Pike and perch on lures

[Adam247]

Hi guys and galls , hoping to get out for a session spinning over the next few weeks and if possible any recommendations on where to give a go ? Was thinking about the Liverpool canal to Leeds and maybe on the Runcorn side but yet to decide as would have to be up and out early for the Runcorn session and cycling back with fishing along the way . Or have a roaming session with twitched sprat or static dead bait.

Rob where would you recommend to give a bash around Liverpool ? A mate mentioned princess park doing both would work but travel again is the issue - canal seams the cheapest option as within 20/30 mins from home

 

Any replays would be great and if anybody wants to come with let me know in a pm and we can arrange it for some point in the future

[Phone]

Adam,

 

What's the water like?

 

Red for clear - yellow for murky.

 

Good Luck

 

Phone

[Adam247]

The canal is visible for the first 1ft to 1.5 ft depending on weather conditions , and the park lake mentioned I have yet to visit

[Adam247]

Here is my lure collection - increasing in the next fee days to include a few poppers

 

The ones I have mainly caught on are the softs - as why I am missing a darker eel due to a snag and a poor trace link , I am hoping to get a session in on Saturday wear mother is no issue now as I have a decent fishing coat and a little rain has never hurt anybody so should be ok

 

This is just my small lure setup to 40g as easy to carry around in a small backpack

[Phone]

Adam,

 

UK guys should be able to comment.

 

Phone

[philocalist]

Adam, just had a quick look at your lures. Difficult to be precise, but I'm taking an educated guess in saying that the size of lures you are showing here are (mostly) likely better suited to pike rather than perch, unless you anticipate latching on to some really serious fish. I'm guessing that what appear to be the (red tailed) shads on the right are part of the Savage Gear range, likely around the 3 inch size, which is about spot-on for a general-purpose soft lure if trying for perch ... they'll take pike just as easily - even bigger ones if the bait is fished in the right place.

The various eels you have there are enjoying something of a 'flavour-of-the-month' as far as pike are concerned, if you believe what you read in the angling press; I've no reason to think otherwise - they'd likely be my second choice behind the shads in the more lifelike colours, but I'd avoid the very big hard baits ... in any event, if you are fishing a water that contains pike, you'll need a trace even if targeting the perch that may be in there - that in itself is an issue that has been chewed over many times - I think it's fair to say that a general concensus is that a wire trace should always be used if there are pike around, but conversely, a wire trace is also likely to cut down on the number of takes you might get from perch.

[Andy_1984]

With such small lures a trace is going to be required (I believe they should always be used no matter the size of lure)........ Anyway, id be focusing more on spinners than lures if I was targeting perch on the canal.

 

Water outlets and bridges brilliant little perch hang outs staying close to the canal wall, especially the outlets at the moment as ive got hundreds of little'uns hanging around my nearest water outlet on the canal with the big yins underneath them keeping out of sight. Get a little dead or live perch down there. Preferably live

[Adam247]

Philocalist, thanks for the advice , I do use traces when spinning for the reason of pike being present in the swims , the shads you seen are from the SG range with the eels and some of the hard baits are within perch size and average pike as have caught a few greedy perch on the orange coloured and perch pattern . Others collected along the way. Trace material I use is 7 strand wire SG again in 40lb it's light supple and easy to knot. Best of all its thinner than other trace lines I have seen in the past . I have about 2 1/2 ft to 3 ft of it attached to the braid with an adapted stren knot - very strong join and near 100% strength. The shads have been bashed by plenty of perch and a few fatalitys to the odd jack pike loosing the shad after unhooking as too shredded - and the eels have had there fair share of interest. I don't regard myself a hard predator angler but do have the correct gear when it comes to fish care - long nose pliers , bolt cutters , fish mat , net , chinning glove