Are we living in a golden age of perch?

[Dave H]

In the last few months i have fished a few day ticket waters and the perch have been outstanding. Tonight i fished my favourite style on the float .

With a spot looking very perchy only a few meters out i put some prawns in garam masala over a bed of my special perch mix and had a great evening

 

I always struggle with estimating a Perch weight and i am not sure why so i have been weighing those that look over 2lb.

Tonight i had 11 in two hours with the smallest being 2lb 3oz and a cracking 3lb 9oz.

Its without doubt that it is because there are no pike on these commercial fisheries and so they grow larger and larger.

 

If you like Perch i think we are living in a golden age

[John S]

Perch are one of my favourite fish to catch (fave is tench). Never tried prawns for them though, my usual method is to fish a double maggot or a maggot worm either on the drop or a few inches overdepth if the bottom isn't all silty.

 

Is it still the feeling that perch suffer regular (and harsh) declines?

[Andy_1984]

Ive been getting away with the odd opportunistic bash at the perch up at the fishery. Fly only no bait fishing but working there does have ts perks and plenty rocks to forage for lobs

 

Been getting 2lb'ers regularly. It has rainbows blues browns and also pike and the perch are thriving big time large shoals of fry this year too. Having a go for the pike a few months ago on the boat i got another in the 2lb mark on the medium salmo slider

[lutra]

Its without doubt that it is because there are no pike on these commercial fisheries and so they grow larger and larger.

There are loads of fisheries with donkey sized perch (and other species) in them as well as a good head of pike. Why do you think its an important factor on the waters you fish?

[Dave H]

Loads of fisheries?

And what would you say is a donkey sized perch?

[lutra]

Loads of fisheries?

And what would you say is a donkey sized perch?

"Loads of fisheries" as in way more than a small hand full.

 

"Donkey sized" being from a couple of pounds and up to what ever you can dream of. Six pounds if you like.

 

Still not sure why you think its "without doubt" not having pike in your waters the reason the perch are getting larger. I'm no perch angler Dave, it just seems strange as most waters I hear big perch are coming from also have a healthy head of pike.

[Dave H]

Donkey sized i would put in the region of atleast 4lb+ here in the South where the records are being recorded...

 

As for my opinion on that 'mostly' the big perch come from pike free waters i can only agree with this article that is not to say they are right but i like to think so...

 

http://www.anglingtimes.co.uk/advice/tactics/articles/How-to-catch-big-perch/

 

 

This was a article in 2014 so i didnt just copy it last week.

Edited August 26, 2016 by Dave H

[lutra]

Just saying Dave that it seems to be a golden age for perch where ever you live in the UK and what ever kind of water (river, canal, pond or lake) and pike free or not that you fish. I've even heard of donkey perch to 5lb coming from some very large and cold pike waters up north.

 

I can also see the south is doing very well for record perch and that its a golden age for the number of pike free commercial fisheries that are stiff with bait fish. I'm just not so sure pike would be that effective on these waters that the bait fish wouldn't be so prolific and the perch wouldn't be so record rocking.

 

Its just a golden age for perch in my view.

 

[Mat Hillman]

Neglect - fish thrive on neglect. the vast majority of anglers today can't see any further than carp, and use baits that are very unlikely to catch perch anyhow! that and the general clean-up of british waterways over the last few decades IMHO

 

Mat

[chesters1]

Not so much neglect but definitely not in over managed waters ,we have been managing water since the bronze age but now it seems we have lost that knowledge and manage to our modern impression of how it should be done. unfortunately when anglers are in the scope its not in the best interests of the water when like some are made for easy access and comfort and ofcourse fitting enough swims to cater for them.

Not just anglers canoeists and boaters dont like trees in the water or deep reed beds or shallow gravely areas so managing for them also interferes with what fish need.

Most rivers are fine but in no-way as natural as we think and compared to the past less managed than they were .

Trying to sort out what is natural ,what we believe to be natural and over managed to cater for flooding or recreation is difficult

 

Take the river wey here ,looks extremely natural and smells of trout but its a muddy ditch to what it was a 1,000 years ago and the fish are rainbows the brown trout have all but gone ,theres an 8 foot high sluice above waverley abbey ,looks ok until the rain stops then you realise its 7 feet of mud behind it ,pointless being there its no good in times of flood and the decrease in flow silts the river up above it ,the EA does not have a clue .a 1000 years ago barges could take stone to build the abbey and the river was 6ft deeper than it is now ,infact above waverley abbey the river is above the fields in most places (only a small bank stops it flooding all the time) and they flood but the drainage ditches are below river level so the monks controlled the river much more than we do now ,the drains actually go under a stream that drains waverley abbey pond!

If the sluice was removed the river would scour our the bed ,water would flow faster but ofcourse wouldnt suite the bird lot who like their wetlands even unatural ones where they never occurred before ,your sacrificing one lot of nature to suite some do gooders idea of it.

There is fish below waverly when the EA arent removing it because the trout lot dont like them but on the stretch above waverley abbey very few ,in 1ft of water cormorants quickly remove any unfortunate to come down from further up

Luckily on the lower branch its more natural natural but theres a few mills that changed the river but as Alton is at the far end its not been so problematic with flooding houses where houses shouldnt be so less reason for the EA to get involved 'improving' things

Unfortunately when rivers and ponds become neglected they tend to disappear, old maps will show hundreds no longer there because the reason they were there has gone

Edited August 29, 2016 by chesters1