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Question for Steve Burke.


Guest fudgey mc fadyen

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Guest fudgey mc fadyen

Hi Steve, Whilst piking recently i had an excellent days Perch fishing. I had about 50 on the boat to 2lb 7oz.All were caught on worm except the biggest one that fell to a small livebait. I really love catching big Perch and i will be going out on the boat next time just to target Perch.Could you advise me what the best rigs are to use whilst boat fishing? I just threw a leger over the boat last time with a worm paternostered up about 2 feet from the weight, and could you also advise me on a livebait rig? Ive caught a few on my sunken float paternostered pike rigs, but ive also had a lot of dropped runs that im sure were Perch.Is it ok to just scale eveything down? One more thing, what wire would you recommend? Is Fox supple enough or would i be better using Calibre Wonder Wire? Hope you can helf, thanks Fudgey.

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Guest Steve Burke

First of all, congratulations on a superb catch!

 

To keep this short I'm going to assume you want to use baits rather than lures and you want to fish at anchor rather than troll.

 

The big problem when bait fishing at anchor is the movement of the boat creating slack line. For this reason I'm not happy either ledgering or fishing sunken float paternosters. Sooner or later you're going to get a slack line bite which you won't spot, and this will result in a deeply-hooked perch. Such fish will all too often die.

 

Because of this slack line I much prefer to use a surface float, a slider of course being required in the depth you're fishing. You've a huge choice of rigs, the best very much depending on the mood of the fish and whether or not you want to fish a completely static bait. In most cases I've found the simplest set-up of a float, shot and hook to be the best starting point.

 

A couple of critical factors are the depth you fish and the length between weight and hook. The basic rule is that the poorer the light, the shallower you usually need to fish. A long trace, at this time of the year especially, is often an advantage as it gives the bait plenty of free movement and also minimises resistance - which big perch hate.

 

As far as trace material is concerned you'll catch many more perch if you avoid wire. This means you're restricted to one single hook only - which is all I ever use when bait fishing for perch anyway. Yes, you will sometimes get bitten off by pike, but in my experience this one single hook does them no harm, and in most cases they get rid of it very quickly.

 

I use some now discontinued hooks when using fishbaits for perch and these have absolutely minute barbs - those on a size 6 being like the barbs on a normal size 16! Alternatively, you can use barbless hooks and secure the bait with a Baitsaver from John Roberts, or a small piece of rubber band.

 

If you decide you do have to use a wire trace, by far the best option is 15lb Wonder Wire. In fact this is just the situation I started distributing it for. Now I've retired Wonder Wire has been discontinued, but it's still available if you search around (try Andy Lush at The Friendly Fisherman on 01892-619677).

 

When using worms we also used to do very well "touch ledgering" off the bottom from an anchored boat, and letting the perch run a bit on getting a bite. However, these days I'd certainly also try a worm-tipped jig if I wanted to present a moving bait. This set-up is very similar except that the weight is incorporated in the hook. Here I'd better pass over to our US members who are no doubt more experienced with this method than I am.

 

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Wingham Fisheries

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/fisheries/wingham.htm

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Fudgey - you might do well with a technique called dropshotting. Started in Japan by their bass pros. They have REALLY crowded swims - especially during tourneys - and spooky fish as a result.

 

It is designed for boat fishing and you could use soft-plastics as they do for bass or live/deads.

 

Take a look Here for a link with good info or go to Google and use dropshotting as your search term. I've taken yellow perch and US Bream (a sunfish) this way. Basic idea is to tie a small, light-wire hook to the line with a palomar knot and put a small weight at the end. Weight on the bottom and wiggle the rod tip to give the bait a little action. The article I listed shows various methods of rigging a soft plastic based on the water being clear, weedy, or snaggy. Perfect for deep water to over 40ft.

 

Also taken them when tightlining with a sensitive rod as Steve recommended. Let the bait touch bottom and then up a reel-turn or two. If no fish, up another turn, and so on.

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Guest Gav Walker

Fudgey,

we had a number of big perch,on worms and fish baits,around the island-I think you call it Green Island.Could be worth a try.

 

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Gav

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