Perch season

[Tigger]

That sounds a bit rough Tigger, glad you're OK.

 

It did feel perchy today, the leaves are falling into the river, the apple tree overhanging the water is dropping its fruit with loud 'plops', and the last of the blackberries are hanging onto the brambles, but it's still not quite right...the river still isn't really flowing, it's still quite low, and it'll be a few weeks yet before it feels perfect. Still, the perch are feeding

 

The spot I had in mind didn't feel right - too many boats, too exposed, not enough cover - so I ended up in a swim I've fished before. There are usually some perch around, and a few seasons back I lost an absolute giant from that swim. It's the one fish I've ever lost that still haunts me, it really was enormous.

 

I spent an hour or so firing maggots out to get the bleak in a good old frenzy, and then got the perch rods ready. One was a float rig with lobs for bait, the other a float paternoster with bleak for bait. To the right of the swim is a big old hawthorn bush that's fallen into the river with about 6' of water next to it. I dropped the bleak rod a few feed from that (enough space so I had time to keep any big ones from shooting right into the snag), and float fished the lobs close in to the left. Maggots were fired in constantly to keep the bleak boiling away.

 

I started catching perch straight away, it was great! No big ones but a steady stream of them, some up to about a pound and a half, lovely looking fish. Most on lobs, one or two on the bleak. I then had a better fish on the lobs, it a was a good bit bigger and really scrapped hard, and I reckoned it was a '2'. While I was zeroing the scales and getting the camera ready, it did a stunning backflip out of the net back into the river, so we'll never know It's a pity I couldn't get a photo of that one, it was a gorgeous looking perch, with really vivid colours.

 

More perch of various sizes followed. It was so nice today to just sit and watch the floats. I realised it's been a really long time since I've done that. There's nothing quite like it, especially when one slides away

 

I ran out of lobs just before dusk, so packed that rod away and watched the paternoster. As the light went so I could only just make out the float, the float zipped under and the line pulled tight - I struck into a different class of fish. Very heavy (I couldn't shift it on the avon rod) and ponderous, the odd head shake, it was clearly a much bigger perch. I kept it from the hawthorn, but as I brought it up near the margin it shook its head again, and the hook pinged out. And it was gone!

 

Unlike the other big perch I lost there I didn't see this one, so I have no idea how big it could have been. But I really, really wish I'd been able to log on this evening and end this little tale differently!

 

Still, a really nice afternoon and evening. I went perch fishing and caught some perch. Can't be bad can it

 

 

Sounds like you had more luck than me . Actually the place where I was fishing is usually my favourite perch spot but with the river being so much in flood and so coloured up I don't think there was much chance of catching any today. I did see a couple of carp jump and that's what I was aiming to hook up with but really didn't feel in the mood to carry on after my swimming lesson

 

 

Steve, it's a waste of time thinking of going to the kwacks here, the earlies apointment will be in about three weeks if I was lucky. I'd have to go to the Ozzy - accident emergency and I don't think they'd be to impressed with me moaning about swallowing sewage in the river .

[Rusty]

Blimey, we've had nowt but rain here Andrew... I've just been over my head and swimming in a flooded river after sliding down a bank that is usually exposed...swallowed a load of water n'all just down strean from the bloody sewerage works outlet . I've just had a bath in bleach and drunk some to kill the germs

 

Again? That's the second time you've taken a dunking in recent weeks. It would be best to get off to the docs just in case.........I've just had a horrible thought, you weren't using the Avon Elite were you?

[AddictedToScopex]

Blimey, we've had nowt but rain here Andrew... I've just been over my head and swimming in a flooded river after sliding down a bank that is usually exposed...swallowed a load of water n'all just down strean from the bloody sewerage works outlet . I've just had a bath in bleach and drunk some to kill the germs

I must have just missed you Ian. I was down the same way yesterday but didnt see your car although I did see a gap in the balsam where you usually fish so assumed you had been recently. Was gobsmacked at the height of the river when I got there. I had a go for an hour but wasnt happy with it and in the end I ended up going home for the pole gear and hitting the canal. Caught quite a few fish including my first ever ruffe (had 3 of them!) and some bloody big perch.

[Renrag39]

Hopefully my new found lure fanaticism will translate into a few nice Perch, fingers crossed!

 

Renrag

[Anderoo]

Anderoo unlucky with the last fish but sounds like you have had a good day and sport like that is always memorable,I to am haunted by a big stripey i lost a few years ago at our old marina...a truly massive fish and if you see them it makes it a recurring nightmare for a while eh?? If you don`t see them but can tell from the fight it`s a big stripey then it can be even worse ...either way unlucky ......gives us the hunger for another crack though eh?? Steve.

 

What is it with perch? So many stories of lost monsters! Must be their hard mouths? One last head shake and 'ping'... Having said that, I rarely (if ever) lose one when worm is the bait.

 

At least I didn't see it. I can at least tell myself it could have been a big chub or a pike. When you see them, you know full well what you're looking at.

 

You're right though, I'm even more determined now to crack this bit of river. Until it turns into chub season (and the best of it is always after xmas), I'm going to really try to catch one of these big ones.

 

One important lesson from yesterday is take more bait than you think you need. It was only a short session and I caned through the maggots and lobs. Feeding chopped worm really helped, the difference was quite dramatic. I thought that the swim of boiling bleak would be enough attraction, but it wasn't. Most perch wanted a bait hard on the bottom too.

