yesterday, went on a perch seshion and had the most frustrating but exciting experience for ages, was fishing with worm and caught about 20 smallish perch in quick sucsession to about half a pound, then it went dead, not a bite for about 15mins. the float pulled under and and i struck into a reasonable perch, was bringing it to the net an then i saw this huge spikey dorsal fin and shoulders following the hooked fish in, it followed right to the net and i just froze, trying not to spook it. i have never seen a perch that big in real life, my pb is over 3lbs and this fish looked massive compared. i reckon it was a mid 4! the fish id hooked went 1lb4oz and looked tiny next to the beast. i quickly changed tactics to live bait, the first bait i caught was a chub of about 6-7oz, but i stuck it on. it had been working for about 5mins and the biggy struck, i was shaking and pulled ot of the fish....twice! my chance had gone but i managed a 2lb 5oz fish with 3 others over a pound so not a bad seshion.
I know what im fishing for until i catch it! all of the other plans can wait.

Sounds awesome!

That used to happen to me a lot at a place I fished as a kid. We used to get the little perch going nuts and the big ones would herd them up and try to pick off the stragglers.

Dick Walker told a very similar story also, in his book "No need to lie".

davy, hope your not insinuating owt! that is undoubtdley the highlight of this season if not several. when i catch it il post the pic, the trouble is the venue is quite a drive (about 2hrs up the m1) and because its not local, you never no what the conditions will be.

Not at all Just shows "there's nothing new under the sun". If you haven't read the book , try to get hold of a copy - it's a terrific read. There's also a great Reg Cooke pencil illustration of the huge perch grabbing the (only slightly smaller) hooked one.

nah ive never read it, will do if i see it about.

Zed, I presume you've heard of Richard Walker, he may have dated a bit but he is well worth reading.
Tony

A mate ( Breamagain ) had a simular situation in June this year with a small live Bleak after Pike. The live bait was fished right under the rod tip, no more than a foot from the bank. A large Perch appeared from nowhere and attacked the bait, missing, and almost flinging itself onto the bank.
As Perch tend to be tackle shy we were surprised when it reappeared and took the bait cleanly. . . result 2 1/2lb.

Zedhead, I think you're going to have to change your name to perch-head!

This isn't as uncommon as you'd think. Sometimes the big fish is chasing the smaller one to try to get it to drop the worm. Obviously, if the size difference is big enough, it may actually be trying to eat the smaller one, or possibly trying to chase it out of its territory.

A perch can certainly swallow a fish of up to a third its own length thanks to its hinged jaw. It can go up to about half its own length with slim prey, but then the tail is likely to sticking out its mouth. Indeed, I had this happen in my home aquarium with a 10" perch and a 5" gudgeon.

Whatever, it certainly looks as though you've found a whopper! Best of luck with catching it!

No Need to Lie is very hard to find with a dustwrapper, especially a decent one. At least the 1st edition with Reg Cooke's superb painting on the front is.

I've 2 in stock, one with an original dustwrapper, one with a fascimile. For further details click on the link on my signature.