One Bait, Three Fish but none landed

[Dales]

Thank Phone, lures may well be the way to go and have found out on our members forum for the venue that a lot of the big Perch caught have been on lures or lives but not from the stretch I have been fishing.

 

I'm just a little surprised that it took such long bait and it did seem to be struggling with it. Oddly I have never given it a second thought when Perch have taken big lures that look to big for them. I have always thought Perch swallow the bait whole, I don't know if they can crush it to assist swallowing or whether in this case the Zander raised it's spines and maybe got stuck in the roof of the Perch's mouth. It's not uncommon to see Pike grab and hold on to fish but I have never seen it with Perch, the few times I have seen them take fish they have effortless engulfed there prey all in one.

[Dales]

I just hope my swim will be free over the next few weeks as it is getting to the time of year when the celeb anglers turn up for articles. Matt Hayes and Bob Roberts where down recently but other then the odd ninja chub angler crawling through the undergrowth no one fishes this stretch other then those doing articles.

 

No competition and I still can't catch any Roach, I might have to ask Anderoo can be run a teaching session for me

[jedibond]

Dales, is this the Carthagena one you joined last year ? Sounds like good fun !

[AddictedToScopex]

All fish hooked are "caught fish". It's just that sometimes it's "best" to use a "long release". (can't be too safe)

 

I like that statement. Made me laugh out loud at work.

Edited January 30, 2012 by AddictedToScopex

[Anderoo]

Very interesting! It sounds like the perch are usually suspicious and tricky, and that this one had an attack of the red mists. I did a bit of river perching in the autumn/beginning of winter and, despite the fact I knew exactly where they were, I couldn't catch them. They've been fished for a lot more than I previously thought, and as a result are very cute fish. I hope you have more luck!

 

What's the cray situation like? Can you fish lives/deads without wire?

[Dales]

Very interesting! It sounds like the perch are usually suspicious and tricky, and that this one had an attack of the red mists. I did a bit of river perching in the autumn/beginning of winter and, despite the fact I knew exactly where they were, I couldn't catch them. They've been fished for a lot more than I previously thought, and as a result are very cute fish. I hope you have more luck!

 

What's the cray situation like? Can you fish lives/deads without wire?

 

Yeah the big Perch seem very cute but I know where they live But that might not help.

 

The crays have gone or at least not active at the moment maybe because the water is clear and with so many potential preds around they are likely to be in hidding. Dead baits are untouched by them, same with maggots. It's like a whole different water from the summer months when everything got attacked by them. One of the Carp syndicate guys informed me a few weeks ago that some monster Perch lived in the snags near where I was fishing and said they are resident fish and been there for a few years but he thought they are uncatchable. It seems like he may have been right, well the bit about the big Perch, he might be wrong about the uncatachable part as he may not be as good as me

 

The problem with the fish baits are that the rules state that wire must be used and they have a Pike season so no using fish baits in the summer despite the areas out side the syndicate getting hammered all year by "culinary anglers" and so out in the areas fished by the hoi polloi I could get away with it but as I rather like the syndicate stretches its not worth breaking any rules. But they have been caught on lures with wire.

 

The crays are a complete nightmare in the summer and I had come around to the idea that no one fished it because of them but now its winter and no one still fishes but maybe they fish during the week. There was just me and one other guy at the weekend, I think most of the members must wait for the news on the grape vine of when the big Chub drop down from the weir sill or the "best chub swim in the world". There are still up there doing good impressions of double figure Grass Carp. The bridge that over looks the weir pool with its magical willow tree reminds me of a Dumbledore quote from Harry Potter about the Mirror of Erised "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live" I think many a Chub angler has wasted there lives gazing in to that pool dreaming of its 8 and 9lb Chub and forget there are some stonking other fish in the Lea.

[Anderoo]

The thing I was going to try next for my impossible perch was very heavy baiting with chopped lobs and maggots, fishing lobs over the top. I drifted onto other things though and never got round to it. If you have to use wire for fish baits and the crays aren't an issue, that's what I'd be trying. Hundreds of lobs, spend a fortune, fill it in! If you catch it on the right day you might not just catch one, you might catch every last one of them.

