Top Perch Methods in winter

[Dave H]

All,

 

VERY BAD ENGLISH LOGIC. In America a fish weighing 3.01 is a 4 pound fish in conversation. After all, it's NOT a 3 pound fish and it is perfectly OK to "round up" for simplicity sake.

 

Having said that. Let me ask a general question. In the winter do you inflate lob worms with insulin(sp) needles? Works for me.

 

Phone

 

 

Looking at a still water lake. I have heard prawn can work well. but i think you could catch anything with one of those

[Anderoo]

Tell me about it - I decided around 05/06 season that I wanted one....got with in a couple of ounces (twice now). Still hunting. Also I suspect that many reports of 4lb perch aren't actual 4s !!

 

 

C.

 

Too true - that's why I included the word 'genuine'

 

The difference between a 3lb perch and a 4lb perch is enormous - 25%. The same as the difference between a 30lb carp and a 40lb carp!

 

A friend of mine has had a couple of 4s now, very hard won fish requiring an awful lot of effort off the beaten track. When I asked him to describe what a 4 looks like he said simply 'you'll know a 4 when you see it!'

Edited December 8, 2011 by Anderoo

[Dick Dastardly]

A 4lb Perch eh Hawk? how many threes have you caught then?

[Phone]

BUDGIE,

 

So, do you use inflated lobs in the winter?

 

Phone

[Dick Dastardly]

BUDGIE,

 

So, do you use inflated lobs in the winter?

 

Phone

 

 

Sorry mate,Yes I use "popped up" lobs as my standard worm tactic for Perch at any time of year but to be honest my main approach is to live bait for them.A typical days still water (most of my perching is done on still water simply as local rivers to me ain't that hot for perch!) perching will see me with two live bait rods out and a lob on another.

 

My PB and only 4 (4lb 2 ozs) fell to me by accident though whilst lure fishing for pike on a trout reservoir.Most of my intentional 3's have come to live bait although I had a 3lb 4ozs on worm whilst breaming at Wingham.I have had quite a few 2's on lob.That said I don't think these stats really show much bait wise more that particular baits caught better on different waters.

 

Good example of that is that Steve Burke (a far far better perch angler than myself) has done very well on dead baits but Ive struggled.With the exception of one water though we have allways fished different ones, (I don't count Wingham as due to the predator management policy we don't use fish baits dead or alive to avoid the pike being caught so worm is the only tactic)

 

If you look at Anderoos Thames/Thames tributary results he (despite not liking them) has found lives far better than anything else where (I believe Chris?) Chris has found worm far better on the Kennet & Avon system.

 

Interestingly despite us both having done a lot of lure fishing I think you will find that both Steve and myself have had far more perch on baits than lures.And an awful lot of those big lure caught ones we've had from trout reservoirs where not only are the conditions normally perfect for lures but often the only method allowed!

[Vagabond]

As already stated, genuine four-pounders are rare, and I have had only one in a lifetime's fishing. It was from a still water, and it would be nice to catch its twin from a river.

 

However, I do know an angler who has had over a dozen four-pounders, including fish from rivers and a variety of still waters - most of the time he float-fishes lobworms. Note the plural - two or three big lobs on a size 2 or 4 hook.

[JV44]

Withy the Reports in the angling press of 4s seemingly crawling up the bank it`s easy to see how the poor old 3 has been relegated to ok status ,2lber still a good fish in my book and long may i think so .

Nearly all my big Perch came as a by product whilst livebaiting for Pike ,The few that came whilst targeting them mean a lot more to me in a strange self righteous were not a fluke way .

When i had my 4 from the marina i nearly wet myself,Convinced it must be 5lb the Avons nearly had a watery grave ,They are truely a different class of fish at that weight....god only knows what a genuine 5 looks like .

Fishing poped up worm on the Thames i have always been Jacked out and even took to hair rigging off a trace due to number of bite offs ,have not used this tactic for ages on the river now but it may be one of those venue specific things Steve.

[Anderoo]

If you look at Anderoos Thames/Thames tributary results he (despite not liking them) has found lives far better than anything else where (I believe Chris?) Chris has found worm far better on the Kennet & Avon system.

 

Exactly right, I don't like using lives, but on the Thames in most conditions I think you are at a big disadvantage if you don't use them. Rigs therefore need to be based around lives in water up to 12+ft, often up to 30 yards away, with very little regard to pike (very few in the bits I fish, and if one is present it will be tiny, and you'll catch it whether you're using bleak or lobs). You can also catch the perch all day long, even in bright conditions - and in mid-river, nowhere near any cover.

 

On a little stream I've fished in the past, there are loads of pike and so lives are problematic. It doesn't matter though, as lobs are as good as anything there, and I've had some very nice fish on lobs. Rigs are based around fishing worms on the bottom in no more than 2-3ft of water, often just off the rod tip next to thick vegetation. If the water is low and/or clear, there is no point fishing, and it's extremely rare to catch a perch in full daylight. The only conditions it's worth fishing in, is when it's carrying extra colour and water following a lot of rain and high water, and only then right at dusk in the last 20 minites before it's completely dark.

 

Same fish, but they require completely different tactics because they behave so differently!

 

I know both venues almost certainly hold perch to over 4lb, but despite catching a number of perch from both I've never had one. In fact, I've still never had a 3 from the Thames. The marker for a 'big' perch for me is about 2lb 8oz - once they get to that size, they look different...like a bristling thug whose pint you just knocked over.

[JV44]

Sorry mate,Yes I use "popped up" lobs as my standard worm tactic for Perch at any time of year but to be honest my main approach is to live bait for them.A typical days still water (most of my perching is done on still water simply as local rivers to me ain't that hot for perch!) perching will see me with two live bait rods out and a lob on another.

 

My PB and only 4 (4lb 2 ozs) fell to me by accident though whilst lure fishing for pike on a trout reservoir.Most of my intentional 3's have come to live bait although I had a 3lb 4ozs on worm whilst breaming at Wingham.I have had quite a few 2's on lob.That said I don't think these stats really show much bait wise more that particular baits caught better on different waters.

 

Good example of that is that Steve Burke (a far far better perch angler than myself) has done very well on dead baits but Ive struggled.With the exception of one water though we have allways fished different ones, (I don't count Wingham as due to the predator management policy we don't use fish baits dead or alive to avoid the pike being caught so worm is the only tactic)

 

If you look at Anderoos Thames/Thames tributary results he (despite not liking them) has found lives far better than anything else where (I believe Chris?) Chris has found worm far better on the Kennet & Avon system.

 

Interestingly despite us both having done a lot of lure fishing I think you will find that both Steve and myself have had far more perch on baits than lures.And an awful lot of those big lure caught ones we've had from trout reservoirs where not only are the conditions normally perfect for lures but often the only method allowed!

 

Budgie regarding Chris Plumbs fish i am guessing they come from the 2 main club waters around that bit of the kennet both of which have a no lives rule ,that said there are definately waters that favour worm over lives or visa versa

[Phone]

All,

 

I'm "learning" sort of back handedly.

 

A "live" is a minnow

A "dead" is a minnow

A "lob" is a worm that is neither dead or alive.

A "lure" is a lure.

 

??

 

Phone

Edited December 9, 2011 by Phone