pike and perch.co.uk

The perch forum has started off well hit 30 members and got a mention in the Angling Mail which was spot on. So my thanks goes to the Anglers Mail for printing a small bit it has really helped get the forum on its feet. Hopefully this will continue as it looks likely that the next mention will be in Pike and Predator magazine followed by Total Coarse Fisherman. Fingers crossed on those and thank you in advance.

Also to mention the PerchFishers new book The Biggest Fish of All arrived through the door and i have got to say what an excellent book and it seems extremely well put together. I cannot wait to crack on reading it.

Good luck to all with your Pike and Perch fishing as the temps start to drop!

Thanks,
Mark

Perch on small plastics is one of my most enjoyable ways to fish, you always catch good numbers and there is always the chance of a monster. This weekend i was out using small 2″ grubs and small Kopyto 2″ shads. Casting upstream on a section that is around 6′ wide and with overgrown banks it is just how i like it. You can’t always see the lure land but with the plop of the bait hitting the water you know you are in with a chance. A nice slow retrieve with a jig to lift it from the bottom once in a while seems to be just what these perch were after.

I managed 5 on Saturday topped by a stripey of approx a pound and a half, great joy to land on the Spro Ultralight rod. Infact they are all great to land on this bit of kit. My only issue this week is the style of jighead i’ve been using… i think its time for a change as i lost a few this time out and noteably they were what felt to be much bigger fish. Still am i just doubting myself, or was it simply bad luck? Who knows but to make sure i’m off to get some jigheads with a slighty different pattern to see if it makes a difference.

If it does make a different i’ll report back soon.

Tight lines to all and get yourselves out there stripey hunting!

Perch on lures has been the target for the last few weeks and wow has it been manic.

First evening on a huge lake the weather got the better of the fishing. I chucked alsorts at them on the light Spro Passion rod, damn its a joy to use. Albeit better when the fish are more active. The first evening i managed one perch and a pike of around 5lb. Next evening the wind had dropped so i nipped back down there. They were feeding on the fry on arrival at 7:30pm, they were chasing the lures happily but few were striking. On went an orange spinner and boom. We’d found what they had wanted… i managed 8 perch to around a pound and a bit. Also caught another pike around the 4lb mark and then all hell broke loose on the spro rod with tiny sedona reel… i’d hit a powerful fish that went on a great run on such light kit. A few mins later and a trout around three and a half pounds hit the net. Pleased was an understatement as it confirmed the sedona’s clutch is spot on! Unfortunately the light levels had dropped and so had the takes.

Three days later and i revisited the same location, the day had been warm and the evening a little muggy and a tad overcast. Conditions looked great and it certainly proved to be perfect as the fishing began. First cast resulted in a Perch around a pound. Second cast another…. over the next hour 30 perch were landed and some monsters were also spotted. Same as before though as the light fell from the sky so did the Perch from the water. We’d hit the magic hour spot on, but come 9pm they retreated to the depths. The feeding was crazy they were churning up the water looking like piranhas attacking their prey. It was an awesome sight and one that i had never witnessed before on such a grand scale.

Will i be back down there for another go, damn right i will. I just hope i hit the weather and the timing right again… there is a definate feeding window and when the light starts to go its gameover.

Succesfull lures : Orange bladed spinner + Red spotted Spinner + Ondex. Kopyto Shads. The 2.5″ Pearl Kopyto’s were singling out the better fish on the day it went mental.

Perch on lures was again the aim for saturday’s fishing trip!  I visited a local pit that looks stunning at this time of year, and thankfully i was just in time before Sunday and Monday’s downpours.  I tried my favourite productive areas but unfortunately hadn’t seen much to give me any confidence so started to have a move from swim to swim.   I only had 2 hours before having to drive to London and I was simply after a quick fix.  After an hour i was beginning to doubt myself a little, should i have gone to where i had good success last weekend.

I had gone through various lures, Rapala jointed shad raps, shallow shad raps, deeper divers, kopyto shads and even the faithful Salmo Hornet that has been so succesfull of late.  Unfortunately nothing had shown a liking to anything i’d chucked in.  I’d seen quite a few pike striking in to the local roach population, they were really going for it and hitting into them roughly every 15 minutes before the sun awoke fully from behind the trees. 

