Lure Fishing For Perch

[macdaddymac]

Any one tried Lure's for perch, I'm gonna have a go on sunday any tips would b helpfull

[Jeff S]

Macdaddy.. like your comment on American beer. So true, so true.

 

I had a bit of luck with perch a while back on the local river but at the time the water was rather murky. They were practically leaping out of the water less than a foot from the bank after a chartruese (sp?) shakespeare spinner with a silver blade. Caught up to 1lb 9oz.

 

Try fishing slow and near cover if you can. I've also had a few follows from pike but no takes with rapala stickbaits. I'll be making some more of my own actually.

 

Try rubber worms fished weedless too. You can weight them or leave them.

 

Seems as maybe Peter Waller may have a comment or two. Personally I've been waiting for his detailed exploits..

 

Cheers and good luck.

[RUDD]

If you are fishing a water which doesnt have a pike population you can get away without a wire trace. If it has pike use one!

I have caught perch using small spinners and small plugs.

I have seen perch caught on big plugs as big as themselves.

For clear water use dark color plugs.

If murky use something that gives vibrations.

[Dunk Fairley]

I did very well last summer using Toothy critter "Head cases". I had lots of perch follows on the large 160mm, light hook ones, so scaled down to the smallest they do.

 

Also, I used a small Ondex spinner, in gold, and had a fantastic day.

 

You may do well by using a small blade spinner, but hook a lobworm on the hook. It gives them a bit of encouragement.

 

Always use a trace and line over 12lbs, unless you canguarentee there are no pike there.

[snotty]

Thanks macdaddymac for raising this topic, and guys for the tips, I too was about to try this out for myself, but a little unsure whether rubber worms or baited spinner would do the trick, is there a need to dip the rubber worm to flavour it or do the perch rely on mainly visual stimulus like pike?

[Peter Waller]

That very fine fellow Keith Finn sent me a load of rubber worms and creatures that he's got from the US. Drop shotting and split shot rigs, all new to me, are proving great fun and productive for perch. Today turned quite overcast and the pike went off, or, put it another way, didn't come on! So I gave the perch a good bash and was more than happy with the result. Nothing spectacular but any perch over half a pound is worth catching.

[macdaddymac]

Thanks guys didn't think that perch on lures would rasie much intrest!,Sounds like everyone who has tried it has had fun!!

Tight Lines

I'll Post back on monday with the Results!

[Newt]

snotty:

.... is there a need to dip the rubber worm to flavour it or do the perch rely on mainly visual stimulus like pike?

There is some question in my mind if the flavorings attract more strikes or not. Certainly a good one won't cause any fewer so why not.

 

Another bonus to my mind is if you are applying the stuff by hand, you will cover any odd smells on your hands that might otherwise put the fish off your lure once they got close or actually hit at it.

 

The real key I think is that a fish will hold the lure in it's mouth longer if it tastes like prey. So you will have a better chance of hooking it than you would without the flavor/scent added.

 

As you can probably tell, I like to use them. Liquids on soft baits and I've even started spraying my hard baits with a grocery store item. Look for the glop the wife uses to keep food from sticking to the pan (Pam is a common brand over here) and get it in a garlic version. I'll spray about every half-dozen casts. No idea why garlic works but AFAIK, it is an attractant for every fresh water pred fish.

[Ed Matysiak]

Rubber Grubs are great for perch.

[Steve Burke]

My own experience shows that flavouring artificials isn't as important as other factors when it comes to perch, probably because perch are predominently sight feeders. Having said that I do believe that scents encourage perch to hang onto the soft baits in particular that little bit longer. On some days this can make a big difference.

 

The most important factors seem to be to get the speed of retrieve and the depth you fish the lure correct.

 

In general the warmer the weather the faster the retrieve I start with. Only if this doesn't work do I experiment. Certainly in winter slow retrieves almost always outfish fast ones.

 

The correct depth is important with all lure fishing. Indeed I believe it's the single biggest reason for novice lure anglers failing to catch - often because they're fishing too shallow. With perch it's even more important as, due to their unusual swim bladder arrangement, perch have to pretty quickly return to their starting depth.

 

The optimum depth is usually related to the amount of underwater light - the better the visibility the deepoer the feeding perch will usually be.

 

I'd also suggest that if it's big perch you want use a big lure. My starting point is around 3½ inches - in other words what has traditionally been recommended for pike. Indeed I've caught large numbers of perch on 5" banana-shaped plugs! Of course there are days when smaller lures are better, especially if you want a big bag rather than specimens. However these are fewer than you'd think.