Anyone else rubbish at lure fishing for perch?

[pf0x]

I don't know if it's just me but I'm increasingly getting the idea that this perch lure fishing lark ain't for me. (I do fine with pike).

I've got all the gear (and no idea). Little jig heads, Kopytos, Berkley shads, drop shots. Fluro traces (no pike there - thank you). And I know there are perch there because I've caught them on lobs etc!

I've read all the articles, seen all the videos. But when it comes to doing it myself the most a get is one or two follows from 4-inch perchlets.

What is going one? I thought I'd be catching 20-30 perch a day.....

My biggest issue with lure fishing is this: you can cover LOADS of water in a session (a good thing). But the returns per cast or area covered are hopeless (a bad thing). It's not as if you catch from each swim, is it? It just feels like an awful lot of effort for little reward.

But every time I think of giving up I read a blog where someone has got loads of 2,3 and 4lb perch on lures.......

It just feels like I'm waiting for a eureka moment from somewhere. Anyone else as bad at this as me?

 

[sagalout]

Me sir, me, me ,me. I fish a water where using live bait, dead bait or maggots I get loads of perch to over 3lb, lures i ain't even had follow. I have given up completely on lures.

 

[chrissh]

same here no problem with lures for pike but perch are a blank used micro lures small plastic and rubber lures not a touch from the perch.
the only time I have had perch on lure was when I was living in Turkey and spinning for trout / pike using mepps

 

[terry m]

Guys, before you give up completely try a Mepps No 5 (largest) gold coloured spinner. Retrieve super slow close to the bottom. If perch are there, they will nail it.

 

[john step]

I am useless at all lure fishing...pike and perch. I am much more confident on wobbled deadbait for pike and sink and draw mini deadbait for perch.
They hang on for much longer for me.

 

[binka]

Count me in as a big fat yes for being rubbish at lure fishing for perch, I catch far more and bigger using standard float tactics with maggot and worm.

I did have one good spell a couple of winters ago where I was doing well on the jigs and taking some 2lb+ fish quite regularly but I found it hard work if I'm honest and I all but gave up on them after dropping so many fish off.

Same with the drop shotting in that all I can get are far smaller perch even where I'm sure the big fellas live

 

[nicepix]

It's not me. It's the zander who are rubbish at taking my perfectly presented lures :wh

 

[pf0x]

I must admit it's quite heartening to find I'm not the only one...... but sorry to hear others struggle too........

Fundamentally, I think I find lure fishing a bit....... boring?...... (Obviously this is my problem rather than lure fishing's problem) It's great in short spells but after a while it just feels like I'm going through the motions with no conviction whatsoever. But I never get 'bored' watching a float or waiting for a leger rod to start moving.......

Guys, before you give up completely try a Mepps No 5 (largest) gold coloured spinner. Retrieve super slow close to the bottom. If perch are there, they will nail it.

I won't give up yet and will give this a go. Thank you.

 

[nicepix]

I enjoy the casting aspect of lure fishing, in the same way that a blank can be made more tolerable by some therapeutic fly casting or Wallis casting. For that reason I invested in a baitcaster for my pike and zander fishing and am looking for another for a trout / perch lure rod. Once you get into the rhythm of casting accurately and smoothly getting a take can be a nuisance

 

[S-Kippy]

I've been trying this dropshotting lark this winter specifically targetting perch and doing spectacularly badly. I've had a few fish [and I mean a few] including a couple of decent perch but either I haven't worked it out properly yet or I haven't found the fish or something.

I do enjoy it and I think I'm doing it right but oh how I wish something would pull back a bit more often. I fell for all the hype and thought I'd be emptying the place but its just not happening.

 

[sam vimes]

I'm sure that the various forms of lure fishing are just marvellous, on the right venues. However, after falling for the last round of overhyped lure fishing, jerkbaits/jigging, I was/am in no hurry to go down the dropshotting road. I rather suspect that, as well as being unutterably rubbish at lure fishing, I'm not on those right venues I mentioned earlier.

This time round, I may just try dropshotting when so many people are dumping the gear that the second hand prices are as low old jerkbait stuff currently is.

 

[barbelboi]

I've enjoyed drop shotting over the last few years but, as other seem to find, have not taken any monsters. Although I've taken a few decent fish on spinners most of the larger ones have been taken on lobs, minnow or caster intended for roach...

 

[pointngo]

I can't really see the attraction of dropshotting personally. There's one or two specific situations where it could be useful to me but, unless you're vertical fishing on a drifting boat, generally you are covering only a very small amount of water, and very slowly.

