Big perch - strength of line

[Adam247]

i tend to use general 10lb florocarbon line as an all rounder and also makes sure I wont snapp up on anything that takes the bait also what type of hook you using ? spade or eyed ? I use a knotless knot on both but with eyed tend to thread through eye and then on shank

hope my little info helps

[davedave]

4lb straight through always, if i use two rods for perch in winter i only have one reel with 4lb line on, so i have one rod with 4lb straight through, another with 6lb main to a 4lb hooklength.

 

Saying that, that is stillwater perch fishing with a lot of open water, i might go 6lb straight through if fishing snaggy waters or rivers

[Emma two]

This one has made me think, I have a rel loaded with 4 lbs mone which I use for the increasingly rare ledgering sessions, I have treied sitting down and fishing only twice this year and both times stuggled to stay awake and so have packed it in. Mostly I use 20lbs powerpro on my lightweight set ups and 40 lbs on the medium.

[Vagabond]

It felt like a 3lb perch, but who knows. It was pulling hard and doggedly, ...................

 

.....The last cm of lime looked as if it had been roughened, though, and in my limited experience pike bite-offs are clean.

Have only just seen this

 

Not a pike Tenchy, as you deduced, but I bet it wasn't a snag either.

 

From the evidence you have given, I think you have just met a big eel - and I am very surprised that no-one else has suggested it (skimmed through the thread, found no mention of eels, but apologies if someone has mentioned it)

 

Eels, like perch, wag their heads to and fro when hooked, and if the eel is big enough, the teeth will fray the line through if you don't lug it in real soon. One of the reasons I use 6 lb Maxima for perch - I've landed plenty of eels and pike on my perch rigs!

 

Before the break, did you have the impression the fish was swimming backwards ?

 

I very often encounter eels when perch fishing (in fact I got an eel of 2.5 lb just after the last perch in the bag of perch I posted about a few days back, but didn't bother to mention it at the time)

[Vagabond]

Brought this to the top again as I hope someone will respond.

110 people have read the thread since my previous post above, but no-one has offered comment.

 

Have they :-

1. Shaken their heads in disbelief, as they believe eels are now extinct, or

2. Nodded wisely and said "of course", or

3. Thought there was insufficient evidence, despite FTs graphic description, and decided to get on with the rest of their lives ?

 

Which did you do ?

When I read out FT's post to my wife, she said immediately, without prompting, "eels"

 

I would have thought any experienced perch fisher would have met eels from time to time, whether using worms, fish bait, or even maggot. Certainly the catch reports from Wingham fish-ins suggest that eels turn up reasonably frequently when fishing worm baits for perch or tench. (and yes I know that one or two people have fished there deliberately for eels, but there remain a lot of "accidental" captures)

 

What I had hoped for was comment from perch specialists who have found a way to minimise the chance of an eel snaffling one's perch bait (apart from fishing a water where it is known that eels are few, it's a forlorn hope I guess)

[Dales]

2. Nodded wisely and said "of course", or

 

Number 2 for me, I may have wrongly assumed that it would be easy to call and everyone would be able to tell if they had hooked a Perch, Eel or Pike after a short while of playing the fish. But from fishing Wingham you do get used to accidently hooking plenty of Pike and Eels while Perch fishing to have experience of feeling the difference.

[gozzer]

I'm not sure about the "wisely" bit Dave, but I certainly agree with you. When initially hooking an eel, I've often thought perch, but then, as you say, the swimming backwards gives it's true identity.

The weakening or breaking of the line just above the hook, I've put down to different things dependent on the swim, and the species I've subsequently caught. Chub in particular have taken my bait without moving, and 'bitten' off the line. Trout if hooked inside the mouth, and line run across the teeth, (especially when fishing light hook lengths). Pike obviously, and of course eels. I suspect carp do the same as the chub, but have no proof.

 

John.

[Vagabond]

I may have wrongly assumed that it would be easy to call and everyone would be able to tell if they had hooked a Perch, Eel or Pike after a short while of playing the fish.

Agreed , It is not easy for the less experienced, particularly if the fish is lost without being seen!

That is why we need to spell things out in answering this type of query - especially when the evidence was as clearly stated as in FTs post.

 

Despite the title, the thread has been addressing the wrong question - rather than "what strength of line?" the real question we should have been asking was "why did FT lose that fish?"

 

What I am trying to say is that anyone who fishes for big perch with worm, fish, or maggot should include the possibility of hooking pike and eels in the equation.

[Phone]

Vagabond,

 

Let me first say I don't have any idea of how much experience was involved with the original explaination.

 

Another possibility, and "first thought", perhaps the most common in the US, is line that was compromised at the knot before it was even cast. Mono often looks frayed when it is, in fact, stretched apart.

 

As for eels, not even a consideration in most waters over here.

 

My "second" thought (from a thread started in 2005??) was indeed a "non-target" fish (or creature like a turtle). The "most common" fish to fray line over here whilst predator fishing with live bait is the "dastardly channel catfish" of about 4 inches. Second, is the "dastardly channel catfish of about 40 lbs.

 

So, #1 bad knot; #2 non-target species.

 

Phone