Still working the bank i decided to change lures again.  On went the Salmo Butcher in the Perch colourings.  Tap tap on the first retrieve… hmm maybe we’re on to something here!  Straight back out it went and after a few cranks of the reel bang, a fish had come along that really wanted my lure.  At last I was in and the notorious head shaking thudding sensation was on the end of my line, at last a Perch wanted to play!  Weighing in at 1lb 10oz it was no monster but was a cracking looking little chap, they really do show there best colours this time of year and with glowing red fins it was a cracker.   Unfortunately that was the only bite and unfortunately i had to leave shortly after.  The good that has come of this is that so far i’ve not had a perch out of this lake under a pound, ok they are not there in great numbers but the sizes have been promising.  If all goes well i’ll be back down there again this Sunday morning to see if anymore want to play! 

Please let the remainder of the week at work go quickly!  Good luck to all on your predator adventures!

I’ll will send another update soon as to state of the medway in the upper reaches and hopefully soon the new christmas lures can be christened!

Good luck to all and I hope you all have a great 2010!

I was up well up for some more perch action on friday and with that in mind I made sure i was up nice and early to give a small nearby pit another go. I had my first lure caught perch from this lake the other day and at approx a pound and a bit i was eager to try to find some more.

I drove down there nice and early after de-icing the car and the lake was extremely high but not too coloured so i thought it was definately worth a shot.

First hour not a touch, and i hadn’t seen any movement at all. But then low and behold after moving swims a few times bump bump on the lure and whallop i was in. It felt like a good un and kept its head down for a little while and then up it popped and was scooped into the waiting net. It sure looked like a lure caught pb and once on the scales it went 2lb 2oz’s – at last I’d managed a 2lb’er on a lure! Happy days indeed.

No others were taken and once it got bright i headed home, fingers crossed i’ll be back down there for the last couple of hours of light to try and tempt another one!

Succesfull lure = A white Mepps Spinflex

What a week, high winds and what seemed like an endless amount of rain plummeting out of the skies.  For river fishing that’s about as bad as it can get! 

To numb my pain on Wednesday my latest tackle purchase arrived, a nice new Savage Gear Bushwhacker 10-30g 7’ spinning rod.  I had been reading everywhere about how nice they are to use and with that I couldn’t resist purchasing one for myself.  What does a new lure rod need?  You got it… some lovely new lures.  So I met up with a local chap who sells Rapala’s and treated myself to five new uns.  A couple of X-Rap Shads and a couple of Glass Shad Raps hopefully these would tempt a few perch to play! 

Luckily I managed to get a few hours of lure fishing in on Friday afternoon before darkness in between the heavy rain spells.  I was hoping where I had in mind wouldn’t have been too badly hit by the weather.   

On arrival at the lake I was quite happy that it wasn’t coloured up at all, although it had risen about 6” since my last trip.  I plugged away for an hour hopping swims without a touch, admittedly I hadn’t seen much movement either which was weird for this place.  When I was here carp fishing for a few nights over the summer I saw loads of perch chases on the surface.  Maybe the cold had sent them down a little. 

On went the x-rap shad and I cranked it down… I felt a little tap tap and struck but unfortunately it was just a little weed.  Back out it went this time a little shallower and BANG I was on to a half decent Perch, phew I only had about 30 minutes till darkness and the smile on my face would take some beating!  Yee haa!  I had managed to christen a new rod and lure in one outing, lovely jubbly!  Unfortunately no others came my way but still I could not have been happier.

Below is a link to a video of the X-Rap’s action so you can take a look and see what you think… I will definitely be spending more time trying these out on this lake and other waters nearby! 

Rapala X-Rap Shad Lure

Its just a shame with work that I won’t get out again now for a week and a bit.  Grrrr!

Well low and behold i managed it!  Back out on the bank today and damn it felt good….!

