Wingham conundrum

[Steve Burke]

Vagabond, it sure does look like perch damage, doesn't it?

 

There are some very big perch in Wingham. I had one chase a lure to my feet last winter. That fish was knocking 5lbs! In fact, I suspect that this was in the same year class as the 3-13 I had 2 summers ago, but with 18 months of extra growth.

 

Last spring and early summer, nearly all the fish I caught were two pounders, whilst last winter and early this summer it was very rare to catch them under 3 pounds! Once again, I think these are all one (big) year class.

 

The perch were stocked in the spring of 1995 as fingerlings. There were only a few amongst a consignment of roach and bream, and both Ken Crow and I thought there weren't enough to survive the hordes of pike. Obviously we were wrong!

 

This would make the oldest perch 11 years of age. It varies from water to water but male perch typically spawn aged 2 to 3, and females a year later. As there were no younger female perch in the water this would suggest that the big year class we have of 3 pounders was born in 1997 or 1998, i.e. the first Wingham spawning. I suspect 1997 as in a rich, understocked water they're possibly more likely to mature earlier.

 

Vagabond, you're the professional, does this make sense?

 

The perch have certainly grown incredibly quickly over the last year. I mentioned on a previous topic that I caught a perch this May at 3-06, having had it at 3-03 a couple of weeks earlier. This fish was easily identifiable as it had a heron stab on its back. The June before I'd caught it at just 2-07!

 

The growth spurt in the perch may be due to the lack of weed last year. There was a huge explosion of fry that, without the weed, had a lot less hiding places. Hence the big perch had a field day. There's no weed to speak of this year either!

 

Now smaller perch of 7 to 8 inches are putting in an appearance, as they did last summer. In fact, they're becoming a bit of a pest! Last year I put it down to an algal bloom colouring the water. However we have no such bloom this year. Instead, it could be that most of the predators, including those that would eat perch of this size, are pre-occupied with the fry.

 

So yes, it is possible there are very big perch in Wingham, but no real monsters yet as they're not old enough.

 

Granted, perch do have huge, hinged mouths for their size. However, I doubt that even a 5lber is likely to be able to swallow a pound perch without some difficulty!

 

I think therefore that we have to look elsewhere for the explanation.

 

It could of course just be an instinctive reaction to attack something in trouble. After all, small perch are often caught on lures little bigger than themselves!

 

However, I suspect it's more likely to be territorial aggression. It may be significant that we've had repeat captures of perch, all of which have come from the same but different areas . In other words each perch seems to live in a given part of the lake.

 

Like the tench I mentioned earlier, could it be that the perch not only form family groups (after all they are a shoal fish), but defend an area as well?

 

If so, perhaps the damage to Vagabond’s perch was caused by a bigger perch defending its territory?

 

Whatever the reason, it's certainly an interesting conundrum!

 

[ 03. July 2005, 09:16 AM: Message edited by: Steve Burke ]

[Vagabond]

Steve Burke:

 

There are some very big perch in Wingham. I had one chase a lure to my feet last winter. That fish was knocking 5lbs!

 

I caught a perch this May at 3-06, This fish was easily identifiable as it had a heron stab on its back. The June before I'd caught it at just 2-07!

 

So yes, it is possible there are very big perch in Wingham, but no real monsters yet as they're not old enough.

Steve - dunno what you mean by "real monsters", but the "near 5lb last winter" (plus whatever added growth) would do me, especially as your 3-06 has put on 15 oz in less than a year!

 

Perch eat perch, so the explosion of small perch this year has gotta be good news for the lunkers and their would-be captors!

 

A perch in excess of 5lb taken in the near future by some lucky so-and-so would not surprise me. I would have thought 8 years as enough for some of the 1997 spawnings to have grown that big - and how about the original fingerlings - now 11 years old?

[Steve Walker]

Fantastic tench, Steve, well done.

 

I must put in some effort to get a really big tench from the club waters. I know that there are some huge fish in some of the lakes, and I suspect that my favourite lake isn't one of them. There seems to be one dominant cohort of tench; a couple of years ago, every fish was a four-pounder, and they're now running 5.5 to 6.5. Trouble is, I like that lake (character-wise) and I've learnt it. All the lakes are gravel pits, and some of those I suspect of holding bigger fish are a bit characterless.

[Steve Burke]

By "real monsters" I meant in this context those capable of swallowing a pound perch.

 

It's interesting to compare the Wingham perch with those from Arlesey in the fifties. This famous water produced many 2lb+ perch to Dick Walker and friends. 56 perch of over 3lbs were reported to the angling press, of which 7 were over 4lbs, going to a maximum weight of 4-13.

 

I've been trying to turn up scale readings of Arlesey perch. The only one I can find is of an 8 year old specimen that weighed 3-10. This is thus similar to the Wingham growth rates.

