The biggest perch

[The Flying Tench]

I've read in a magazine article that the biggest perch in a shoal will take the bait first (usually).

 

I'm trying to get a pb, which means 3lb. I went to a swim today where I caught 3 perch between half a pound and one-and-a-half fairly quickly. Would that mean it was unlikely there was a bigger fish in the shoal, and it was therefore best to move on fairly quickly?

[kleinboet]

It has been my experience that constant feed (a little, often) attracts the small fish, which in turn attracts the larger fish and so on.

I often start with small fish and end up with whoppers!

[DonRamos]

On one of my local lakes you can catch literally 100's of small perch in one session, with a large one very rarely showing.

 

It has not been my experience that the bigger you catch the bigger ones first, or that you can fish through the small ones to the bigger ones but this may be indicative of this lake alone.

 

I find the best way to target the larger perch is to either fish a plug for them or livebaiting.

[Sharkbyte]

Fishing smallish baits in an area with a fair head of Perch nearly always results in the smaller fish biting first.

 

If you land a few small ones the bigguns tend to keep their distance.

 

The best tip I can offer is to avoid using worm hookbaits when there's plenty of small / medium Perch around and instead use live / dead bait. If you want the 3lb+ use one around 5" long to minimise attacks from those under 2lb.

 

 

I usually bank on the chance of one good fish in a session. Catch too many smaller fish and that chance of a lunker is dramatically reduced in my experience.

 

I find it often pays to bait your Perch swim as soon as you arrive, leave it to go and catch some bait, then select your best bait (biggest, within reason) first.

 

Seems to work for me.

Edited November 20, 2006 by Sharkbyte

[greg long]

I usually found the larger fish were around the edges of the shoals. Not quite with them but still close by.

[Chris Plumb]

I've frequently caught my biggest perch of a session within the first hour - though I put this down to low light levels (always arrive at the crack of dawn!).

 

 

C.

[Andy Macfarlane]

I usually find that the big perch will let the smaller brethren to do all the hard work before bullying the meal from them.

[Steve Burke]

Another intriguing question, John!

 

I think it depends on the situation, and even then it's not always certain. You won't go far wrong if you try and work this out on a case by case basis.

 

For instance, if you feed chopped worm for quite some time without fishing and therefore the perch aren't wary, then I've found that the biggest, greediest perch will often bully his siblings out of the way. This especially applies if you then cast in a whole lob to the exact spot you've been feeding.

 

On the other hand, if you gather a shoal of small fry there's a lot of potential food for the perch. Here I find the bigger perch will often hang back and pick up stragglers without wasting too much energy.

 

Another situation might be where the perch are holed up near some cover. Here accurate casting is a must, and if you're first cast isn't close enough to the cover you may tempt just a small perch. A subsequent more accurate cast, just brushing the cover, may get you your 3 pounder! In fact, had the first cast been spot on the chances are that the first perch would have been the specimen.

 

Chris pointed out that the biggest perch often come in the lowest light conditions, and this is likely to be at the end of the session if you're fishing into the afternoon. Indeed, on most waters at this time of year I rate the half hour either side of sunset better than the whole of the rest of the day put together.

 

John, you may find my perch articles here on AN to be helpful with this question, in particular this one: http://anglers-net.co.uk/authors/steve09.htm

[The Flying Tench]

Thanks, Steve. I've read it before, but well worth re-reading.

 

John