Friends share big perch haul
A weekend's barbel fishing on the River Severn at Bridgnorth turned into the perch session of a lifetime for friends Chris Hunter and Alex Crow.
The highlight was this huge 4lb 1oz specimen which fell to the rod of 27-year-old Chris, and came shortly after Alex landed fish of 3lb 5oz and 3lb.
Both anglers had started the session targeting the waterway’s famous population of barbel, but after spotting some small prey fish scattering on the surface in the margins, they decided to change their approach.
“I got the drop shot rod out and started working a small shad pattern around the margins and I caught four perch up to 2lb but the light was fading all the time,” explained Salisbury, Wiltshire-based Chris.
“The weather had turned cold and it was putting the barbel off so we made the decision to ignore them the next day and go for the perch instead in the same swim. It had a disused platform and an overhanging tree. We were casting just past this and they were nailing it every time, it was unbelievable,” he said.
The pair caught a dozen perch around the 2lb mark between them, plus several smaller ones, taking it in turns to cast and regularly resting the swim. In the afternoon the biggest fish started feeding as Alex broke his personal best twice before Chris rounded off the day with the 4lb 1oz stripey.
“As one of us was unhooking one perch, the other was hooking another, there was a lot of fish in the swim. It was a real red letter day and it doesn’t usually happen like this. I actually thought my biggest was a pike until it came up to the net so I made sure I didn’t lose it!” he explained.
All fish were taken on either a small shad pattern or curly grubs and twin tails, in conjunction with 8lb Drennan Feeder Braid, 6lb fluorocarbon and a size 1 Fox Rage Drop Shot hook, fished in 9ft of water.
