Wingham conundrum

[edd]

the pond ive fished for years i used to get plauged by small perch this year however ive had 15 1/2lb ,40 1lb+ fish, 23 2lb and 8 2and half lb and ive had 1 tiddler all on worm. but also last year i had 40+ tench ranging from 2lb to 4 1/2lb this year ive had none but they are still there as u can see them feeding. last year though the water was murky this year the water was crystal clear until yesterday when the water has gone murky again. i took my boss up there yesterday for the 1st time for a evening session , hes never caught a perch above 4oz until yesterday when he caught a 2 and 1/2lb ,two 2lb, one 1 1/2lb and a 1/2lb 1. hes well made up and now wants to go more often. i have nt treid live bait up there yet but will do soon as the welsh record of 5lb 2oz was caught there years ago and im sure there are 5lb+ fish in there. and wot ive read (think it was your article steve) is that some perch only eat live fish so maybe they are the bigger 1,s

 

[ 30. June 2005, 09:25 PM: Message edited by: edd ]

[Dick Dastardly]

If you had said the Perch in the photo was 8ozs I would have argued till the cows came home that it had been grabbed by another Perch!

 

The damage shown is often seen when I land a fish with the live bait still on.Im no big perch expert and have put no where near the amount of time in for them as Steve and a few others have but Ive still managed quite a few good ones over the years.I often live bait for them and what I have seen convinces me that perch will often try to disable a bit to livly or large a prey by attacking the tail of the fish.You get it all the time on carp or mini trout lives.

 

So why arnt I sure that a huge perch wasnt responsible for this? just darnt even dream of a perch that size!Ive never caught a 5lb perch but have had a 4lb 4ozs and seen another of 4lb 2ozs.These both came from the same southern reservoir and despite having huge mouths just couldnt see them managing a fish of that size.Then again Ive had plenty of 2lbrs take 5" baits.I dont know.What size do you lot reckon would be able to have a reasonable chance of taking a prey this size?

 

Steve given the current "boom" in big perch ,both numbers and sizes what do you think a realistic ceiling could be?

[Steve Walker]

BUDGIE:

I often live bait for them and what I have seen convinces me that perch will often try to disable a bit to livly or large a prey by attacking the tail of the fish.You get it all the time on carp or mini trout lives.

I've seen small (2-3 inch long) perch doing exactly that to roach almost too big to eat, just beating hell out of their tails. It looks more like an attempt to disable than an attempt to grab.

[Rob Ward]

Steve - I'm convinced I caught one of my Tench from this year the first time I came to Wingham.

 

If so it's put on a pound in weight over two seasons. I'll post the pics as soon as I can scan them.

[Steve Burke]

Ed - good luck with getting a monster perch. Livebaits or freshwater deads are certainly worth a try, especially on a water that's already produced a record.

 

Budgie - in my experience perch can manage to swallow prey up to about half their own length. I think that length is the important issue here rather than weight. For instance a fat fish like a bream may be more of a problem.

 

On this basis even a five pounder isn't likely to take a perch of a pound - although it could manage one of perhaps 12oz.

 

I'm not sure what the ceiling weight of UK perch might be. Despite the big increase in the number of specimens the record has gone up by only half an ounce in 20 years. Having said that, there have been reports of bigger fish, especially being found dead. Additionally, quite a few perch over the UK record have been landed on the continent, especially in Scandanavia. My guess, and I'd stress the word guess, is around 7lbs.

 

Steve - that paper you mentioned is very interesting indeed, especially the reference to giant perch. Thanks again.

 

That's a fairly good growth rate for tench, Rob, but not exceptional. I know there are doubles in Wingham at the moment as I've seen at least two. However, most of the fish I stocked in 1996 and 1998 seem to be fully grown. On the other hand, the first spawning of tench are putting on weight extremely quickly. It's these that Bruno and I expect to become really big, but not for another 6 years or so.