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Large Perch Myth or Reality?


Dales

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I got an Anglers Mail this week (first time in years) and it had several big perch in it. All nice fish, but one guy was proudly holding two 3lb'ers, then another guy inside holding a 5 and a 5 something - exactly the same size as the 3's.

 

It's difficult to assess size in some of these shots, but I would have thought 2lbs difference would be visible. I would look it up but I recycled it after my daily train commute.

 

 

 

Mike

"I want some repairs done to my cooker as it has backfired and burnt my knob off."

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It's a well known fact that a 1lb 15oz perch turns into a 4lb'er with it's very next meal.

 

After that, it leaps from 4lb directly up to 5lb in weight, missing out all those nuisance ounce things in between.

 

 

In all seriousness, I am struggling to think of a stillwater that we have fished for perch that hasn't yielded a 2lb fish, often on the first session of targetting them properly. I would say that the majority have soon gone on to produce 3lb+'ers.

 

IMO genuine 4lb+ perch waters are still far fewer in number than people are led to believe.

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I'm not sure that 4 or 5 lb perch are that far away in terms of being achievable, not easily but more easily than a fish of a lifetime would be, I don't think they're myths. Take a look at CP's K&A canal perch campaign last Autumn, more 3's than you could shake a stick at and some approaching 4lb. Those will have had a year getting fatter.

 

I think we might be in for some interesting posts this latter half of the season (from me of course).

It's never a 'six', let's put it back

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There is no doubt in my mind that we are in a "golden age" for Perch.In fact we have been for a few years now.However I totally agree with both of Anderoos posts.Perch are often miss weighed/over estimated and they are certainly not as prolific as many would have.

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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There is no doubt in my mind that we are in a "golden age" for Perch.In fact we have been for a few years now.However I totally agree with both of Anderoos posts.Perch are often miss weighed/over estimated and they are certainly not as prolific as many would have.

I don't know of any 5, 4 or even 3lb perch comeing out from around my part of the Northwest, but there does seem to be a lot more claims in the angling rags lately from other parts of the country. My be a slight up turn in good perch numbers has set a lot more anglers after them.

 

From this weeks AT.

 

A tiger does not lose sleep over the opinion of sheep

 

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Some nice perch about on the Severn but two and a half is a monster - I think we need some of them signal crayfish to boost the sizes up a bit.

Species caught in 2020: Barbel. European Eel. Bleak. Perch. Pike.

Species caught in 2019: Pike. Bream. Tench. Chub. Common Carp. European Eel. Barbel. Bleak. Dace.

Species caught in 2018: Perch. Bream. Rainbow Trout. Brown Trout. Chub. Roach. Carp. European Eel.

Species caught in 2017: Siamese carp. Striped catfish. Rohu. Mekong catfish. Amazon red tail catfish. Arapaima. Black Minnow Shark. Perch. Chub. Brown Trout. Pike. Bream. Roach. Rudd. Bleak. Common Carp.

Species caught in 2016: Siamese carp. Jullien's golden carp. Striped catfish. Mekong catfish. Amazon red tail catfish. Arapaima. Alligator gar. Rohu. Black Minnow Shark. Roach, Bream, Perch, Ballan Wrasse. Rudd. Common Carp. Pike. Zander. Chub. Bleak.

Species caught in 2015: Brown Trout. Roach. Bream. Terrapin. Eel. Barbel. Pike. Chub.

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I'm not sure that 4 or 5 lb perch are that far away in terms of being achievable, not easily but more easily than a fish of a lifetime would be, I don't think they're myths. Take a look at CP's K&A canal perch campaign last Autumn, more 3's than you could shake a stick at and some approaching 4lb. Those will have had a year getting fatter.

 

I think we might be in for some interesting posts this latter half of the season (from me of course).

 

I really hope so Rusty, I'd love to see you Kennet boys showing off some more huge perch on here this season, especially if they creep over the 4lb barrier!

 

However, the jump from 3lb to 4lb (I think the mortal among us can realistically forget about 5lbers) is really big. When I started catching the big perch from that little stream I thought the same as you - next year these will be 4s! But it just never happened. I am certain that there is the odd 4 in there, but despite the very high average size I haven't managed to find one yet. I reckon that the majority top out at '3lb something' and a tiny minority have the genetic capability to put on the extra pound.

 

Best shot for that elusive 4 is a mild spell coinciding with a stream dropping and clearing following loads of warm rain right at the back end of the season. Then all the big 3s might just squeeze over the bar.

 

(Don't forget, the difference between a 3lb perch and a 4lb perch is 25%! For a fish that size it's a massive amount.)

 

Having said all that, I am sure that on the right water and at the right time of year, and with enough effort, genuine 4lb perch are a realistic target these days. But the number of people who have caught genuine 4s is very small indeed. It's like a 30lb pike or 40lb carp.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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Is the fact that there are so many signal cray fish about the reason that perch are getting bigger? my local river stort and river Lea has reported fish up to 4 pounds but i have had loads of gos at them and not had anything bigger than 1 1/2 pound, Big ones may be there but not there in numbers and are possibly hard to catch, i mean why take a lob worm when there are so many crays about that form much of the big perch's diet?

take a look at my blog

http://chubcatcher.blogspot.co.uk/

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Crayfish definitely have a huge impact. Combine that with somewhere quiet where the perch have a nice easy life (no strong flows to contend with, etc.) and you can get very big perch.

 

As I put in another topic, I am sure now that the big perch have a short, sharp feeding spell, eat one or two crays, and then do very little for a couple of days. If you happen to have a bait in the right place when they feed you catch them, if it's in the wrong place or they're resting up, you don't. Where I fish, total blanks (not even a bite) are the norm, and one perch is a good result. You just have to keep going!

 

It would be really interesting to see a proper study of how frequently fish-eating perch feed compared to cray-eating perch.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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Its not just the Ronnies and Reggies either that have caused the boom in big perch,nor the boom in commercials. A lot of venues hold big perch now (well big compared to what they did 20+ years ago) A lot of the gravel pits I fish have them as well though strangely enough a couple of the trout reservoirs that used to have big amounts of 2lbrs (big then) have never really returned............and that return was to the pre "Perch Disease"/Prymnesium days. And for me (along with the better food now available via crays,nitrate enriched water etc etc) is the big thing.We've simply not had the problems with either of these diseases in the past two decades.

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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