As the temperature begins to fall roach fishing sees probably its best period on the natural venues so October's mix is a mix based on "roachy" groundbaits.

Most venues we fish are quite clear so we tend to rely on dark or black mixes to overcome this.

The mix for October is 50 - 50 Sensas Noire and Super Canal Black.

This mix is great for slow moving rivers and drains, where there is a reasonable head of roach. It is best used in conjunction with Squatts and pinkies, I prefer red squatts in very clear water, and flourescent and red pinkies as hookbait.

Find a clean area in the main flow of the venue and cup 6 to 8 balls of the mix of about the size of a 250ml pot. The plan is to fish this out without feeding anything else, this gives the best chance of stamp roach arriving over your mix. Fish as light a rig as possible to ensure you are in control over the mix, I tend to use the 0.1g per foot of depth rule of thumb as a starter.

Your mix can be quite sticky and make sure it doesn't "fizz" too much, some of our team mix the night before, but I tend to mix as soon as I get to my peg, and re-wet the mix after about 15 or 20 mins to ensure it is fully wet out and inert on the bottom.

Once your bites dry up, top up with a further three balls with squatts in them as at the start, you top up with three because you want to attract the bigger roach, and they tend to shy away if you top up too regularly, so my motto is why put in one when you could put in three? If you are in any doubt keep the loose offerings to a minimum until you know there are plenty of feeding fish about.