After the rain yesterday which absolutely chucked it down i wasn’t too sure how good it would be but conditions looked perfect for a decent day out.   I arrived at 6:30am and silver fish were moving as normal, but none of the anticipated pike action to be seen anywhere… baits were cast around the swim but still no signs and no takes.  Very perculiar for this area that i was fishing…!

A move was made after a few hours and i managed to lose what felt like a good double!  Gutted!  Moved to smaller baits for the perch under a 5ssg loafer float and let it drift around, after two minutes whop the float was under and i was in at last… unfortunately again a lost fish.  Re-cast to the same and the stripey fancied another go, damn it hit the bait hard!  Thankfully this one was landed and was around a pound.  Very happy!!!  Shortly after another 2 were taken to around the same size.  Then the swim went dead.

I returned home a happy man, as although id have loved to stay longer i just didn’t have time.  Still atleast i know where some of those stripeys are hiding for tomorrow and maybe monday as well!  I cannot wait to get back down there to see if any biggies are about!

Only a short update today as the weekend just past i didn’t manage as much fishing as normal.  I was down the lake both days for only a few hours each time.  Fortunately Tommy Topsoil didn’t let me down with the lobs and they arrived extremely quickly as usual and meant that lack of bait wasn’t an issue.   If you are interested he manages to do a 100 lobs for £12 delivered and i think every time i’ve ordered before 2pm they’ve been waiting for me on my doorstep the next day.  Absolutely outstanding service!

Back to the fishing… with the wind being up again its not easy fishing but conditions otherwise looked pretty good both days.  Fortunately in one location the perch were still there and feeding quite comfortably and were taken to just over a pound.  I think saturday morning i managed 6 of them before i had to leave.  Sunday evening i managed another 2 but still no more 2 pounders to grace the net.  I’m sure its only a matter of time before a three comes to say hello down there.  Its just a matter of having the time at the moment to get a good session in to get the feed in and try to pull them over it.  Hopefully this saturday i can try to get a good few hours down there from first light which should be good. 

I’ll keep the blog updated as usual to let you know how i’m getting on!  I may even try to get a couple of hours in tonight.  The joy of summer and quick outings after work…delightful!

Well what an evening, i have just returned from the big lake having caught my biggest from there so far.  On arrival i walked to my favourite swim to find a guy already fishing there – totally gutted.  I set up one down behind some trees and thought i’d go have a chat with him before i start.

He said he was after alsorts and had got fed up with small perch nicking his maggots so went over to sweetcorn to go for the roach, with some success taking them to the 2lb mark.  I mentioned would he be there long and he said he was nearly out of bait so would give me a whistle when he’s done.  Low and behold i was in the spot i wanted at a little after 8pm, which isn’t bad going as that meant i’d only been there 20 minutes.  And being as i’d gone straight from work all i had to catch some livies was bread, thankfully he gave me a handful of maggots and i was away/  Third cast i caught a perfect sized bleak.

Thankfully i’d prepared and had the rod setup so on went the bait and i cast out to the edge of the trees whilst the guy was packing away.  I didn’t have to wait long as the bait was taken in under a minute by a pristine perch of 1lb 10oz.  Second biggest i’d had so far so i was well chuffed.  Out went the float for another bait…  2 minutes later a nice 4″ roach decided it fancied the maggot!  Perfect…!

This was cast a little deeper and the bait presented about a foot from the bottom.   15 minutes later another take, unfortunately this one spat it out before i managed to get him.  The bait still being ok, so it went back out to the hotspot.  Then about 10 minutes after casting it in bang bang bang on the float and then he was off…  i struck into it i and knew i was on to a good un and boy did he put up a great scrap.   Out went the net and he was mine!  Ok not massive but being the biggest by nearly half a pound i was well made up!  He went 2lb 7oz on the scales and i was overjoyed!!!

After this all went a little quiet until bang on the float again and i thought surely not!  I hit into and it felt damn good, unfortunately it was not seen nor heard but it felt bloody good and it felt perchy!  And stronger than the two previous fish……  nothing else happened after this so i packed up and headed home as it well pretty dark by now and i was struggling to see the float.  But you’d better be sure i’ll be back down there soon after nearly getting my hands on a real good one!

Watch this space…!