Incredible week for huge perch
Tricky conditions couldn’t deter Britain’s perch anglers who have banked a string of fine fish since the turn of the year.
The weather might have been challenging, but that was the last thing on Chris Tredway’s mind as his slipped the net under a superb 5lb river specimen.
The fish showed up when he targeted a stretch of the River Severn, continuing a rich run of form that’s seen him take several perch over 4lb from the waterway recently.
He fooled the five-pounder with lure-fishing tactics.
Meanwhile, perch specialist Matt Wood was another to carry on where he left off with a stunner of 4lb 13oz.
Following up on fish of 4lb 6oz and 4lb 1oz (reported in Angling Times, December 27 issue), the Gloucestershire angler returned to the Cotswolds’ Carpathia gravel pit for two ‘threes’ before he landed his biggest yet.
All the fish fell to simple legered lobworms over a carpet of Spombed maggots, presented on a size 6 Drennan Super Specialist hooks and a 6lb fluorocarbon hooklink, free-running with 1oz leads and a Korum run rig kit.
Lure-fishing maestro Gary Edmonds also enjoyed great sport from the growing numbers of big perch available to UK anglers when he hooked into a pristine 4lb 1oz specimen.
The predator fanatic lure-fished a local river with his son, Sam, after recent rainfall and snow-melt brought about near-perfect conditions for the species.
After intitially struggling for a bite, Gary put on a yellow creature bait fished on a Cheb rig with a 3g jig head and soon had a powerful take.
Another angler on the big perch trail was Matthew Perring, who hit the jackpot with a 4lb 1oz fish he caught from his local day-ticket stillwater.
The Oxfordshire specialist caught his specimen on a Savage Gear 3D bleak pattern.
Dan Sales knows a thing or two about catching big perch, and he didn’t let a flooded river deter him from venturing out.
The Herts lure fishing fanatic began his session with a few lost fish before a change of bait saw him slip the net under a perch he estimated to weigh just a few ounces under 4lb.
“I started off with a big paddled shad, but I swapped to a big TRD and that did the trick,” he said.