Grantham Journal angling correspondent Coster is hooked on hybrids

It is possible to catch small roach/bream hybrids on quite a few local venues, but bigger fish are quite rare and elusive.

Hybrids are known to grow to 7lb, but 3lb-plus fish are classed as specimens.

For many anglers, like Journal angling correspondent Dave Coster, this crossbreed is special. It inherits all the cunning of a big roach, backed up with extra body weight from its bream background.

This combination produces a type of fish that can be

But hook a large hybrid and it is like being attached to a torpedo! They fight like big river chub and are similarly streetwise, knowing where every snag is in their vicinity. Give one an inch and they will leave your rig tangled in any underwater weed or tree roots they can find.

Dave reckons the reason very few bigger wily hybrids are caught is down to the how they feed. They tend to move around a lot in midwater, an area many people ignore.

The odd big one might turn up to hook baits presented on the bottom, but it is not a viable way of targeting these fish. Dave has caught many more with shallow waggler or pole tactics but, even then, they can be edged out by rudd, roach, perch and carp.

Some of the best hybrid fishing Dave has experienced in the Grantham area has been on the two big lakes at Ancaster's Woodland Waters.

In both cases, regular feeding of baits like maggots or casters tends to bring the numerous shoals of silver fish close to the surface, where sometimes they even begin to swirl on top as they compete for free grub.

These active fish can provide great sport, but lurking nearby there will inevitably be some bigger hybrids, craftily mopping up bits of food the other species miss. Normally these shy fish will only feed just below surface feeders, or around the edges of any activity – areas on which Dave concentrates heavily.

On recent trips to the Specimen Lake at Woody's, Dave’s mate Chris Toon found a big hybrid late on when feeder fishing, after trying a long, slow sinking hook length. That trick fooled a cracking 4lb fish. Dave later caught a three-pounder that looked even closer to a big roach, pole fishing mid-depth with a single caster on a size 18 hook.

Some hybrids are thickset and have more bream features, while others are streamlined, with redder fins and could easily be mistaken for specimen-sized roach.

The main giveaway is their anal fins are longer than those found on true roach and their bodies are slightly less silvery, missing that hint of blue that big roach exude on their scales. Nevertheless, they are still very special fish.