Matthew Fernandez, has had a great session after roach on his local river, with a couple of fish weighing over 1lb.

The Southampton-based angler caught them from the River Itchen on float-fished red maggot.

“I’d been pre-baiting the area for a week with maggot and hemp before I started to angle for them,” he explained.

“I used a small Drennan Loafer float and a size 18 Drennan micro-barbed hook, fed a small handful of maggot for about half an hour, before trotting for them and kept each roach in the net so they didn’t spook the rest of the group. I ended up catching six before I hooked one of the bigger roach and spooked the group!”

The Loafer is an excellent choice for narrow and shallow rivers like the Itchen. It has buoyancy to ride any turbulent water, while the short, translucent Crystal body is far less conspicuous to wary fish.