Perch

[Duncan]

Hi,

 

At this early point I’ll make the disclaimer that the questions I’m asking have no ulterior motive’s other than knowledge.

 

A previous thread on perch from the “the barbel & perch man” elicited an interesting response Steve Burke regarding perch biology and the swim bladder arrangement being “different” to most other coarse fish.

 

So Steve/Alan or anyone else I have these questions

 

1. If the perch has a swim bladder that is slow to respond to depth changes - by that it therefore equates to pressure change, if a fish is hooked in say 8 feet of water does it suffer any discomfort after being hooked in being quickly brought to the surface? (8 feet of water will give a depth to surface pressure differential of approximately 3psi)

 

2. Does slow response make the perch more susceptible to atmospheric conditions - temperature and pressure change, and how does this affect there feeding habits i.e. do they feed more readily in stable temps and pressures than rising /falling temps and pressures.

 

Many Thanks

 

Duncan

 

[ 03. November 2002, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: Duncan ]

[poledark]

Hi Dunc, the only help I can offer is a vague memory that the perch caught at Arlesley by RW and friends did suffer, but they were brought up from over 30ft.

 

But then maybe I remember it wrong and they did NOT suffer!!

 

Den

[Alan Pearce]

Duncan, I have no experience of catching perch from depths of more than sixteen feet and have not had any problems with them 'gassing up'. I have seen pike showing signs of distress when brought to the surface too quickly from depths in excess of 25 feet.

 

As far as tempratures are concerned in my experience stable or rising tempratures offer more chances of consistant captures especially following a freeze when a warm, windy and wet front moves in. When very cold I find it pays to be much more mobile with the placing of baits as perch are often not as active. Some times just moving a bait a couple of yards can make all the diffrence in very cold conditions especially on still waters. During very cold weather I look for deeper than average depths on still waters and am happiest when I can find nine to twelve feet in a lake or pit where the average depth may be say five to 7 feet. All waters will of course vary and a lot depends on the reactions to tempratures by the prey fish, one thing is certain, perch will never be far from an easy meal.

 

Alan.

[Steve Burke]

Certainly perch hooked in very deep water, say 20ft+, do have problems when brought to the surface. 8 foot is fine though. If you do catch a perch that appears in difficulty it's important to return it immediately, certainly without taking a photo. As I've said before, my maxim is that I'd rather lose a photo than a fish.

 

My experience agrees with Alan as to the best weather conditions. I find low pressure best in shallow lakes, but that may only be because it normally means low light levels as well, which big perch definitely prefer. In these conditions the perch may feed hard in just 18 inches of water, especially at dusk.

 

On deep waters such as trout reservoirs we used to catch perch at say 15 feet early in the day during high pressure. When the fog suddenly lifted it was like a light been switched off as the perch did too. However another shoal at say 25 feet a few hundred yards away might just as suddenly start feeding then.

 

I don't think the perch moved deeper because of their swim bladder arrangement; rather shoals at different depths fed when the light was right for them. As perch have better eyesight than any other coarse fish except zander they use it when they have the most advantage over their poorer-sighted prey - which is in poor light.

 

[ 04. November 2002, 10:16 AM: Message edited by: Steve Burke ]

[Duncan]

Many thanks for the info from all who responded,

 

I don’t fish deep waters so the gassing up issue should not be a problem however it will certainly help in revising my fish handling strategy in the future if I fish deeper waters. The light intensity/air pressure relationship will defiantly aid in session planning the next time I go.

 

Thanks again

 

Duncan