Perch - how high in the water?

[The Flying Tench]

I've read stuff about catching perch on hot summer days in mid water, and only half believed it, but I had a crack a week ago with worm. It was a very hot September day, and it was a short session, but sure enough, with the float set at two and a half feet in a five foot swim (slow river) I had a two pound perch. Today I had a short session maggot fishing ( much colder than last week, and cloudy), caught a few roach and a one pound perch at three quarter depth. The only biggish perch I've caught on worm with a moving bait in winter have been with the bait being slowly dragged along the bottom. Would I be right that with the water starting to cool the perch will increasingly be found nearer the bottom, or is it one of those things that you have to keep experimenting? (I'm really talking about river fishing. I realise that on deep lakes the perch will move to the deeper and warmer water as winter comes on. But on rivers there is no such temperature differential.)

[Steve Walker]

I've caught perch right under the surface in the past, using a short pole and an inch of peacock quill as a controller and set about 2' deep in 12' of water. This was loose feeding heavily to create a frenzied competitive situation and getting the fish swirling on the surface, used to be very effective in the Summer on that particular water. Not many fish over a pound, though.

[Andy Macfarlane]

I'd leger air injected lobs at this time of year, especially after the rain we've had.

[Paulg]

Hi John,

 

My own opinion, and I'm happy to be corrected, is that it is a simple case of the warmer the water, then the Perch are more active. So, with the warm weather down here in Berkshire, I'd be expecting Perch at almost any depth!

 

Paul

[edd]

ive caught perch on the drop numerous times

[seph]

I used to dive alot and one place I used often had a good number of Perch, all big fish too. Unfortunately no fishing was allowed. I used to watch these fish and they were always at varying depths depending on how warm it was, although the depth of water varied from 7m to 35m most the time the Perch were in the the top half no matter what the depth. I would even go as far to say that 80% of the time they were only 4-6ft below the surface.

[DonRamos]

I fished a local water at the weekend and caught 100's of perch.

 

I find that the bigger specimens can often be found towards the surface, and regular feeding can encourage real competition meaning that the bigger fish will muscle in and snatch the bait before the smaller fish can get there.

 

Have to be pretty precise with your tactics tho cause it's only too easy for them to become deeply hooked, which can be dangerous for the poor perchies.

[Steve Burke]

Perch are far from always on the bottom (mind you this goes for most species).

 

There are many factors that determine the depth perch will be at, such as light, oxygen and temperature, not to mention current in a river. Additionally, because of their unusual swim bladder arrangement they can't change depth quickly without having to return pretty soon to their original level.

 

Whether the perch at a particular depth are feeding though is another matter - although sometimes they can be induced to do so.

 

In my experience the most important factor that determines whether or not perch will actually be feeding is light intensity. There may be shoals at various depths, especially in very deep waters, where there is often an annual migration to deep water in autumn and back again in the spring.

 

However, which fish are feeding will depend on the underwater light intensity. Perch are sight feeders and, contrary to what some of the old books say, will feed best in poor light. This is when they have the maximum advantage over their poorer-sighted prey.

 

In poor light it'll be the ones nearer the surface that are feeding. If it gets brighter, these will probably switch off and a deeper shoal may well come on the feed. This was very apparent when friends and I started fishing trout reservoirs many years ago, and applies in fact on most waters - especially with big perch.

 

Little perch are different - often they'll feed all day long. They often stop at dusk though - just as their cannabilistic grandparents come on the feed!