Livebait success for 4lb 1oz perch

Switching from lobworms to small livebaits towards the end of his session resulted in this superb 4lb 1oz 8dr perch for Rory Kingerley from a southern river this week.

Having lost a couple of fish to hookpulls in the heavy weed during the morning of his trip, at around 4pm the up-and-coming specimen ace changed his line of attack to a paternoster float set-up sporting a small lip-hooked bleak.

On his first cast he missed a lightning fast bite, but didn’t make the same mistake a few minutes later when a fresh bait was swung out and the float sailed away confidently.

“Initially, I thought that it was a pike, but then it started banging its head and I knew it must be a perch. I saw it about a foot below the surface when it was half way across the river and knew I was attached to a big fish, so it was ‘heart in the mouth’ stuff from then on!” said the 29-year-old, from Surrey, who works at Apollo Angling in Milford and used 6lb Hydro Flo main line, a 5lb Target fluorocarbon hook length and a size 6 hook.