Quite a few anglers go fishing for personal achievements and every year they set out a self target. This year is no different and Alfie Naylor set himself a challenge to catch a 2lb roach from the Trent which he thought that personally, it was a difficult challenge to meet.

Alfie told us “I’ve done quite a few sessions for roach this season catching some brilliant fish but non near the 2lb mark. That all changed when this trent beauty at 2lb 8oz showed up.
When fishing for Trent roach the anticipation before the bite is always edge of the seat stuff for me personally, only because I become a little obsessed with them. This session was no different, you’ve got to love them sharp plucks on the tip, and the stereotypical roach bite gets me excited.

After catching around 20 small roach between 6oz and 8oz the action was really heating up catching a small roach just about every cast, by this point the thought of a big roach was completely out my mind and I was just enjoying catching. Then just before dark I had a couple of very aggressive taps on the rod tip, which to start with, I thought the bream had moved in, eventually I hit one of these aggressive bites and instantly it felt different to all the over roach At first I thought it was a small chub because it held back trying to take me into a snag. All of a sudden the fish broke the surface and I could see my prize, a huge roach and started to pray that it didn’t come off. Once I had the fish in the net after a nerve racking fight I realise just how big this fish was, I stood there amazed and totally in shock that I landed another 2lb+ River Trent roach. This one took the scales round to 2lb 8oz. I love roach and they are becoming a bit of an obsession of mine and this roach is the perfect example of an incredible over looked species.”