Went for gold but keep getting silver

Had a good days fishing on Friday.
Constant roach, but nothing else. I even tried a bigger hook with corn and then luncheon meat but the roach were having that too.
I was float fishing the bottom about 6 inches over depth. I ended up loading the shot low down to get past the tiddlers which were taking the bait on the drop.
Can anyone suggest tactics or a bait to put off the tiddlers and target the bigger fish (or the tench!)

The Tench are still playing with us at Well Barn and have been hooked maily on maggot on light tackle which is why they have yet to maker an appearence on the bank! For the carp, fish corn or meat popped up about an inch off the bottom the carp park end of the large lilly beds in the middle by the stump and see if they are still playing.

Good luck and thanks for the post.

Thanks.
I could see the carp in the lilly pads, I had half an hour stalking them with fake floating corn on light gear. They sucked it in twice but the hook didn't set. They got spooked in the end.
Worth another go because they were quite happy to take the bait.

I was also stalking the carp in lily pads at the bottom end of the lake, they were sucking in but didn't get hooked and I eventually got one that was 9/10lb.