 

Can anyone else find any more scale readings of big perch? Or for that matter, how many years they grow for?

 

Interestingly, Dick Walker believed that Arlesey contained perch of at least 7lbs. This was more than a pound over the then record of 5-15-06, and well over the current record of 5-09½. He tells the story in "No Need to Lie" of a huge perch seizing a hooked one across the back as it was being played. The latter weighed well over 3lbs!

 

BTW, another possible explanation for this and also the attack on Vagabond's perch is that the bigger perch was trying to get the smaller one to give up its food. I've seen this happen before with both perch and chub. It's rather like chickens scrapping over a big morsel they can't or don't swallow straightaway.

 

Turning back to Wingham, yes, the fastest-growing of the 8 year old fish could in theory be up to nearly 5lbs now. However, that would be about 50% more than the average for their year class. I don't know how likely this would be. Can anyone help here?

 

The vast majority of course would be near the average size. On the other hand it only takes one fish to break a record!

 

By the same token that would also mean that one of the 11 year old perch would be - well you work it out! However, bear in mind that there are only a few perch of this age in Wingham, and so the chance of a freak fish is very, very much less than in a large year class.

 

I think I'd be very lucky if there was such a whopper in Wingham at the moment. I think we'd have to be even luckier to catch it, especially given the lack of angling pressure - which is one of the reasons the fish have grown so big in the first place!

 

I don't therefore think that Wingham contains a record perch at the moment. But I do think it capable of producing a record in the future - and I'm not talking about a record bream either! It could even be next year.

 

Wouldn't it be great if it were on an Angler's Net Fish-In?

[Steve Walker]

This may be of interest:

 

http://staff.science.uva.nl/~aroos/downloa.../ProcRoy04b.pdf

 

It's looking at the effect of cannibalism on growth rates of individual year classes of eurasian (ours) and yellow perch and pike. It's an attempt to fit a model to data from the literature rather than a new data set, but you may be able to chase down the references if you want the primary literature.

 

Some interesting data in there, though.

 

Steve

[Steve Burke]

Thanks, Steve. I'll have a look now.

 

I've researched growth rates and longevity of perch before, but not for some years. Unfortunately the data was inconclusive and often contradictory.

 

[ 03. July 2005, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: Steve Burke ]

[Vagabond]

Steve Burke:

1/ By "real monsters" I meant in this context those capable of swallowing a pound perch.

 

2/ It's interesting to compare the Wingham perch with those from Arlesey in the fifties.... of which 7 were over 4lbs, going to a maximum weight of 4-13.

 

I've been trying to turn up scale readings of Arlesey perch. The only one I can find is of an 8 year old specimen that weighed 3-10. This is thus similar to the Wingham growth rates.

1/ COR! Wish it had.......

 

2/ In my first edition of "Still Water Angling" there is a photo of the OPERCULAR BONE of a female perch weight 3-06. Age given as eight years (looking carefully at the picture I would say less - say six or seven) The caption does not say which water it came from.

 

also there is photo of a SCALE from the 4-13 perch from Arlesey Lake. Age is given as "six-plus" Photographed (and presumably read) by Percy Austin of Birmingham.

 

Hope that helps Steve - I reckon there are five-plus perch in Wingham already!

[Steve Burke]

Thanks, Vagabond, I knew I'd seen that perch scale pic before! It's in the 1st edition of "Still-Water Angling" but not in the 4th.

 

BTW, anyone got a 1st edition for sale? Mine hasn't got a dustwrapper.

[Steve Walker]

Steve Burke:

Thanks, Steve. I'll have a look now.

 

I've researched growth rates and longevity of perch before, but not for some years. Unfortunately the data was inclusive and often contradictory.

Perch populations seem particularly variable, probably because of the effect of cannibalism. I guess we've all seen waters where one year class of perch does well and devours all of the young for several seasons to follow.

 

I think there may also be a lot of genetic diversity between populations; for example, a former colleague studying O-group perch found that Windermere perch fry were hard to keep in captivity, but fish from (IIRC) the Ouse were much more tolerant.

 

Thinking about it, there might be some data on Windermere perch. They've got long term data for pike, but they might also have some perch data. It might be worth you writing to Ian Winfield at CEH Windermere (the old Institute of Freshwater Ecology / Freshwater Biological Association site) to see if they can give you any information.

[Steve Burke]

Thanks for that, Steve.

 

I have had contact with the FBA at Windermere before, but not read any of the recent papers. One particularly fascinating one was "Exceptionally Big Perch & Their Growth" by E.D.Le Cren of the F.B.A. & published in Vol. 40 of the Journal of Fish Biology.

 

I also got hold of a huge collection of perch papers from a scientific library in Scotland. However, I've forgotten where! I originally contacted the research station on Lomond, and they put me onto someone else.

 

Any ideas anyone?