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Perch and Dace 17.2.14

The Flying Tench

Entry posted by The Flying Tench

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3.30-5.30pm

 

Went to same swim as last week, where I was fairly confident there'd be some perch even if they weren't massive. Plan A was to try drop-shotting with a sparkly gold 'worm'. They weren't interested. But there was a submerged step about 2' under water, so I was able to get a very clear view there of how my lure was performing. Fine on the up stroke, but the down was hopeless - it didn't look like anything other than a piece of old plastic slowly dropping through the water. I put on an AA shot to give it just a little bit of weight, which helped a little, but I was left wondering if I need to get a different type of lure. A question for any drop-shotters reading this - do proper d-s lures have a bit of inbuilt weight to give some action on the 'down'?

 

I next switched to a real worm under a float, feeding maggot as I had done with the drop-shotting. I only had 2 worms, which I pulled in half to make 4. Immediately the perch were onto it though, like last week, they were tricky customers adept at holding onto the worm but not the hook. I tried a size 10 hook instead of a 6, as suggested by Rusty last week. It helped a bit, but these were sly caddish perch. Later on they even chewed the ends of the maggot and succeeded in getting maggots of a semi-barbed hook - most un-sergeant-like behaviour! I had 3 perch fairly quickly on worm, all 6-8 oz. After a bit more of a go with lures, including a small spinner given the size of the perch, I resorted to my only remaining bait - maggots - 4 on the size 10 hook. The bait could hardly hit the water before a fish was at it, and I caught a few more perch and then, to my surprise, a 7oz dace. A pb! It's a while since I had one so of course I was delighted, even if it was a complete flook! I then put on a smaller hook with 2 maggots, and caught a few more smallish perch before dusk came.

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tomhaggett

Sounds like a nice day that mate.

 

Regarding drop-shot lures... one's that are made specifically for the job tend to be slim profiled with most of the weight at the head end. The lure needs to work with very little effort from the angler and the weightless action on the drop is very important. Take a look at the AGM or Lureworld websites in the dropshot section for good examples.

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The Flying Tench

Thanks, Tom. Having looked at some websites, yes, the weight is at the head end, but if I understand right that is only plastic, there is no lead involved as in jigging. Perhaps that is why they are long and thin, as otherwise water resistance might make the descent too slow, as with the 'worm' I was using.

 

J

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tomhaggett

Yeh that's right mate, there's no lead involved. The lures are designed so all the action is in the tail and so that action can be imparted with the smallest of movements. They tend to be long, thin and supple to allow the perch to engulf it otherwise hook-ups would be compromised with the sharp bit being right at one end.

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