 

However, like last time, it was the bleak fished at 3/4 depth positioned well outside the baited area that picked up the big one.

 

I think a plan is starting to come together

[AddictedToScopex]

Hopefully my new found lure fanaticism will translate into a few nice Perch, fingers crossed!

 

Renrag

Something I found on wikipedia with regard to ruffe but which also mentions perch which I think is fairly useful to know in targetting perch(although most probably know this already):

 

The ruffe also has an excepional ability to detect water vibrations through organs called neuromasts. This trait both aids the ruffe in finding food and gives the rudge an edge in avoiding predators. These will develop into more advanced and sensitive organs as the fish matures; for example, the perch's neuromasts weaken as it matures.

 

Ruffe wiki

 

It seems that the bait approach would be a better bet for the much larger perch rather than spinning. I will carry on spinning for them regardless though until it gets colder as it is just such a fun way to fish for them. Following that I will be going onto the float fished worm.

Edited September 19, 2011 by AddictedToScopex

[Tigger]

I must have just missed you Ian. I was down the same way yesterday but didnt see your car although I did see a gap in the balsam where you usually fish so assumed you had been recently. Was gobsmacked at the height of the river when I got there. I had a go for an hour but wasnt happy with it and in the end I ended up going home for the pole gear and hitting the canal. Caught quite a few fish including my first ever ruffe (had 3 of them!) and some bloody big perch.

 

 

 

I didn't fish there yesterday Rik, I did last week though. It's a waste of time when it's like that, so high and like brown soup.

 

 

Anderoo, I tyhink the reason so many perch are lost is because of the thin membrane between their lip and skull. It most likely rips and the hook pulls...just my theory.

[AddictedToScopex]

I didn't fish there yesterday Rik, I did last week though. It's a waste of time when it's like that, so high and like brown soup.

 

 

Anderoo, I tyhink the reason so many perch are lost is because of the thin membrane between their lip and skull. It most likely rips and the hook pulls...just my theory.

Yeah I know what you mean Ian it was a total washout lol. I agree with you on the membrane thing for the perch. I had quite a few yesterday and even on a decent pole with soft elastic I saw a few tears on the thin layer of skin between the lip and the rest of the head. It is surprisingly weak.

[JV44]

What is it with perch? So many stories of lost monsters! Must be their hard mouths? One last head shake and 'ping'... Having said that, I rarely (if ever) lose one when worm is the bait.

 

At least I didn't see it. I can at least tell myself it could have been a big chub or a pike. When you see them, you know full well what you're looking at.

 

You're right though, I'm even more determined now to crack this bit of river. Until it turns into chub season (and the best of it is always after xmas), I'm going to really try to catch one of these big ones.

 

One important lesson from yesterday is take more bait than you think you need. It was only a short session and I caned through the maggots and lobs. Feeding chopped worm really helped, the difference was quite dramatic. I thought that the swim of boiling bleak would be enough attraction, but it wasn't. Most perch wanted a bait hard on the bottom too.

 

However, like last time, it was the bleak fished at 3/4 depth positioned well outside the baited area that picked up the big one.

 

I think a plan is starting to come together

Anderoo i often set the boat up to trot and feed maggots and have a couple of sleeper live bait rods straight out the front and back off boat and allowed to trot down a distance both just outside of the bait channel until they are past the end of my trotting distance with the float rod so as tyou describe well outside the baited area and these often bring big stripeys like they are hanging around just on the edge of all the commotion...as you say sounds like a good battle plan to me .

Going to get my Perch head on soon ...

[Emma two]

I think it's arrived

 

The leaves are turning, there's that wonderful September light, the air is cooling, we're getting the first little bits of rain for ages...the rivers are now starting that gradual annual change to their winter states, with their extra water, flow, and character. Between now and when it gets properly cold, it feels like perch time.

 

I was completely obsessed with the chub last season (aided by the very early and harsh winter we had last year), so it's been two whole years since I've done any river perching. Well, that's about to change!

 

I know this is tempting fate, but I'm about to go for my first perch session of the season, and I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be on a bit of river that I haven't fished for perch before, so I'm not expecting much, but if I can manage a perch or two of any size I'll come home very happy. The river does hold some big fish though, so a specimen is always a possibility. But today it'll be enough to sit and watch the red tip of my favourite perch float again, and hopefully watch it slide away...

 

I'll let you know how it goes later - good luck to everyone fishing for the stripeys this autumn

 

I said it in repsonse to the similar stuff written about piking, and I have to say it about stripeys too, it is misleading and quite wrong to wax on about autumn heralding a bumper perch fishin' time. While it may do in some places it certainly doesnt everywhere. They have already become markedly conspitious by their absence since the weather took a downturn a couple of weeks ago. They have vacated the bays and past experience of many cold blank days revealed that bait fishing (and spinning) for them at all depths down to 100ft has proven useless. I love perch fishin' and have been daft enough in years past to continue after them into autumn and winter, I would save nbewcomers that pain. I wholeheartedy belive those who say that it get better in the autumn..but only in their part of the world. there is no (universal) 'perch season'...If i were to place a season for them I would say it was may, june and july. (I surpassed my best this june and broke well past the 4lb barrier) Based simply upon it is during those months that I catch far more than at any other time, regardless how much and how many methods and locations I fish at other times. I may see the very odd stripey between now and mid oct, but probably wont see another until spring.

Edited September 19, 2011 by Emma two