassy pale flanked form with a white belly and red fins. The darker olive variant is most commonly found in the Taunton area.
They can be found in pairs or small shoals and often patrol the margins of both slow moving and still waters. Good tench waters are rich in food and warm with abundant weed beds.
Tench are slow growing, bottom feeders and, like Crucian carp, browse for invertebrates on lake beds and from plant leaves and stems. The characteristic tench bubbles are probably caused by the fish disturbing marsh gas when feeding which is then broken up in to small bubbles as passes through the fine gill rakers.
Although mainly summer feeders, preferring warm water, they can often be caught during milder periods during the winter months. The best time to catch them is early morning and in the evenings with many believing that they feed predominantly during the night.
They can be caught on a variety of natural bait with worm and caster cocktails often accounting for the larger specimens. Maggot and sweetcorn also appear to be favourite baits. Tench are present in the slower stretches of the River Tone, the canal and the West Sedgemoor Drain as well as being stocked in the still waters within the Taunton AA area.
