Perch Puzzler

[Chris Plumb]

First - apologies for another perch thread !!

 

For the last day of the season I’ve decided to have a crack at some of the big perch that have been coming out of the Kennet this year. The stretch I plan to fish has been producing 3's throughout the winter and has at least a couple of different 4lbers (they came out on the same day at 4.01 & 4.09) . My PB of 3.01 was caught here 3 season ago but they appear to have packed on some more weight since then.

 

So how would you go about catch them? Here are some constraints/parameters to work with.

 

1. No live-baiting allowed - (club rules - please don’t start a debate on this...)

2. Ledgering worm or maggot is very problematical - due to the presence in LARGE numbers of signal crayfish.

 

I usually resort to trotted maggot - not particularly discriminating though - any thoughts on how I can up the chances of a big stripey??

 

TIA

 

Chris

[Tim Kelly]

Lures would probably be a good bet. I've caught lots of 2lb+ perch on lures intended for pike. Bigger lubber lures like 6" slug-gos, senkos and flukes work well if the water's not too fast flowing, 6-8" rubber lizards and grubs on jig heads work well if it's pushing through a bit. Also rattling lures like the Harris mag shimmy has been responsible for a few as have big (6-8")spinners and spinnerbaits.

[Alan Pearce]

Chris, when faced with similar restrictions / problems I use the following:

 

Trotting with a 4 swan Loafer and alternating baits between FRESH, fresh water dead baits and big lob worms.

 

In slacks or if the current is not to strong then a float paternostered fresh dead bait takes some beating, fished two or three feet up off the bottom.

 

The trotting approach is one of my favourites on rivers, travelling light and covering large areas. I normally find that just fifteen or twenty minutes is enough in each swim, if big perch are resident and in a feeding mood, they will take a bait quickly.

 

Good luck

 

Alan.

[Alan Pearce]

Chris, just to add that when perch fishing I always spray a good helping of maggots intothe areas I'm fishing. This is not to get the perch feeding on them, although they probably do,but to get small fish in the area active and acting like natural ground bait for the larger perch.

 

Alan.

[Steve Burke]

I've only once fished a river containing crayfish in numbers. This was a "pilrimage" to the Great Ouse to catch a river four pounder. I did had crayfish problems, but not immediately before I caught perch. Presumably they didn't want to become dinner! If I did have lots of attention from crayfish I simply moved swims.

 

From experience on my local rivers I can certainly endorse Alan's recommendations of trotted freshwater deadbaits and, in particular, lobworms. I also always prefer to float fish for perch wherever possible as this minimises resistance.

 

BTW, I reckon deadbaits are much underrated for big perch. See the analysis of the successful bait for 1500+ three pound and bigger perch in my piece in the articles section of Angler's Net.

 

I've also done a lot of lure fishing for perch and agree with Tim that it's well worth a try. However, on my local rivers small pike can be a confounded nuisance on lures, although a lot of fun.

[phonebush]

Chris,

I now know crayfish are not allowed as bait. But, can you use artifical crayfish with crayfish scent?

Sometimes when you are dealt lemons make lemonaid.

Phone

[Vagabond]

Don't know the river in question, but on the basis of the information supplied, I would take along a supply of perch lures and a tin of lobworms.

 

One thing I can endorse from experience at Deerdrink is to keep feeding maggot and cloudbait to attract the small bait fish in. I even catch a few and slip them back close to my perch bait - which is usually close in under the bank..

[Chris Plumb]

Thanks for the replies folks. I've got some imitation rubber crays I got in the States last year - must give them a go....

 

Chris

[Alan Pearce]

Only British native crays are banned from use as bait, non natives can be used.

 

Alan.

[Steve Burke]

Alan, are you sure this is right?

 

Before I went to the Great Ouse 2 years ago I brought this up with the EA who said all crays are banned as bait. We then had a crayfish survey done on the river at Wingham (result negative) and I'm almost sure the booklet I was given said the same thing. Can't lay my hands on it at present though.