big Perch

[singy]

I'm courently fishing a small lake for the carp mainly, but it does have some very large perch in.

The lake is coloured but has a good surface visability. It a sort of suspension, if you know what I mean. How successful would lure fishing be in coloured conditions?

Could you recommend me a rig/float for livebaiting, is it just a case of scaling down pike rigs minus the trace, and what size bait would you recommend for perch of 3lb upwards.

Have you ever had perch take surface lures? I have some lovely little surface poppers.

 

Lots of questions, any help would be gratefully recieved

[Nugg]

Is it that you want to use a lure or do you just want to catch the Perch? It is possible that a Perch will take Rapala's and the like, or a small spinner, for live bait you could use Minnows lip hooked, weighted by AA shot, free lined or on float. If it's that you just want to catch, the method I would use would be to float, using Dendrhabena,s or red worm, which is more likely to bring success.

[singy]

this place is full of rudd and roach, any bait like worm just isn't selective enough and would catch me one of these within seconds. Live/dead baits would be the above mentioned roach and rudd. The smallest I've caught there is 2oz, but perch have huge mouths and these will be what they are feeding on.

 

I just want to catch them, but not be hassled by the silver fish. I used to have the perch bob floats when I was a kid and was wondering if these are still the best floats to suspend a 2oz live bait under.

[Steve Burke]

Hi Singy. See my piece "Perch from Commercial Carp Waters" in the articles section here on Angler's Net, which should be relevant to this sort of water. It's part of a series on perch that you'll find here. I'm not doing any more articles at present as I'm busy with a follow-up to the Book of the Perch, which is tentatively called In Search of Big Perch. It'll be partly instructional and partly stories of trips.

 

From the article you'll see that I recommend sizeable livebaits and freshwater deadbaits on this sort of water when after big perch. I also prefer undershotted wagglers to top and bottom floats like parch bobbers for the reasons given in the article, which incidentally has several rig diagrams.

 

You'll probably find that lures won't work that well if the water is coloured, but there are a few exceptions. I've had perch on surface lures, including poppers, but not as often as sub-surface lures.

[Nugg]

OK then try the bob float, other than that I would suggest a gold coloured small spinner or a fat lob worm. I think you could be on the road to attracting Pike, if there is any in there, using a 2oz bait

[Newt]

Since perch can use more than one sense for finding prey - I'd suggest a lure that would appeal to several.

 

Soft plastic with a curley tail (makes nice vibrations when it moves) and some scent added. 3inch to start and move to larger and larger until you find the size they want.

 

Try it rigged with the hook as if you were doing a texas rig and using a small split shot (a lead that crimps onto the line) and moving it s l o w l y along the bottom. If no luck, swim it slowly but so that the weight just bounces on the bottom occasionally to stir up some mud.

 

If no results or slow results, try using a larger bullet weight that is free-sliding on the line but stopped at a foot or so in front of the lure. Keep trying longer leads until you find the combination they want. Sometimes 6 inches will do it and sometimes a couple of feet.

 

If you need rigging tips or tactical ideas, take a look at Tips & Tactics. Centers on largemouth bass but info applies pretty much to other preds. Just smaller for perch and larger for pike.

[Steve Burke]

Newt, do you find that lures work well for perch in coloured water? I've tried all sorts of lures, including soft plastics in those conditions, but have done far better with real fish or lobworms.

 

Something I have found interesting in comparing US and UK fishing is that over the pond you almost always seem to fish baits on the move. Over here we tend to fish static baits unless we're drifting a bait out with a float. However, some of us do twitch our baits from time to time.

 

Could it have something to do with groundbait (chum?) being less used or even banned in certain US states? We use groundbait to bring the fish to us, you go in search of the fish even when using bait?

[Hereford_angler]

You will be suprised how well a little silver spinner can be seen even in coloured water. Using a plug with a rattle will imrove you lure catching capability further in coloured water. If this fails try using a minnow or gudgeoun lipped through the lip on a river float. I use a crystal drennan chubber of 4AAA. But this is because i use live bait. I know that activity will attract perch. If you can ger lots of roach and things feedeing in the area big perch will move in and usually bully them out. Good luck!

[Steve Burke]

Hereford, I agree that lures will catch perch in coloured waters but my experience is that bait is then usually far superior. It's a shame as lure fishing is my favourite way to catch my favourite fish.

 

As mentioned above I don't use top and bottom floats like chubbers. This is for 2 reasons: firstly I find that that they create too much resistance, which the bigger perch in particular are put off by. Secondly, I prefer the line above the float to be sunk thus slowing the livebait down. This also keeps the bait in the right area for longer. Indeed, I often fish overdepth and then the bait tends to freeze. The perch frequently then stalk it and catch in unawares. The first you know there's a perch in the area is when the float slides away!

 

Feeding to attract the small fry is important, but if you want specimen stripies I find it's best to fish your livebait 10 to 20ft from the edge of the feed. These bigger fish pick off the stragglers of the bait fish, rather like a big cat stalking zebra etc.

 

Again, more info on these tactics are in the articles I referred to earlier.

[goin_fishin]

My friend caught a 3lb river perch on wednesday on the river aire he caught that legering worm.....

The perch was so big i couldent get my hand round it...... lol