pike and perch.co.uk

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…!

The day arrived and i was down on the river by 4:15 ready to launch an assualt on the fish that lurked beneath.  The river was quite clear with a slow flow to it, not ideal conditions but i had to be there!  I baited with chopped worm and reg maggots on the edge of the reeds in the hope to tempt a stripey into biting!  I didn’t have to wait long and the first one was in the net.  Not a biggie but it was what i was after so i couldn’t complain.  After this i managed two more perch to a 1lb and a half on worms, a 4lb bream and a small chub.  Then the swim died. 

I put the rod down and a pike went for the float which was just dangling on the water… shortly after he then assumed his resting position right against the bank about 2 feet away from me.  I couldn’t help to see what he would like for lunch, so i tried a few worms and managed to get them on video dropping into the water, then i tried a few tiddlers to see whether or not he was up for the challenge of a fishy snack! 

Check out the videos in the forum to see what happened!

Friday evening was overcast with a light breeze on the water at the lake that has been my target this last week.  with over 70 perch landed between us during the my prayers were answered and i managed to catch a 2lb 1oz perch at 9pm.  I knew there had to larger in there, well i had hoped so anyway.  And after seeing this pristine Perch the full potential of the place has been exposed…!

I shall be on the river for the foreseeable future but i know that when the river is having it’s off days i have this place to head back down to.  Its barely fished which is a god send and hopefully it stays that way i can fish where and when i need to.  Phew!

Good like to all for the coming season and may all your stripeys be big ones!  I look forward to seeing captures posted on the forum and i hope a few of them are mine!

Ok back i went to the same location, it wasn’t quite as productive as the first session as it was a lot windier but we still managed around 15-20 perch.  Biggest again just below a pound… i’m sure there are bigger in there after seeing an easy 2 pounder last autumn.  Hopefully i will be back down there tomorrow to see whats about and try another very perchy area of the lake.  Fingers crossed – and whatever happens i cannot wait for the 16th to come around.  I’m counting the days now.  The new perch rods have arrived and the worms are on order to arrive Friday so i can get out and prebait a few chosen swims on my favourite section of river.

Good luck to any readers who like myself will be aiming for stripeys on the opening day!

Last night the weather looked perfect, it was still quite warm and overcast.  So I had to get myself out and try a nearby lake for some perch. Unfortunately there were no whackers caught but a fishing buddy and I managed to catch over 30 perch in two hours from a large lake a short drive from where we live (approx 20 acres). The largest was just under a pound but that didn’t stop us have a very enjoyable session, it was all about getting out there and getting in amongst the stripeys. All fish bar two of them were caught on float fished worm. We will be back down there tonight and hopefully see if we can find some of the larger ones.

Fingers crossed~!  And i’ll let you know how we get on soon!

Ok I did manage a day and a bit of fishing on the lake mentioned before to see what i could catch.  I went armed with an arsenal of red maggots hoping for a perch, but basically to get a rough idea of stock within the lake.

I must have gone through around 40 roach on good friday, amongst the odd gudgeon, bleak and dace… and then taaa daaa a perch took a single red maggot!  Ok he was only about 4 inches but atleast now i know that there is atleast one Perch in there!  The problem is how the hell do i find them in 15 plus acres of water… i suppose follow the bait fish and try the overhangs and undercuts! ….I cannot wait.   It may be a long slog but fingers crossed there could be a gem in there somewhere.

I had a walk round on Sunday also, to get ideas of where to fish and did fortunately see a few perch chasing the smaller fish.  Albeit they only looked around .5 to 1lb but the signs are there for me to focus my available time on the place!  Please oh please let this lake hold some magical untouched perch!  

This is the sort of lake that books are written about, away from the crowds little known about and only the very odd fisherman frequents it’s banks…!  

Hmmm.

Why is it that as soon as the close season begins the rivers looks its best for ages?

I have fished the last three weekends on a near untouched lake trying to find whatever will take my bait, albeit for the time being its just been Bream whilst i’ve been there.  This weekend an attempt will be made to see what predators or in the lake… at 15-20 acres its a challenge to say the least but hopefully something nice will grace my net over the weekend.  Its barely fished so i have no idea what is in there and with only once seeing an angler fishing it – there is a buzz about the place for me to find something special.  I’m hoping this weekend i can find atleast one Perch to really set the off season campaign in to action…!  I was told a few months back of a number of pike in the lake but on questioning the perch population there was no information to hand.

Maybe its just waiting for someone to target them, and hopefully that person is me!  I’ll let you know how the place progresses, as atleast for now i have until June 16th to see if its back to river or not…!  Please oh please let the Perch come to see me, the place is so special and off the beaten track it will be a great pleasure to find some stripeys hidden out there somewhere!  

I’ll keep you informed!

