perch fishing deep rivers and drains

[Vagabond]

When there's no or little flow it makes things harder.

 

Although I have not fished the Fens or canals very often, I did used to spend a lot of time on the Romney Marsh after perch. At first sight it appears pretty featureless compared with a river........but

 

Just a few little bits of watercraft I learnt there that might be helpful in fish location.

 

Added to the obvious indications of splashes, swirls, and fry skittering out of the water here are three things to look for.

 

1. A feature of any open marshland is wind. With wind you get ripples. When a decent-sized fish turns underwater, although it might be too deep to show a swirl, it will disturb the ripple pattern.

So look for a "flattened" patch in the ripples - these patterns persist for several seconds after the fish has made them. The more wind there is, the bigger the ripples, and the better these "flat" patches can be seen.

 

2. On Romney Marsh, perch are almost always found on the edges of reed beds - you need to put the bait within inches of the reeds. The wind will keep those reeds swaying. What you have to look for is movement that is NOT due to wind, but fish pushing through the reed stems - a trembling rather than a swaying. Detecting that trembling superimposed on wind-sway will come with practice.

 

3. Constant wind and an alluvial mud bottom means the water is coloured most of the time. Prey fish shoals also stir up mud, so look for signs where the water is apparently more cloudy than the stretches either side. Much more difficult than it sounds - and beware being misled by extra cloudiness due to a culvert running in!

 

Most experienced anglers know this already, but the above points might help anyone new to long stretches of almost still water. They also apply elsewhere!

[Anderoo]

The last time I was at my new little pond (still no bites!) I saw some fry *skittering out of the water and got a bit excited. A bit of careful observation, however, showed that it was being caused by the tiniest perch you've ever seen, barely 1" long! Agressive little buggers, but no match for a 4" roach

 

*I think this is my new favourite word

[Anderoo]

John, a quick update - me and Rich had another go yesterday evening. No fish to report from me, Rich had a small pike. However, the good news is that the rigs are still 100% tangle free and present the baits really well, so I'm becoming more convinced I've found the answer. Indication is also very good, with the wash from a boat being enough to move the bobbins.

 

We are fishing a stretch with a low number of big fish, so next time we are going to fish an adjacent stretch where the perch are generally smaller but more numerous, just to get some bites and make sure things are working as we think. If that's successful, it'll be back to the big fish stretch, and also probably a different river we haven't fished for a couple of seasons, which also holds big perch.

 

It feels now like we are very close.

 

Keep us posted about your progress

[John Weddup]

John, a quick update - me and Rich had another go yesterday evening. No fish to report from me, Rich had a small pike. However, the good news is that the rigs are still 100% tangle free and present the baits really well, so I'm becoming more convinced I've found the answer. Indication is also very good, with the wash from a boat being enough to move the bobbins.

 

We are fishing a stretch with a low number of big fish, so next time we are going to fish an adjacent stretch where the perch are generally smaller but more numerous, just to get some bites and make sure things are working as we think. If that's successful, it'll be back to the big fish stretch, and also probably a different river we haven't fished for a couple of seasons, which also holds big perch.

 

It feels now like we are very close.

 

Keep us posted about your progress

 

 

Hi Anderoo

 

been a bit tied up with work last couple of weekends but will keep you updated as promised.

 

Getting all excited about autumn prospects for both perch and zander.

 

John

[JV44]

Had a go saturday evening with Gudgeon lives ledgered downstream and popped up on the edge of the marginal weed banks ...tangle free rig and had a few no biguns sadly but worked really well as dusk fell in only 3`depth of water on a long trace leaving the bait up near the surface and easier to see??? well seemed tyo work anyways just need to find a better stamp of fish

[Steve Burke]

There's a lot of useful advice already on this topic.

 

On anything but a murky venue I tend to start by lure fishing. Even if I don't catch, follows then tell me which swims are good for perch on that particular day. I've phrased it that way as on a lot of waters many of the perch are nomadic at this time of year. I'd then spend more time fishing these swims with baits, that generally outproduce for me once I've found the perch.

 

I'd add that it's important, especially on deep waters, to think in 3 dimensions. Perch have eyesight second only to zander and tend to feed best when they have the greatest advantage over their poorer-sighted prey (that said I've never fished a UK water that contained zander, and here competition might make the perch behave differently). As a broad generalisation the brighter the underwater visibility the deeper any feeding perch are likely to be. I'd therefore use a sinking lure to search for them as these allow you to change depth very easily. My first choice would be the largest 40gm/90mm Abu Atom spoon.

 

The 3D aspect also applies to bait fishing where conventional float fishing, popped up ledgered baits and sunken float paternosters all score on their day. I would add that the latter can be especially effective on a new water but the perch seem to quickly wise up to them, especially on short hooklengths. However they make changing the depth so easy just by tightening or slackening the line. I've written about this in depth at http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/Sunken-...ter-t80818.html, although this was my pike version.

 

I could add a lot more but much of it is covered in my perch articles (link below). I'd especially recommending looking at the one on how perch feed.

Edited September 1, 2012 by Steve Burke

[Nicepix]

When researching new waters use Google Earth to indicate where deeper places are likely to be. This saves time on bigger waters. As your curser passes over the terrain at the sides of the lake you get an indication of the height above sea level on the tool bar at the bottom of the screen. This gives you an indication of the gradient of the bank and this gradient is likely to continue under the water. Look also for mini valleys where stream beds run or used to run as they form depressions that would be a drop off feature underwater.

 

You can disregard a lot of the venue using this method and then spend time plumbing the more likely spots. I have done tihs today on part of the large lake I fish in the Charente. By plotting the gradients I have found an area likely to be significantly deeper than surrounding areas. Tomorrow I'll take the dog for a walk and do some plumbing. I have a telescopic rod set up specifically for this, and a note book to record where likely spots are. I'll also take some bread to throw in. When looking for perch and zander you need to find their prey and there is nothing like a floating crust for indicating whether small fry are present. If you are after bigger predators like pike then it is a good idea to find the bream. Either find out the best bream pegs from other anglers or watch the water on an evening when they tend to roll on the surface.

[Phone]

All,

 

I'm completely out of school. However coffee is king on this subject. Today I brought up the title of this thread. They, of course, don't know anything of the UK waters.

 

However, http://www.scientificfishing.com/moreinfo/...telightinfo.cfm was a favorite in deep water for trout and perch. One guy changes the light from a red LED to a green LED in deep water.

 

Whatever?

 

Phone