Lure Fishing For Perch

[Bill Eborn]

If you are lure fishing for Perch in waters that it is claimed have no Pike in them, how convinced do you to be before you dispense with a wire trace?

 

I am thinking of targeting the Perch in a local commercial water once the river seasons over where I am told, including by the lakes owners there aren't any Pike. My instinct is to use a wire trace anyway until I am utterly convinced that Pike are absent i.e after maybe five or six sessions without catching any.

[Newt]

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.  

....

Steve - how about if the water is murky enough to seriously hinder sight feeding? I'd imagine perch would either have to switch over to other senses (vibration, smell, whatever) or not feed. And not eating wouldn't seem practical if the water stayed murky very long.

 

And even with a species that is primarily a sight feeder, do you think that when they get close to a lure that isn't a fast-moving, reaction type, they might not take a sniff (or whatever fish do) to confirm the thing in the water is probably tasty?

[Peter Waller]

To add to Newts comments Steve. Oulton Broad, during the perch hayday, was less clean than it is now. Strangley Les Proudfoot (see Book of the Perch) used to stir the mud up big time when he fished. After a good blow, when the broad was well stired up and like pea soup was also a good time for big perch. Possibly the fish came up in the water because of reduced light levels. A good lure used to be (1960's) an ABU Colibri, or maybe Combi, I think it was called, rather like a small modern spinner bait. Certainly a noisy beast, as is the Ondex, to a lesser degree, that still scores. The Atom, on the other hand, a quiet spoon, was never a great success for any of us, although I know you rate it highly. What I am trying to say is that perch do apparently hunt by sound, so why not smell?

[Steve Burke]

I'm not saying that perch don't use smell to feed - they clearly do, which is why chopped worm and flavoured maggots are effective. However, I believe they do so much less than other species, relying mainly on sight. This is why they rarely feed at night, when of course they could use smell to locate food.

 

Coloured water is in fact good for perch as their superior vision then gives them an advantage over their poorer-sighted prey. In fact I mentioned Les Proudfoot's mudstirring at Oulton in The Book of the Perch (page 200)and suggested that the perch could lurk unseen in the muddy water yet clearly see their prey in the adjacent clearer water.

 

As many of you will know lure fishing for perch is my favourite way of fishing for my favourite species. However I have to say that if the the whole of the area is murky (as opposed to a distinct "clarity cline" from mudstirring) I find baits are usually very much better than lures.

 

In the book I also mentioned putting uncooked bacon rind on the hook of a lure to act as an attractant. This can attract by sight, smell and taste (and to a lesser extent by vibration). On one particular day my boat partner blanked using the same lures whilst using bacon rind I had a pike plus 10 perch, nine of which were over 2lbs. Mind you I've been on the receiving end as well!

[Rob Ward]

Regarding wire traces - use one to be on the safe side.

 

Steve - have you ever known a trace to discourage Perch when lure fishing?

[Jeff S]

Sooo.. Macdaddy did you do well?

[macdaddymac]

Well the trip at the weekend didn't produce on the Lures only two perch came out all day (on the bottom big fat lobby's) But not to be disheartened you boys have given me some good ideas to try

 

 

tight lines!!

 

Mac

[Newt]

Steve Burke:

...

In the book I also mentioned putting uncooked bacon rind on the hook of a lure to act as an attractant.  This can attract by sight, smell and taste (and to a lesser extent by vibration).  On one particular day my boat partner blanked using the same lures whilst using bacon rind I had a pike plus 10 perch, nine of which were over 2lbs.  Mind you I've been on the receiving end as well!

Don't know if you can get it over there but a company called "Uncle Josh" has been making pork trailers for lures and hooks for lots of years. Interesting shapes and flavors. Stored in a heavy brine solution and last for years. One of them is tough enough to survive on a hook (or as a lure trailer) for most or all of a day's fishing even if you are catching well.

 

 

http://www.basspro.com and search for Uncle Josh

[Steve Burke]

Cheers, Newt. It was in fact after reading about these that I used bacon rind. Thanks for the reminder.

[Steve Burke]

Rob Ward:

Regarding wire traces - use one to be on the safe side.

 

Steve - have you ever known a trace to discourage Perch when lure fishing?

With small lures very definitely. For instance Leon and I were showing a youngster at Wingham how to fish jigs. As soon as I tried without a wire trace follows turned into takes.

 

With larger lures the difference doesn't seem to be so great, although I'm convinced there is still a difference at times. However I haven't done any controlled experiments. This is largely because, unless there are no pike in the water, I always use a wire trace on lures with treble (or double)hooks anyway. If pike are absent I'll dispense with the wire.

 

If pike are present it's purely a question of when, not if, you get a bite-off. Quite apart from losing the lure it could well of course mean a dead pike.