Well fingers crossed this weekend the river won’t be flowing hard and coloured chocolate brown, as last weekend it was real hard going!  Cold, wet and with the river in flood isn’t just wasn’t to be.  Tried all my tricks and the Pike just didn’t want to know.  Tried the slacks that had produced 4 doubles the week before but they just weren’t to be found in their favourite hide outs either.  Stumped!  So hopefully this weekend with less rain i should be in with a shot! 

If it doesn’t look great i may have to resort to trying to catch some perch instead… hmmm!  I cannot wait, each day at the moment i am constantly checking the weather to see how its changing.  As for now its flippin cold but that sure as hell won’t stop me!  So far for the weekend its looking like a zero degrees day time temperature for both days although i’m sure a perch in the net will warm me up!  

I’ll let you know how it goes!   Keep check on how i get on : www.perchforum.co.uk

This Friday afternoon i decided to go armed with some lobs and catch myself a few small livebaits and have another go at the same stretch that produced last weekend. 

On arrival at 3pm the jacks were striking a little further upstream so i decided to setup next to some lillypads and hope for the best a little bit downstream of the resident pike.   First up i thought i’d catch myself a few baits and then try those on one rod and a nice fat juicy lob on the other.   The small roach were most obliging and within 15 minutes i had a good 6/7 baits in the bucket.   I rigged up with my normal float paternoster setup and sat back with fingers crossed.  The float was bobbing away with some attention and after 20 minutes my first perch was bagged.  Just over a pound and i was satisfied.  I recast another bait to the same spot and the attention started after 5 or 6 minutes.  This time not resulting in much, so i left it alone and cast a cut lobworm 15 yards upstream under a bobber float.  Within minutes the first perch was on and quickly netted.   This time at around half a pound he had put up a good scrap.  The livebait still un-touched.  Out went another worm and after a further ten minutes off it ran again, again around half a pound.  I decided to cast the livebait just past this spot incase a biggie was nearby and attracted to the feeding smaller perch.   The worm went back out 5 yards to the left.

Bang!  The float bolted under and at first felt very good with the initial and a very angry pounder was landed.  This followed over the next hour by another 3 perch between half a pound and a pound.   Light was fading fast and i had around 30 minutes remaining.  Then wallop the float flew under and held tight as a struck.  This time it felt really special, the worm was taken and something nice was on the end of my line.  At first it banged and knocked and felt perchy but then it just held the bottom… five minutes later and i still had no idea what was on the end, i lowered the net and was graced with my first ever eel weighing in at just under 3lb.  Initially i was gutted as i thought it had been a large perch bite but this kind of made up for it as it was the first eel i had ever caught. 

All in all not a bad day at all.   7 Perch and a new PB – happy days!

Saturday arrived and i was back on the river 13 hours after my last fish.  This time a frost had hit hard and the temperature overnight had plummeted to around 2 degrees.  The river looked dead.  I tried all i could, had one rod out for the pike and one for the perch.  The next 6 hours passed without a touch!  Had the weather really killed it that much.  It certainly looked that way.  I tried various areas but no predators wanted to know.  Oh well onwards and upwards next weekend if its real cold i will have to go for a wander and see if i can find them.  

This saturday i decided to try a new spot!  Much of my current success has been on a stretch approx a mile down river from where i tried on Saturday.  The old spot was looking pretty much dead on a few evening visits i had made after work, and with it getting a few more anglers on that stretch i decided to venture somewhere new.

The alarm clock beeped away at 6am and there i was alone on a secluded back stream of the river by 6:30 i had high hopes for the morning.  The part i had chosen had lovely deep undercut banks and was a small fish holding area.  Livebaits were coming thick and fast and i thought this day was looking good.  I tackled up the perch rod with a float fished paternostered live bait around 3″ long, with high hopes that Mr Perch would soon arrive for his breakfast.  I also opted to put out a pike rod as this area normally produces a good few pike.  I’d had them previously here up to around 9-10lb.  On a normal morning here i’d have seen many pike striking in the early hours but this time i had seen none – weird!  After 2 hours i decided it just wasn’t happening here today.  I had positioned the perch rod in favoured spots but produced nout.  It was time to move. 

I up’d rods and went for a look at other areas of the river.  I found a nice spot with a lot of cover from reeds and lilly pads, it wasn’t an easy place to fish but looked good for a perch bite.   Out went the float paternoster rod just off the lilly pads in a nice area of shade.  And the other rod i positioned about 10 yards upstream tight to the bank.  I began to question myself after 30 minutes if it just wasn’t to be today, but low and behold the float started to bob… and then it was off i struck as soon as the float went for a swim and i was in.  A few minutes later a nice stripey as in the net!  At 1lb 10oz it sure wasn’t the biggest but boy was i glad to see it.  After thinking it wasn’t going to happen i was very happy i’d decided to move. 

So guess where i’m heading this weekend!  Got to see if there are many more Perch up in that area.  It should be a good spot after the heavy rain from yesterday as its sheltered and off from the main flow.   3 days of work to go!  I just hope the stripeys are hungry!