Switch to weedless lure snares a monster perch - Ash Costa
“I recently learned the importance of carrying a variety of lures when predator fishing after a change in approach during a recent trip helped me to catch a massive perch.
“There’s a particular Fenland drain that’s been a tough nut to crack this season, although on a few occasions I’ve seen some very big perch follow the smaller ones that I’ve hooked to the bank.
“Seeing these inspired me to keep fishing the area, but to begin with I had very little luck. That all changed on my latest session, however.
“I arrived at the drain early in the morning and found the water was quite coloured, so I clipped on a chatterbait, which is a vibrating lure with a colourful skirt, as I wanted something vibrant that the fish would notice easily.
“After 10 minutes I’d not had a take and so I just assumed that either the fish weren’t there or my approach was wrong. I decided to switch to crankbaits to cover more water, and apart from catching two perch between 1lb and 2lb, I was mostly reeling in weed.
“So, with there being so much weed about I made yet another change and switched to my trusty Olivette Rig with a pearl-coloured stickbait mounted on a weedless hook.
Ash’s Olivette rig
“All I’d done was thread a Drennan Lock & Slide olivette on to my line which allowed me to adjust the distance between the weight and hook without cutting the line. The stickbait is also buoyant, which can be effective in weedy areas.
“I cast the lure out and fished it almost static – letting it rise through the water column before twitching the olivette back towards me.
“It took only a few casts before a very heavy fish smashed into the lure just as it rose above the weed. My legs turned to jelly and, to make matters worse, the fish rolled on the surface immediately and I could see that it was a big perch and not a pike!
“At 4lb 6oz she wasn’t the heaviest perch I’ve ever caught but one of the longest at 50cm!
“I’m pretty sure it will be well over 5lb come February. The catch certainly proved that it pays to have a few lure options with you on the day.”
Ash Costa – 4lb 6oz perch
Huge perch falls during Classic match
THOM Hunt was the envy of all anglers competing in this year’s World Predator Classic when he boated the largest perch of the contest at 4lb 6oz.
During the first day of the weekend-long event on Cambridgeshire’s Grafham Water, the lure-fishing fanatic struck into a string of big fish when he targeted marginal weedbeds with crankbaits.
“On the Saturday I had an unbelievable session and caught perch of 3lb 12oz, 4lb 3oz and 4lb 6oz,” he says.
“It was a hard competition this year, with 100-plus anglers fishing, so to manage a brace of fours about an hour apart but from different areas of the lake was incredible!”
Thom’s catches ensured that he and his boat partner finished fourth overall in the competition.
Thom Hunt and 4lb 6oz perch from Grafham Water
The best sport I've experienced in 25 years - Brett Davies
“My mate Adam Jones and I took a break from perch fishing to try for bass in West Wales using topwater lures.
“They had pushed the baitfish on to the shoreline and were decimating them among the seaweed!
“For the next 90 minutes every single cast resulted in a take.
“Adam had a beautiful 63cm-long PB and I took one of 55cm.
“We caught more than 120 fish, with at least 40 being over the 40cm mark. It was simply the best sport I’ve experienced in more than 25 years of fishing.”
Brett Davies – 5lb bass
Lure fishing is great for...BREAM! - Chris Howell
“I was fishing my local stretch of the Basingstoke Canal and it was getting pretty late, but I decided I’d just make a few last casts into a bay that the boats use for turning round.
“There were some lily pads close to the far bank so I flicked my 0.5g red and white jig fly to the edge of them.
“I’d only twitched it twice when all of a sudden my rod bent double and my heart started racing!
“The fish headed straight for the lilies but with some light pressure I managed to pull it out.
“Sliding the net in as the head came to the surface, I was stunned to see a bream come towards me!
“I was still happy to catch it, though, because it was my first-ever bream on a lure.”
Chris Howell and his lure caught bream
Monster perch on the fly! - Matt Roberts
“Over the winter I spent lots of time targeting specimen perch from southern reservoirs with flies, although my trips were mostly unsuccessful, with plenty of blanks. Beating my long-standing personal best of 4lb was the goal I wanted to achieve and I was determined not to be defeated.
