...for serious pike and predator anglers!
Perch Fishing
Methods and techniques for perch...
I use various methods and techniques to tempt perch. My favorite method has to be fly fishing for them. A small black nymph, or an imitation fry, retrieved enticingly through the water, can produce an unbelievable response. I have seen 15-20 small perch at a time following my fly back to the bank/boat. I have found that big perch tend to prefer large flies - although nothing is written in stone! Many large perch and pike have been tempted by the smallest of flies. Colorful weighted lures often get a response or two from large perch, chub, and pike - not forgetting trout! By the way, fly anglers call colorful flies, ‘lures’.
Another method that I really like, is float fishing for perch with lob worms. I use two tiny treble hooks and load them up with 3-4 lob worms. I use a 4in by ¾in float, set high in the water, and do not strike until it is taken right under. It never ceases to amaze me how a shoal of perch can pick the hooks clean without getting hooked. When the float does go under, it is usually a ½lb plus perch. Using that method, I have never deep hooked one perch. The best days perch fishing I have ever had, was with my son Michael some 12 years back - Michael being a very good all-round angler. In one day we caught between 200-300 perch on lob worm and small artificial plugs.
Perch fishing is a nice way of introducing children and newcomers to predator fishing. It is a good idea to go pike fishing with somebody experienced before going it alone. Just imagine the problems my son would have encountered if he had been out pike fishing by himself when the pike seen at the bottom of this page took his legered bait. The pike had one of the biggest heads I had ever seen - needless to say, my son’s head got bigger after that capture! Five minutes after returning the pike he lost one of a similar size.
Lure fishing for perch...
Lure fishing for perch can be great fun. Light tackle and small lures usually produce the best results. I have a very large collection of plugs, spinners and spinnerbaits, which I use mainly for tempting perch. The lures range from 3-7gms in weight and 1-3in in length.
Handcrafted spinnerbaits...
My miniature handcrafted spinnerbaits, which have a lightweight aluminium Colorado blade mounted on the upper arm, and a rubber grub and single hook on the lower weighted arm, greatly arouse the attentions of sizeable perch. The main reason that my miniature spinnerbaits score so well, is, in my opinion, because of their lightweight aluminium blades - which I make from .032 aluminium sheet. My perch spinnerbaits can be retrieved ultra slow... while maintaining good blade spin and plenty of flash.
Spinners...
Small spinners can be very productive for perch, chub and small pike. Big pike will take a small spinner, but not as often as they will a medium to large spinner/plug - plugs being in the 4-6in size range. Small plugs and rubber grubs, in the 3-7g weight range, can be very productive for perch - and grayling too I’m told!
Plugs...
As I said above, plugs in the 4-6in size range are mainly used for enticing pike. Small plugs, in the 3-7g weight range, most definitely get the best results. Nothing is written in stone though! I have caught many perch in the 1½-2lb size range on 6in minnow plugs.
Flies..
As I have said elsewhere in Predator Fishing UK, fly fishing can be very productive for perch. Small black nymphs, to the brightest and boldest of flies, will all have their day. Being in the right place in the right time, with the right fly on, is the key to success. It doesn't matter how good your fly or presentation is, if you’re casting to a fish-less location, you ain’t goin’ to catch!
When fly fishing for perch, pike, chub or trout, I like to try natural and un-natural looking flies - i.e. in order to get some sort of idea as to what mood the fish I’m hunting are in. I do exactly the same when out hunting pike with non tied lures.
At Rutland Water (trout res.) an old friend and I banked some very nice rainbow trout on very loud flies. Nigel Savage, a well known fly angler and warden at Rutland Water, could not believe the success we were having. We caught 3lb, 4lb. 5lb and 6lb rainbow trout on our slow, very deeply retrieved, colourful flies. Expert fly anglers, who were using natural flies, caught nothing like what we did that day. When the mood of the large trout eventually changed, i.e. a week or two later, the experts with their small black nymphs, buzzers and realistic flies, left us standing at the start line!
It's always worth trying flies/lures that others would have you believe - "you'll never catch on that."