Perch?

[Papa Lazarou]

Hi all, decided to fish a small pond yesterday for perch. The pond is maybe about an acre and a half, at one end it branches out into a kind of canal stretch, maybe 15 -20 feet wide for maybe 30 metres with overhanging trees at the far end and maybe an average depth of 6 feet?. Sadly i blanked for the 2nd time in a fortnight,the first time i fished with lobs and yesterday fished minnows under a float. Is it possible for a perch to ignore a small livebait?, as i reckon i covered the majority of the place especially the canal like stretch spending a bit of time fishing under the overhanging trees?. Could it still be a bit cold?, any suggestions welcome as the place has done perch to 3 and a half pounds in the summer to young lads having a muck about?. Cheers.

[Andy Macfarlane]

It could still be a bit cold but in saying that, I know a pond that contains some massive Perch and livebaits generally go unnoticed, while lobworms, fished on the same rig, score highly. Oddly enough, another pond 5 minutes away, has Perch that will gladly take a minnow in seconds.

[Gaz51]

I may be wrong with this (perhaps Steve Burke or any other perch specialist could advise better)

 

The instant response to your question - could it be possible the perch are spawning? What with the unusual weather spells we've had they may be a little slow to get going!

 

If the perch are spawning they'll have other things on their minds than feeding!

[Guest rabbit]

I too have a very small pond about a couple of 100 yards from where I live. I covers only about 1/4 acre, it has a depth of only a couple of feet. It is fringed with iris and bull rushes. It is stuffed full of silver fish, including bleak. Today I fished it for a couple of hours and had perch, bleak, roach, and an eel. My son has seen a good sized carp and a pike. We are the only people who seem to fish it, and although I dont expect any record breakers its a sheer pleasure to fish, fishing from a bygone era I suppose.

You got me thinking about the larger fish so might just give a deadbait a go next time, might get a huge 1/2 perch, or just maybe that monster pike

[Sharkbyte]

The Perch have switched off like a light at the venue Sam and I are currently fishing.

 

Can't buy a bite, however the Tench are now going nuts, had 14 odd last night unfortunately all small.

[wunnus]

I agree that any fish can switch off (and some anglers too for that matter).

 

But I find that a decent punctured lob twitched along the bottom gets interest (a bit like a horror film)

 

Not one of those nancy dendro's but a full blown lob, tatooes etc head banging nutcase lobs.

 

Just as I treat other species, when the going gets tough I get smaller hooks. The "Animal" and "carp" hooks are still meaty for the big boys.

 

At this point I presume we are hammering the bigger than pi**in' nuisance perch, but not necessarily going for the UK record, sit and wonder why we aint got a bite fish.

 

On various ponds round here I am finding perch in the 3/4 to 1 1/2 bracket, but hey! I only fish a couple of hours at dawn or dusk.

 

So use that weakness in the Perch to bushwack a weaker fish and add life to the bait.

 

or just sit, chill out, read a book, darn your socks etc zzzz

[Steve Burke]

Papa, it's rarely too cold for perch. In fact they make a good species to fish for in the winter.

 

Gaz's point about spawning is a good one - the time is certainly right.

 

For more detail you'll probably find my perch articles here on Angler's Net a help. Go to http://anglers-net.co.uk/authors/introsteve.htm

[chris mc]

Papa, it's rarely too cold for perch. In fact they make a good species to fish for in the winter.

 

Gaz's point about spawning is a good one - the time is certainly right.

 

For more detail you'll probably find my perch articles here on Angler's Net a help. Go to http://anglers-net.co.uk/authors/introsteve.htm

 

 

Nice articals Steve ,good read.I was just woundering wat your thoughts of using dryed blood/blood meal for perch???If it's worth it wat is the best thing to mix it with crumb?

 

Thanx in advance.

[Steve Burke]

Sorry, Chris, I can't help on this one as I've never used blood. I have used bloedmeal groundbait a couple of times though but only caught eels on it!

[sam-cox]

As I understand the perch are one of the first fish to spawn. this winter although very dry has been pritty cold with lots of north east winds here, this I feel has made the perch spawn late, hence they have gone off at our local pit.