Perch on deadbaits

[Anderoo]

I've been doing some commercial perching recently and so have finally had a good opportunity to try deadbaits for them. (Livebaits are banned.) They seem to work well, but a couple of things are interesting - the bites on deads are way faster than with other baits, and you seem to get a lot more dropped runs than with other baits. We've been using freshly killed roach, legered hard on the bottom.

 

Anyone else tried deads for perch? Did you find the same things?

[JV44]

Anderoo years ago i fished a small deep pit that had some good Stripeys in it and my mate who also fished there didnt want to use lives so he used freshly killed Rudd and Roach and had a lot of bites the same as you mention .....we put it down to eels as that was his target but i now susspect it may well have been Perch .

This lake had a ledge close in about 5' deep and then dropped almost straight away to 13' and if he didnt drop his bait on that ledge he didnt get a bite .

Try hitting them straight away if you are getting a lot of dropped takes to see if you hook up??

[Anderoo]

Anderoo years ago i fished a small deep pit that had some good Stripeys in it and my mate who also fished there didnt want to use lives so he used freshly killed Rudd and Roach and had a lot of bites the same as you mention .....we put it down to eels as that was his target but i now susspect it may well have been Perch .

This lake had a ledge close in about 5' deep and then dropped almost straight away to 13' and if he didnt drop his bait on that ledge he didnt get a bite .

Try hitting them straight away if you are getting a lot of dropped takes to see if you hook up??

Thanks for that Steve, interesting. No eels in this water and certainly perch responsible. With the other baits (prawns, lobs) I'm getting nice steady (if a bit jerky) rises on the bobbins, hard to miss really. With the deads the bobbins fly up super quick with no warning, and either keep going long enough to hit it, or suddenly stop as they drop the bait. Same rigs and everything.

 

I wonder if the perch are hitting them harder because they think they're alive and about to shoot off?

 

Next time I think I'll try fishing them pike style, with a rear drop-off and open bailarm, just to see if that helps. I'm currently using light bobbins on a long drop, which is working fine for the other baits.

 

Did your mate catch any perch?

 

Interestingly, although this place is full of carp, every fish caught so far between us on any bait has been a perch, apart from one - which was a 3lb chub!

[jedibond]

Imagine that Andrew, catching pi$$ wings on a dead bait !

[Rusty]

Interestingly, although this place is full of carp, every fish caught so far between us on any bait has been a perch, apart from one - which was a 3lb chub!

Known for 4lb perch and there's a distinct possibility of a 'five' too. Very similar characteristics to the lake Steve described with a drop off.

[Old geezer]

Someone mentioned sucessfully catching perch on sweetcorn........

 

Maybe thinking outside the box might help. I was thinking bolt rig and different bait....

Edited January 9, 2013 by Old geezer

[Anderoo]

I don't think bait is a problem, I was just surprised how different the bites were with the deads, and wonder why that is, and if it's a common thing?

[JV44]

Andrew it was a great water for 3s and i had a load over those couple of seasons all to lives ,Strangely another angler had a couple of monsterous Chub from there[i didnt realise till he caught one next to my swim ] that they were even in there ,Maybe a biggun in where you are ?? .

My m,ate never had a perch to his deads strangely but did suffer the type of bites you mention , it wasnt a comercial type water if that would make a difference .

When they steam off with it would pinching a split shot a few inches above a couple of ounce lead to bolt rig the dead possibly help?? are you fishing a single through the tail?? try the head instead?? Steve.

[Old geezer]

When they steam off with it would pinching a split shot a few inches above a couple of ounce lead to bolt rig the dead possibly help?? are you fishing a single through the tail?? try the head instead??

 

That was what I was thinking.

[Anderoo]

Yes I was tail-hooking - lip-hooking is worth a try, cheers. I'm not sure a bolt rig would work, but maybe. It just seems odd that they only seem to behave like this with deads! Maybe they do with lives too, if we were allowed to use them? Not sure. The fast bites aren't a problem if they keep going, it's the fact they often then reject the bait that's the issue. I've tried leaving it to see if the perch were trying to 'disable' the bait first, then come back and take it properly, but that doesn't happen. I do want to try the open bail-arm to see if that makes a difference, maybe when they hit it hard the rig/bobbin feels like it has more resistance? Or fish it under a waggler?

 

Anyway, it's nice to have a puzzle