Great if you land on a shoal of perch or zander but if you don't then you're limiting your chances of finding them, imho. Try the DS when you find them.

A 2-3" shad like a kopyto on a jighead fished in the bottom 12" allows you to cover a lot more water from the bank.

There's no doubt DS can be deadly when you find a shoal of perch that don't want to chase a lure but a dropshotted lobworm would probably work even better.

 

[barbelboi]

I can't really see the attraction of dropshotting personally. There's one or two specific situations where it could be useful to me but, unless you're vertical fishing on a drifting boat, generally you are covering only a very small amount of water, and very slowly.

Great if you land on a shoal of perch or zander but if you don't then you're limiting your chances of finding them, imho. Try the DS when you find them.

A 2-3" shad like a kopyto on a jighead fished in the bottom 12" allows you to cover a lot more water from the bank.

There's no doubt DS can be deadly when you find a shoal of perch that don't want to chase a lure but a dropshotted lobworm would probably work even better.

I've found it does..

 

[denzinho]

I'm slowly realizing it's not the way forward for me. Would rather use a live or dead bait.

 

[Derek Gibson]

Each to their own, as allways, but having given it a trial some time back returned to my bog standard lures and have no regrets.

 

[alsoran]

I can't really see the attraction of dropshotting personally, generally you are covering only a very small amount of water, and very slowly.

I would suggest that you have a look at some more DS videos on youtube pointngo, there is a lot more to it that just dropping down the side of your local 'cut' in between boats. The whole idea is that you can hold a 'Lure' in the kill zone at will, which gives you a big advantage over the normal lure angler.

 

[keora]

I must admit it's quite heartening to find I'm not the only one...... but sorry to hear others struggle too........

Fundamentally, I think I find lure fishing a bit....... boring?...... (Obviously this is my problem rather than lure fishing's problem) It's great in short spells but after a while it just feels like I'm going through the motions with no conviction whatsoever. But I never get 'bored' watching a float or waiting for a leger rod to start moving.......




I won't give up yet and will give this a go. Thank you.

I've caught plenty of pike on lures, but not many perch. One of the reasons is that mostly I've used lures and equipment suitable for pike, not perch. The few times I've tried smaller lures, they've not been that attractive to perch.

It might be that perch are less likely to be deceived by lures and that a suitable bait, such as lobworm, is better.

Interesting to read the comments on drop shotting, it makes you wonder if the technique is as good as the angling papers say it is.

I've never found lure fishing boring, although it is quite tiring if you're fishing a day long session and moving swims every few minutes.

 

[pointngo]

I would suggest that you have a look at some more DS videos on youtube pointngo, there is a lot more to it that just dropping down the side of your local 'cut' in between boats. The whole idea is that you can hold a 'Lure' in the kill zone at will, which gives you a big advantage over the normal lure angler.

Thanks for your suggestion Alsoran but I don't need to look at videos. I know a few anglers who use it a lot. 99% of dropshotting is vertical, under the rod fishing, but there are instances, which I eluded to in my post, where it could be useful. Those are in places where I know the fish hold and/or are very small areas that you can fish out in an hour or two.

Let's be honest though, there's not much to the method really is there... it's just a paternostered lure at the end of the day.

My point was that until you know where the "kill zone" is that DS isn't really the best method for finding fish. As for it being a big advantage over a normal jighead/shad approach... I'm not so sure about that. It may be at times when you find a shoal but it is a much bigger disadvantage that you can't effectively search out the shoal in the first place imho.

 

[arthur2sheds]

I have been lure fishing on and off for several years and I have recently taken a segway down the drop-shotting route... I have learned a few lessons on the way, but I still remain short of bites... First off fishing commercials for perch is largely fruitless due to the lack of clarity in the water... This apparently is the key to lure/jigging/drop-shotting as lure fishing of any kind is visual hunting for the fish... you'll have more success for Perch in commercials with smelly baits such as prawns worms or paste/pellets...

Location is a major factor... if they ain't there you'll not catch em... get some fish feeding with some maggots/pellets and then try lure/jigging etc as the bait will draw in bait fish and then the predators...

Coloured baits 2"-4" work well in murky water (but not too murky) with yellow or fluoro green working...(sometimes) despite all this info, I still struggle and yet......! and yet.....! the method is strangely addictive and as for buying lures.... well I think that lure fishing was created by tackle dealers to catch anglers.... Tight lines:wh