Small lures

[Jeff S]

I was once told a small mepps is good for perch, but I suppose you would get pike as well so have to use wire.

 

A mid sized mepps will work very well for both! The majority of the perch I have caught have been on mepps- the gold variety with no hair on the treble.

[Dick Dastardly]

I dont think small is best for Perch.All of the decent perch Ive had on lures have been on the largest size ABU Atoms or 5" "Flatfish" type plugs.

[BoldBear]

Quote from Zardos:

I was once told a small mepps is good for perch, but I suppose you would get pike as well so have to use wire.

 

Although I'm new to using the normal(?) sized lures; I have used very small Mepps on 3lb line for Perch and have had some really succesful days using them on canals and small lakes and moats.

 

I have a book indoors from one of the 'Osprey Anglers' group of books about Bream where the author mentions using tiny Polystickle lures to imitate fish fry for Bream which most Bream anglers in the UK wouldn't normally think of using. Has anyone else heard of this? and had any luck with them?

or is this more akin to wet fly fishing?

Edited May 1, 2008 by BoldBear

[Stretpegger]

Although i have not got the book to hand i am pretty sure that in my late fathers copy of " Stillwater Angling " i have seen a photo of some tiny lures that the Dutch use/used to target Rudd.These were definitely tiny spinning lures and not flies.

[Steve Burke]

I dont think small is best for Perch.All of the decent perch Ive had on lures have been on the largest size ABU Atoms or 5" "Flatfish" type plugs.

 

I'd partly go along with this, including recommending both of these lures/sizes.

 

However there are days when even big perch prefer small lures.

[Steve Burke]

Although i have not got the book to hand i am pretty sure that in my late fathers copy of " Stillwater Angling " i have seen a photo of some tiny lures that the Dutch use/used to target Rudd.These were definitely tiny spinning lures and not flies.

 

Dead right! There's pictures in the 1st edition facing pages 150 & 151, showing "Still-water spoons used in Holland", and "Roach, 5lb 1oz". However different pics appear in later editions, for instance the ones mentioned don't appear in the 4th edition. That said the Dutch caught roach (later suggested to be hybrids I seem to recall) on spoons ranging from tiny to 1¾inches.

 

P.S. Does anyone have a 1st edition of "Still-water Angling" with a dustwrapper. My first has no dustwrapper, but on the other hand is signed by Richard Walker.

Edited March 15, 2008 by Steve Burke

[Newt]

Since my initial set of photos from 2005 when this topic was started seem to have gone missing, here is what I consider a small lure - not smallest but certainly small at 1/16 oz. Two shots of the same lure.

 

They do catch fish for me although I need to add a couple of shot to the line unless I'm using an u/l rod designed to handle such light weights.

 

This same lure style is available in 1/8 oz if you want to go heavier or 1/32 oz if the fish are really small or feeling really shy.

[Steve Burke]

Thanks for adding the photos again, Newt. That makes it a lot clearer. As I mentioned back in 2005 those Road Runners are excellent, especially when perch are targetting fry.

 

In fact I've caught big perch (and a few other species including carp) on all manner of jigs. However US anglers like Newt are way ahead of us with this sort of fishing. As are the South Africans who thrashed us in an international match at Wingham some years back. They used 1/64oz micro curly tails for perch. They kindly gave us some to try and two of the UK team got smashed up by big tench - in November!

 

The only thing I'd add is that wire traces (even 15lb Wonder Wire) very definitely cuts down the number of perch takes on jigs. I discovered this many moons ago and confirmed it a few years back at Wingham when Leon and I were teaching a youngster how to fish them.

 

I'd stress that I'm happy to dispense with a wire trace if pike are present only when I'm using a lure with a single hook. If the fine wire hooks on these lures don't straighten the pike soon get rid of them. IMO it's no different to fishing a lobworm when pike are about.

[Newt]

Steve - I've lost count of the species I've caught with these little spinner baits and if I only had one colour, the pictured one would be it.

 

Fishing with them is an adventure since you have absolutely no idea what species or what size will take them. I've caught a few that I never knew had the least interest in lures.

 

Cheap as chips too so not painful if you lose one or after the hook bends straight and you rebend it 3-4 times which is about the limit before it gets too fragile.

 

Try www.basspro.com > freshwater fishing > soft lures > panfish to get an idea of what is available.

[fishtec1312]

Nearest Ive ever got close to using ultra "ultra light" lures like this is flys and 2" rubber "Mr Twister" worms for perch.Used these when fishing the small tributary of the Saone that flowed behind my caravan when living in France.It was great fun,so much so that I nearly brought a rod specially for it.I used a light fly rod (8'AFTM 5) but with a small fixed spool.

 

If they were used more I suppose we would all be suprised at what we could catch on them.After all look at the coarse fish that can be taken on fly or are caught accidently on small live or dead baits intended for eels.

 

At the present in the UK the nearest we see to this is anglers using "ultra light" lures and outfits for the likes of chub but compared to the lures you show they are quite heavy still.

 

Newt, ever used the Northland "Whistler" jig head from Cabelas? found these good for our Perch.

 

Peter I think the US's version of Ann Summers is Victorias Secrets.Mmuch the same but without the vast amount of strange vibrating lure blanks..................or so Ive been told

anyone seen the soft plastics with vid on www.zestify.tv fish