I found myself in the last eight of the Drennan Knockout Cup, organised by a national angling magazine, but came away the winner on the Kennet and Avon Canal after netting 16lb 14oz of roach and skimmers thanks to super versatile Silvercrush and Supercrush Green groundbait.

I used the Silvercrush mixed very wet at four metres, fishing pinkie over it to catch a lot of small roach.

I also fed some Sonu Supercrush Green groundbait  containing some dead red maggots acrosss to the far bank and using a dead red maggot and a piece of dendrabena worm caught four skimmers to 2lb plus a pair of perch that between them went 4lb 9oz - a nice bonus!

On the inside I used my Preston Innovations Genus Absolute 14 pole with a number three Preston Innovations Original Slip number three elastic through the top two.

On the far line I used a Preston Original Number 5 Slip original elastic through the top three to tame those better fish.

Floats for the day were Preston Chiantis and a Durafloat 6 pattern for the peg across in two-and-a-half feet of water.

On the inside I tackled up a Preston PB Silver 1 model. The hook for the pinkie rig was a Preston PR333 ina  size 18 or 20 wheh they shied off a little.

On the far side I used the Preston PR 355 in a size 16 with the dendrabena and red maggot. Both patterns worked superbly and I always feel confident in them due to their sharpness and reliability.

As for the Silvercrush groundbait, what can I say? it is a supreme roach groundbait which contains a lot of ingredients that switch roach into feeding mode.

Mixed dry it is an active groundbait that fizzes, mixed wet, it goes down - very handy on the day in question when there was a lot of boat traffic and heavy tow - and creates a nice cloud near the bottom.

If you like fishing for roach, give Silvercrush a try. It's spot-on.

Don't mix it the night before when canal or lake fishing for roach, it's better mixed on the bank that morning.

I was very impressed with the result on the canal - it was a tidy net of fish which won the day thanks to Sonu Silvercrush groundbait.
Next up is the semi-final of the knockout competition is on Larford's Specimen match lake in mid-September. Watch this space to see how I fare!