Schools of roach

[trout-hunter]

Hey everyone, when i was a kid fishing for eels i would always chuck a bait net out filled with bread and corn to catch little roach for my pond at home, i would always get a few but only ever took a small amount of them home, in my tank i have at the moment i have a variety of cleaners such as catfish, mosquito minnows, sucker catfish, snails, yabbies and some gold fish for color, ive recently tried to see if i can get 2 or 3 roach but noticed that they have almost completley disappeared. I actually cant remember catching one for about 15 years.. when i was catching them in my net i was about 10 and now im 37 and cant even remember the last time i seen a school of them.. i reckon i was getting about 3 to 4 hundred a day back then but only ever took about 20 home in all the years i was catching them. Are they even a native fish? Could carp be another reason why they are disappearing? Wonder where they have gone? Has anyone else noticed this with any other type of fish?

Cheers everyone.

[4liters]

I don’t know about roach but it might be illegal to have those mosquito fish as they’re an invasive species.

[trout-hunter]

Yeah i know, thats why there the only fish from the wild in my tank, my gold fish eat the pellets from the trout farm making them big! They also eat the mosquito fish so the minnows serve 2 pourpos's.

[happyfriggincamper]

They're still around, plenty river is one place they are prominent

[Charles7]

I've caught roach in small numbers in the Coliban River and Lilydale Lake. Apparently they are quite prolific in the Kyneton Lakes area but I haven't encountered them much myself.

[MickCov]

They were prolific in the Diamond creek 30yrs ago.Not so sure now though,I haven’t fished there for years

[trout-hunter]

Hmm the 2 spots i remember catching them was the olinda creek out the back of the Lilydale lake and the string bark creek off maroondah Hwy, coldstream. We got some good eels, blackfish, redfin and trout from the stringy bark 30 years ago, nothing but eels and small carp now. Im blaming the poisons and sprays used for the winerys and other crops, ive heard even the field mushrooms have some sort of toxins in them now and can no longer eat them due to chemicals in the soil (not sure how true that is though) + letting the weeds grow out of control that stops a lot of the water flow. Ill give another spot a try but its a bit of a shame the local spots are slowly dying.

[Irishfisherman]

There not native to Australia as far as I’m aware, probably introduced from Europe. I used to target them along with Rudd in Ireland using maggots on a size 10-14 hook under a small float, they would happily coexist with carp and there were even fisheries where you could target them both so I don’t think the carp are the problem, groundbait or berley definitely makes the difference, eventually they became quite elusive as the Eastern Europeans would keep them in large numbers. As for where you could catch them I’m not sure, I got one last year in Lake Eildon on worm but it would be hard to target them. Additionally, I have also kept them in fish tanks in Ireland along with minnows, perch, sticklebacks and Rudd. They were pretty hardy and got along well with other fish. Hope you manage to find some.

[ChrisD]

Used to catch heaps in the plenty river - at the river bend up from the bridge on plenty river drive.

[MickCov]

At a guess I’d say roach are still around in the Diamond Creek.My daughter and I walked along the banks in December and although the creek drys along some stretches,the outside bends of the creek where the gravel bars disappear into deep water still remain.
Our method for roach was bread under a float and they always fished better in winter.