 

Have a look around for articles by Stef Horak, he's the daddy when it comes to this style of perching.

[Dales]

Dales, is this the Carthagena one you joined last year ? Sounds like good fun !

 

 

Yeah, it's no secret. It is a hard venue but a rather pleasent place to fish, secure parking to dump your car and you can fish the syndicate stretch of the Lea and Lynch or wonder off site and fish the rest of the Lea controlled by Carthegena which includes Dobbs Weir. I did not fish it much just a few short sessions and one night in the summer as the crays are a pain but boilies in arma mesh resist there attention for an hour or so.

 

I have not seen any Carp or Tench but I did not fish the parts there are suppossed to be in, I had a few nice Bream including a few 7lb fish and lost a big Chub which was gutting as it was almost in the net before the hook length parted and I had an audience of Carp anglers watching. When the line parted there was deathly silence until when of the bailifs said never mind it was only a small one and when I laughed the debate as to whether it looked like a 6 or a 7 started.

 

I was going to give the ticket up but decided to go back in January for a bit of pleasure fishing for Pike. Jan to March are expensive months for me and so I thought it would provide some cheap Pike fishing as it's paid for. I am not expecting to catch any big ones but am really enjoying this spell of fishing and have now decided to renew my ticket and will do some summer nights for the Bream as there are rumours of low doubles.

 

I joined with the intention of it being a fun winter water for Pike as the last few years a number of the still waters I fish have been frozen and so I thought this would be a good option for sessions when they where frozen. At the moment it is providing the sort of fishing I thought it would and I have had Pike on lives, deads and lures nothing a serious hard core Piker would be after but nice clean and coloured fish that fight like stink and great fun and who knows it might hold the odd big fish.

 

There are also a few huge Barbel. Anderoo posted an interesting link about Chub and the Crown Fisheries about the fact that if you catch a Chub chances are it will be huge but that there is a lack of smaller back up fish and with all the Pike, Perch and Eels it might be unlikely that they will come through. I think this is true of a number of species on the Lea and they do seem to be getting a hammering by anglers fishing for the pot. So I think areas like Carthegena that are closed from the public are refuges for the fish and so offer the oppurtunity of getting a big fish. It is noticable that everything in the area is very small or very big, there is a lack of averag or bait sized fish.

[Dales]

The thing I was going to try next for my impossible perch was very heavy baiting with chopped lobs and maggots, fishing lobs over the top. I drifted onto other things though and never got round to it. If you have to use wire for fish baits and the crays aren't an issue, that's what I'd be trying. Hundreds of lobs, spend a fortune, fill it in! If you catch it on the right day you might not just catch one, you might catch every last one of them.

 

Have a look around for articles by Stef Horak, he's the daddy when it comes to this style of perching.

 

Thanks Anderoo, that does sound like a plan. Plus I think one of "The Barbel" as there may only be two in the stretch lives in the same swim. There only seems to be 2 "mug fish" the 14lb and the 12lb fish that get caught and I think I saw one in the same spot. That style of fishing could throw up any of the Lea's specimen fish or maybe lots of Jacks

[Phone]

Dales,

 

I'll once again endear myself to Gozzer, Androo and probably every PURIST perch fisherman in England. I don't think wire traces make a tinkers dam to fish on the prowl. they make a difference in bait presentation but the trace doesn't matter to the fish.

 

If the perch with the walleye swam more than a few yards it didn't survive. Most fish drown pretty quickly.

 

I don't disagree with Androo re lobs. You know how I feel toward "BOTTOM BOUNCERS". I'd be frightened I'd have the fish sorted from small to big at about 100:1. I don't have the patients for that. Extaordinary specimen fish will NOT be eating the lobs buy rather what the lobs attract. Fish for the specimen and leave out the middle step. For sure, you won't catch a many fish - maybe none. You have to be able to accept that fact.

 

Phone