“With the arrival of milder spring weather, my friend Tim Marks and I booked on to a reservoir in Oxfordshire which we knew held some very big fish. We arrived early and eventually left the dock on our boat at 8.30am, planning to fish until 5pm. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect with overcast skies and a steady breeze, which really helps drift your boat across the water while searching for shoals of prey fish.
“Usually, when I’ve found the prey, the big perch are never far behind. From past experiences, though, I’ve discovered they can also be caught around the jetties, towers and ledges here, so if the drifting didn’t work we had a decent Plan B.
“With the help of an electronic fish finder, it didn’t take long to locate the prey fish so we targeted the shoal on the bottom in around 13ft of water using di7 sinking lines and four-inch baitfish imitation flies.
This 4-inch baitfish fly didn’t do the business on this occasion
“Despite countless drifts and casts, we hadn’t had a single bite by 1pm and morale was low. We racked our brains to figure out what we were doing wrong because these tactics had worked for us before. Tim suggested trying a smaller, 2ins Grey Minkie fly or a Small Grub, whereas I persevered with the longer 4ins versions, thinking big lures would equal big perch!
This 2-inch Small Grub fly worked a treat!
“A few casts later, Tim shouted: “I’m in!” and after a proper good scrap his new PB of 4lb 8oz was safe in the net. Just a few casts later he had another four-pounder! I was over the moon for him, but I was worried that I hadn’t had any success and the day was getting on.
“It was clear now that the perch were feeding on small fry in the reservoir so I tied on the same pattern that Tim was using. By this stage we’d clipped our boat on to a buoy in the area where the bites occurred. It was quite close to a near-bank jetty which featured a ledge that sloped to depths of 15ft.
“I made a long cast towards the jetty then counted my fly down for 15 seconds before adopting a strip, strip, pause technique with my line. I got three cycles in when something powerful engulfed my fly on the pause. The take was delicate but the fish immediately shook its head, stayed deep and my light six-weight fly rod locked up.
“The fight was super-strong but after 45 seconds this perch, which was fat and as round as a football, surfaced and my nerves kicked in! I was only using a size 12 hook and perch are known for shaking them out, so when I watched it slide over Tim’s net the weight off my shoulders was insane. We both knew it was a high-calibre perch and when the needle on the scales went closer to 5lb than 4lb, I knew I’d finally done it.
“We ended the session with three 4lb perch, a 7lb pike and a handful of trout, which were all taken on those 2ins-long Minkes. Needless to say, I’ll be packing those smaller flies with me whenever I go perching now!”
Canal sessions don't get any better than this! - Adam Jones
“On Sunday I had a ridiculous lure fishing session on my local stretch of canal.
In an hour I hooked 11 perch over 2lb 6oz on a Junebug TRD lure of which five were over 3lb, but the best fish by far was a new PB and an absolute beast of 4lb 5oz.
In the first six minutes of my session I had four casts and caught three perch all over 43cm long, with two of them weighing over 3lb, including the 4lb 5oz fish.
I remember the excitement I felt watching her surface and roll into my net. It’s a fantastic memory that will never leave me. Not wanting to hold the fish in the net and stress them out, a mate and I took some photos and watched them swim off.
Over the rest of the hour, I managed about 20 casts and ended up landing a fish every other chuck. I just thought canal sessions don’t get any better than this.
I was truly over the moon – firstly to break my PB but more importantly to have witnessed this unreal fish and also her entire extended family in a crazy, beautiful and completely mad hour of fishing!”
Short session success with a 4lb 12oz perch - Mark Austin
“To get my fishing fix I’ve been nipping down to the Great Ouse before work and despite only fishing for an hour on each occasion, I’ve enjoyed the best perch sport I’ve ever experienced in my life.
In two previous sessions I banked a string of specimens on lures ranging between 2lb and 4lb, but nothing could prepare me for my latest trip.
I arrived at the stretch and began my usual routine of combing the far bank with the lure to try and find where the perch are lying.
I’ve found deep water behind trees to be good spots and this was again proven true when I struck into a 2lb fish almost straight away, and another on the following cast!
I slipped these fish back, flicked the lure back out to the spot and whack! – fish on, but from the way my light 1g-9g rod arched over I thought it was a pike.
Halfway through the fight it started to head-shake more and it stayed deep for about five minutes before finally surfacing just feet from the bank…
I couldn’t believe it – I saw its giant white belly and knew it was a special perch.
