A friend told me he'd bought some perch groundbait - and he was convinced it had worked as there were swirls in the water with fry jumping out - but he didn't catch any perch. I'd find this very useful if it really worked, as I'm not keen on chopped worm, but you could argue that the groundbait just attracted the fry, which attracted Mr Perch. Has anyone else tried perch groundbait, and does it work?

Not exactly, but after some hours fishing light for silver fish all the activity caused by your groundbait and freebies is very likely to attract predators. So in a way you would be 'groundbaiting' for perch.
Whether I'd bother paying a stupid mark-up for 'perch groundbait' is another matter. Just fishing for roach etc should do the trick, plus you might get to catch some fish while the perch are moving in

See this current thread;


I'd add that Archie Braddock's Xotic powder has been an excellent perch attractor for me. However, it's now been discontinued but you may still find some in the shops. Failing this, I'd recommend garam masala, although each brand is a little different.

In addition to the powder I'd add Archie's Perch Magic liquid.

As Glenn said, attracting the roach may also attract perch. However, as I pointed out on the thread referred to earlier, my experiments show that the right additives and favours will attract different species.

Intersting you mention Garam Masala, and I have tried out Curry Powder in my ground bait mix. What works for perch for me is:-

Liquidised loaf of bread, lots of chopped redworm from my compost heap, casters (optional), and 3 teaspoons of curry powder. This will generally last me a good session and brings in Perch rather than Roach, and sometimes you get the odd tench, what are great fun anyway.

Try it - you might like it!

Boozle

Boozle, I'd add that the garam masala and curry weren't my idea. They were Archie's and he told me about them just after he sent us his chapter for "The Book of the Perch".

Being brought up on the teachings of Dick Walker, who reckoned that flavourings were a waste of time, I was very sceptical. However, Archie was getting good results, which I at first put down to him being a brilliant angler. Having an enquiring mind I decided to experiment for myself - and quickly became converted!

Nice one Steve. I haven't tried Garam Masala yet but I'll definitely give it a go. Good thing is it might bring in the odd carp as well.

Do you mix it into a breadcrumb mix too?

For both Pike and Perch I look to attract small silver fish into the swim. Just ground bread does the trick ( so long as it forms a cloud drifting down through the water layers ) feed a thumb nail size ball every few mins and once the silver fish are showing the Pike and Perch won't be far behind. Piking / Perching can be huge fun, casting a small float fished sea bait ( Whitebait for Perch )into the feed area once the Pike/Perch start striking into the smaller species. That the dead bait is not moving does not seem to matter, as stunned fish are mopped up after the initial "hit". Best to use a single hook with a micro barb and strike early, always use a wire trace if Pike are likely, never let a fish run with the bait or you'll end up deep hooking.
Good luck

I've used whitebait since the late 70s. Indeed one of my first ever articles was entitled "Chub on Whitebait" and I've caught many species of fish on them. See http://anglers-net.co.uk/authors/steve02.htm

However, despite lots of attempts to catch perch on whitebait at many different venues, I've only very rarely succeeded, and only once that I recall to a static bait.

Indeed, I spent a whole season fishing a prolific perch water with whitebait on one rod and caught none of my favourite species at all. I did catch plenty of chub, carp and tench though!

I'm not saying that you'll never catch perch on whitebait, but on all the waters I've tried them on they've been a dead loss for perch. However, you can't discount anything in fishing and there may be the odd water where whitebait will produce perch. But in my experience you'll be much better off with freshwater deadbaits for perch.

Steve and co, I understand about flavouring the maggots, but what about the fine crumb? It occurs to me that if it's fine it might not attract the crays as much as maggots or sweetcorn. Or maybe I'm wrong. Do crays normally grab their food in their pincers first (which wouldn't work for fine crumb?) or do they eat it straight up with their mouths?

Do crays normally grab their food in their pincers first (which wouldn't work for fine crumb?) or do they eat it straight up with their mouths?

Pincers to mouth. But .... they are eternal optimists and will react to the sweet smell of food like the little kid wading thru a room that was knee deep in horse plop saying, "wow, there has to be a pony in here somewhere."