I suspect that, like many others, my first ever fish was a perch of just a few ounces. That first fish caught on crude float tackle and a 6 feet solid fibreglass rod from a Birmingham park pool prompted an interest in angling that has now spanned nearly 30 years.
I still remember the moment when I held up that first fish and admired the crimson fins and bold stripes. On subsequent trips it was almost guaranteed that a ‘stripey’ would make an appearance and snaffle my double maggot offering. However, as a typical youngster I was keen to move on and I soon set my sights on bigger and more glamorous prey. It’s sad to admit that, despite those early days, perch were soon viewed as a nuisance, whether they were hanging themselves on a spinner meant for pike or mangling the last decent lobworm left in the bait tin! I suppose it was partly with this in mind that I sought to try and redress the balance this autumn. There were other reasons as well. The barbel fishing on the section of the Upper Trent I’d been concentrating on this season had tailed off from the end of August and there were horrendous problems with huge clumps of drifting weed. Looking at the various forums on the web it was apparent that this was a common problem on the river this year and many people were struggling. A conversation with my friend Tim revealed he was of a similar mind and we soon decided on a suitable section of river to concentrate on. Rivers such as the Great Ouse have a big perch pedigree and have subsequently had numerous articles by the likes of Phil Smith, Tony Miles and Stef Horak dedicated to them in the angling press. However, for information on methods for big Trent perch you need look no further than Archie Braddock’s website, www.braddocksbaits.co.uk. I had spent a very enjoyable day out with Archie a couple of seasons ago when he demonstrated his perch paternoster. I had even been lucky enough to catch a personal best of 2lb 13oz whilst I was with him. Without going into too much detail, the method involves fishing a small livebait on a paternoster with a long leger link, so that the bait is presented high up in the water. Archie’s theory is that, in summer, big perch go on ‘killing runs’ at mid-water, actively looking for prey fish silhouetted above them. The bait itself is mounted onto a size 14 hook that has been hair-rigged to a size 4, thereby preventing the bait masking the hook. The whole rig is then fished directly off the rod top, without a float to reduce resistance and with bite indication provided by a bobbin and an electronic bite alarm.
The section of river we had chosen had numbers of pegs separated by large, overhanging willow bushes. Depth off the rod top was 6 feet. The plan was to fish a paternostered bait up against the downstream bush, whilst feeding and trotting maggots down the crease from the upstream bush. The idea behind this was predominantly to build up the number of prey fish in the swim to attract any perch in, but also to be in with a second chance should a lunker decide that it wanted a hors d’oeuvre before the main course! The first trip certainly indicated that there was plenty of suitable prey fish in the area, with bleak, roach and small chub taking the trotted maggot well before it had got halfway down the swim. Perch were plentiful as well. What surprised us was that perch well under a pound were willing to tackle relatively large livebaits and on more than one occasion the bait was well down the throat. We soon realised that an instant strike was required with the rig but, apart from the rare occasion when the perch was hooked on the baitholder hook rather than the size 4, it appeared to be working well. On that first ‘recce’ I had 13 perch to just over a pound, whilst Tim stole the honours with one at 2lb 4oz.
Our second trip a week later was a bit of a contrast. Apart from the fact that the weather conditions were distinctly wet and windy, the large numbers of small silver fish, particularly the bleak, seemed to have disappeared. However, this did not affect the perching. I took 10 fish including my first brace of Trent two pounders at 2lb 3oz and 2lb 4oz, with Tim taking two approaching the two pound mark. Unfortunately, what would have undoubtedly been the biggest fish of the session came adrift soon after taking single maggot on a size 20!
Tim couldn’t make the next trip, so I had free reign to roam between the swims. However, it soon became apparent that the silver fish had not returned to the area and for once I really struggled to get a bite. Only one perch came to the livebait rod, but luckily again it was just over the two-pound mark. A few days after that trip I received a text message from Tim. It soon became apparent that the crafty bugger had stolen a couple of hours fishing on the way to a meeting and had come up trumps in the form of a cracking fish of 3lb 2oz, a personal best. In summary, what was initially just a distraction, turned out to be an enjoyable learning experience and, whilst I didn’t break my own personal best, I certainly couldn’t begrudge Tim his fantastic fish. What is for certain, I won’t be leaving it so long before I go perch fishing again! Anybody want to buy a pair of barbel rods…..? |
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