It wasn’t the longest stripey in the world but it was incredibly fat and smashed my previous best of 4lb 2oz.
I’ve fished the Ouse my whole life but for me this season has by far been the best for big fish.”
Big zander falls on full moon
PEARL-coloured lures fished under a bright full moon is a deadly combination for huge zander according to Tom Watts, who hooked into this 15lb giant during his latest session.
It was the largest of five zeds for the Doncaster, South Yorks angler, who lure fished deep areas of both the tidal and non-tidal Trent in the same evening.
He said:
“The high barometric pressure and a fairly new moon seemed to put the zander on the feed!
“All five gave very aggressive hits but were only really interested in the pearl-coloured lures for some reason”
Two mile move nets fine stripey
Ash Costa carried his impressive form for big perch into the new year when he slipped his net under this chunky 4lb 4oz specimen.
The Lincolnshire-based lure ace banked several massive stripeys to just over 5lb from his local drains in 2019 and managed to locate another shoal of big fish during his latest adventure.
After catching a pike and a host of 3lb-plus perch next to a sunken tree, Ash moved two miles upstream to another prolific spot and only had to wait 20 minutes before his Cheb-rigged TRD was smashed.
Location vital for 7lb-plus perch brace
PHIL Taylor’s watercraft had a huge part to play in the capture of this stunning brace of perch weighing 3lb 4oz and 3lb 14oz.
All of the rivers close to his Lincolnshire home had suffered as a result of persistent rain but he refused to be beaten, heading to a Midlands marina offering sanctuary to the shoals.
He said:
“The fish were sat in a slightly deeper area of the marina and once I found them it was clear there were a lot of them huddled together and ready to feed.
“So many anglers are avoiding rivers all together because of the torrid conditions but I ended the day with four fish over 3lb.
“It’s all down to location – find them and you’ll have as much chance as ever.”
Each of Phil’s perch fell to lobworms fished via a drop-shot rig.
Fry's the limit for 4lb 10oz perch
“IT WAS without doubt the best-looking perch I’d ever seen!” – these are the words of lure fanatic Chris Lowe who was left feeling delighted with the capture of a stunning 4lb 10oz specimen.
It was a new personal best for the 39-year-old although he had a much smaller perch to thank for his catch, as he explained further…
“The section of the River Thames I was fishing was in flood at the time and I was targeting the slacks with a crayfish-imitation lure.
“I spent far too long using this method with only one perch to show for my efforts, however that fish changed the game.
“It was a plump two-pounder but it coughed up a load of two-inch fry in my net.”
Being a fan of ‘matching the hatch’, Chris switched to a 7cm Fox Rage Slick Shad lure in pearl colour which completely transformed the rest of his session.
He added:
“Almost immediately I hooked into a big fish and I knew it was a special perch straight away.
“It put up a fantastic fight and when I got it in the net I couldn’t believe how pristine it was.
“I lost another on the very next cast which looked like a very big three, at least before it spat the hook at the net.
“I can’t complain though as I left with a new PB and enjoyed what was probably the best few hours of fishing I’ve ever had.”
Chris Lowe’s top three tips for river perching
Fish to key features
Snags, jetties, crease lines, boat moorings and slacks are perch hotspots – especially in flooded conditions.
Change it up
Make regular lure changes varying the sizes, colours and types of lures you want to use. Alternate your retrieve speeds too – often fishing tight to the deck with long pauses will produce the better fish. Don’t ignore crankbait fishing during the early part of the winter whilst it’s still mild.
Grind it out!
If the perch are in the area, you’ll generally know about it quickly. However, on some days in swims that you know have good form you’ll have to dig deep, especially on pressured venues. So stick at it and fish the swim thoroughly before moving on to the next.
Canal marinas a haven for big perch
BEST mates Silviu Stoica and Tiberius Cautis have revealed the pulling-power of canal marinas after they banked a flurry of big perch during their latest outing.
By working 7cm paddle-tail shads slow across the bottom, the pair managed to bank several perch to just under 3lb.
Silviu told Angling Times:
“We’ve been on a constant chase in the cold and rain this winter for a perch hotspot and luckily we found that marinas on the Grand Union Canal can be a very good shelter for these big-bellied fish!
“On this occasion the perch were absolutely smashing the lures and they each put up an excellent scrap.”