Stillwater perch in the cold

[BobH]

Best Perch

[The Flying Tench]

For me a key question is where are the perch in the cold weather. I've read magazine articles which say they go into the deepest water in winter, but on the only gravel pit I've fished for perch I was assured by an angler who fished for them a lot that they were still close to the edge under the trees, not even at the bottom of the marginal shelf. This tied in with what I found when I tried it, though I can't say I spent time casting into the depths.

[viney]

 

Exactly what I found the other night, he was right in the margins. Pic isn't great as I took it quickly before making a cast to it

[Anderoo]

Yes they are a realistic target, but on a water like that I think location could be hard - specifically, what depth to fish at.

 

I've caught good perch from shallow stillwaters in winter (even when half the pond us iced over) but have always struggled on deeper ones (usually gravel pits). On the shallow waters you only have to be in the right place, on the deeper ones you have to be in the right place and the right depth.

 

What restrictions do you have to deal with? If you can use any baits and any methods that would help. Also is most of the water shallow with just one deep spot or is it deep pretty much everywhere etc.?

[BobH]

My favourite method for Perch is live baiting, lip hooked small baits.

 

I always look for some sort of feature, debris, fallen trees, undercut bank and most of the time I fish the margins in winter.

 

The two rigs I use are simple sunken paternoster and a float paternoster, the float paternoster being the best method for seeing tricky bites in winter.

 

The pictures above are of a frozen gravel pit with a small area if clear water, I knew the pit had a reputation for Big Perch, but I had not had anything above a couple of pounds.

 

There is a small stream coming of a canal that feeds this pit and I had managed to catch half a dozen baits about 2 inches long from the stream, which had taken hours to achieve.

 

As a starting point I set my baits at half depth, the pit in the margin is 20ft deep, so the baits were set at 10 ft, but it was so cold the baits weren't working, with light fading I decided to put on two small bait facing each other ( lip hooked ) on a size 8 single hook.

 

This had the effect of the two small fish creating some vibrations which in turn must have inspired the Perch to take an interest ?

 

It was a really odd bite, I was using a Drennan Chubber float and it kept getting pulled under the surface down about 2 inches, a friend of mine had turned up to see what sort of nut case was out in such atrocious weather and made me jump when he crept up behind me, I told him I had this odd bite and suspected Crayfish ?

 

Saying I would wind down if it happened again, seconds later the float pulled under two inches and held there, I clicked in the bale arm and wound down to the baits, I could feel a slight trembling of the line and struck into what turned out to be a cracking Perch.

 

The bite was almost not a bite and it shows how delicately a Perch will take a bait in cold weather conditions.

 

Bob

Edited December 13, 2014 by BobH

[Steve Burke]

I agree, it's an excellent time to go perching. In fact I hope to go myself very shortly.

 

If the water temperature is 4C or above then there's a good chance of a perch. And don't forget that's not surface temperature, but the depth you're fishing. On rivers, I've caught big perch at 2C, but to be fair I'd rather be chubbing then.

 

On some stillwaters the perch move into deep water. On many they don't. Wingham goes down to 23ft and I've had most success at about 8 feet.

 

And on commercials (that by the way often make excellent perch waters) I've caught a great many 3lb+ perch in just 2ft!

[Mat Hillman]

Yes they are a realistic target, but on a water like that I think location could be hard - specifically, what depth to fish at.

 

What restrictions do you have to deal with? If you can use any baits and any methods that would help. Also is most of the water shallow with just one deep spot or is it deep pretty much everywhere etc.?

 

dawn till dusk day ticket, only bait bans are carp related, rulebook doesn't mention livebaiting at all, but I'd prefer to check with the owner or baliff before livebaiting just in case lures are allowed as long as they are fitted with a single hook, as to depths I don't really know, I've only ever float fished the margins for the carp, and that was several years ago.

 

Mat