With the weather finally appearing to be more in keeping with the time of year, than the mild autumnal conditions we have been experiencing for so long, it’s a great time to exploit the big perch potential of the many commercial venues in the area, and with last year’s campaign resulting in fish of over 4lb, as well as several 3’s and many smaller fish, this yearly tradition is something I really look forward to.
Having picked up on a couple accidental captures from waters with no previous reputation for perch, I had some new venues in mind, and needing some pictures for Cemex, Carp and Coarse angler magazine, I had all the excuses I needed to have a go, despite my girlfriend having travelled home from university for the weekend (Thanks Nikki, your one in a million!). On my arrival I was shocked as to the intimate nature of the water as much of my recent fishing has been on a 50 acre gravel pit and a 1,200 acre reservoir; in this case an acre was probably being generous!
Standing alone in the half light of a cold and breezy December morning, silver fish topped in the calm water on the back of the wind, a quick plumb around revealed a lovely marginal slope with 3ft of reedy margins at my feet, dropping off to 6ft within 3 rods lengths, beyond this was flat and open so the slope had to be a natural patrol route for the marauding shoal’s of perch. I quickly started bait catching, whilst regularly baiting the two spots that I intended to fish with maggots and chopped worm to attract small fish and hopefully a big stripey, 1st cast on the waggler produced a plump gudgeon, in my mind there is no better bait for a perch, half an hour later and I had half a dozen gudgeon and a couple of 3 inch perch stored in the margin in a small bait tube, with such a perfect bait supply my confidence was high.
Tackle to be used for the perch was very simple, a pair of my favoured multi feeder rods (Is there anything these versatile rods won’t do?) 4lb mono, and my usual simple float paternoster rigs, with the baits being supported by loafer style float, to monitor the baits movement. Within minutes the float on the margin rod started showing signs of the bait becoming agitated, and seconds later the float buried as line poured from the open spool as my mini drop off indicator fell. With the perch potential of this water being totally unknown it’s no exaggeration to say that the heart was pounding as I wound down to the take, a solid weight followed by several head shakes signalled a good fish, the proud, erect dorsal fin sliced through the surface as she came to the net . The bait was still fine so as I slipped the hook out in the net and swung the bait back into position, before taking the perch, which was clearly over 2lb up the steep bank for a photo, as I smiled for the self timer, the alarm came to life again, Ten minutes of mayhem later and I had 4 perch over 2lb up to just under 3 in my net!
After all the activity I was pleased to get the baits back out after I had taken some catch shots, for the rest of the morning all was quiet, and by mid afternoon I was beginning to think I had caught all the perch present in a few minutes sport, but to quickly dispel this I experienced a further crazy burst of activity, which resulted in a further fish of 2-10 and a few smaller fish. This suggested to me that the perch were using the shelf as a patrol route making laps of the small lake devouring any small fish in their path.
Needless to say this water will be getting some more attention over the next few weeks, I’m sure that there will be waters in your area with similar potential, so get out there and catch yourself a super stripey this weekend.
Tight lines, Jules.
