River Chub and Perch Fishing

[Lord Paul]

I'm looking for some advice for the best way to fish for perch on my local stretch on the Rother.

I've got a swim in mind that has a tree overhanging the water giving cover for chub and perch and I'm looking for advice on the best way to fish for these in winter and summer.

In winter I'm thinking of feeding maggots and fishing worm on the hook (I'm hoping both perch and chub on this bait), but is it best to fish using a quiver tip and feeder or drift the bait right under the tree branches using a float on the centre pin.

Once the weather warms up I'll be trying bread or cheese paste on the hook for chub and the worm for perch.

What are FM's thought on this? Is there a better tactic (wouldn't be surprised given my limited ability).

 

[Matty C]

youve got a good chance on either of those methods, although, it depends on the conditions i think... my suggestions are as follow.. :

Summer perching is tough i think, not as easy as autumn or winter. but i would just a single lob worm on a decent sized hook, about a 7 i think i use, with a sliding lead. no feeder, and keep casting around every 10 mins until you locate some fish.. if you are getting battered by small perch, but feel there are bigger ones there, try usinga feeder butuse a long hooklength between a feeder and the bait. thebig fish might be hanging back.. if getting battered by gudgeon and bleak or dace, try putting a small gudgeon on the hook if youre allowed, but beware of pike.

summer chubbing is brilliant.. drifting some crust on the top, or drifting a worm or slugunderthe tree in mid watershould do.. in the summer months chub much prefer natural baits like worms, maggots or slugs to anything else. a feeder with maggots could also work.

winter perching is best on a comparitvely warm day.. if the water warms up a little, they go nuts and feed like mad. do the same as summer perching by casting around.. if theyre in the area you cast to, they will snaffle it up in seconds some times, so dont switch off after you cast out..

winter chubbing is best done on the colder days with a bit of a breeze.. if the water is a bit coulered, use cheesepaste or cheese or meat.. rolling a piece of luncheon meat around with a centerpin can work wonders.. if the water is clear, or as clear as it ever gets, try using bread flake on the hook with a feeder of crumb. most things say use stale bread for the feeder and use water to stodge it up, but i find fresh bread crumbs with no water works better, just really pack it in the feeder, the water will make it expand and take tiny bread crumbs floating downstream. they should come to find some more and find your flake. cast the feeder as infront of the tree as apposed to under it though, to try and draw as many chub up as possible..

hope this helps some..

Matt

 

[Lord Paul]

Thanks Matt

I'll be trying these tactics next time out

 

[slime monster]

The worm as you rightly say will give you a shot at both perch and chub or indeed any species of fish ,a worm or worm caster combo in conjunction with chopped worm and caster in a groundbait feeder is one way to go. i would fish the feeder on a pateroster to a small snap swivel to enable a change to the bomb and would tape up the holes on the feeder..a size 14 hook will give you the option of switching to double caster .

 

[Sean Meeghan]

I've tended to use a combination of worm and caster for river perch: 2 casters on a size 12 tipped with a small worm to give some movement. The problem with using just a rasonable sized worm when fishing up to a fature is that you miss lot of bites as the perch grabs the end of the worm and toddles off somewhere quiet to eat it.

One other tip in Summer is to fish with your barbel rod first. This gives you the opportunity to get rid of any nusiance fish first with minimal swim disturbance. River perch do seem to like the same swims as barbel!

I will always use a float rather than ledger if at all possible. This minimises resitance and results infewer dropped takes.

Strangely enough I've always done better in Summer for river perch, although a coloured river is always worth trying in Winter.

 

[Lord Paul]

Thanks Sean

I'd read that perch don't like resistance, so the float idea sounds good

Do you bait up with a bait dropper or by hand?

 

[Winston Churchill]

'Once the weather warms up I'll be trying bread or cheese paste on the hook for chub '

Paul, forget the cheesepaste, in my experience it's catching powers are a myth. Since my return to fishing in 1995 I've used cheesepaste every year since on the Wharfe, Nidd, Swale, Aire and Ouse and not had one, single, solitary bite. Bread? Yes. Maggots? Yes. Luncheon meat? Yes. Cheesepaste (several different recipes) ? Never!

 

[keora]

For chub, use a quiver tip rod, a line of about 5lbs depending on size of chub, a link leger and a size 8 barbless hook.

Chub will take all sorts of baits but for simplicity in winter take just half a loaf of sliced bread in a plastic bag.

If the swim is still and shallow usea bomb on the link. If it's deep or turbulent or wide, use a medium swim feeder and stuff it with some of the bread torn into little pieces.

Best swims are: fishing downstream to a willow or overhanging tree; a medium glide; the slack water on the inside of the main current.

Try a swim for up to an hour, if there's no bites, move swims.

Best weather conditions are average temperatures and water clarity. If the temperature of the water is less than 4 degrees C then fishing might be a bit slow.

I used the above tactics today to get four chub, biggest 5lb 2oz.

 

[Deanos]

I agree about the cheese paste, fishing the same waters as Winston, I have no confidence in it whatsoever!

Bread, meat, crab boilies and worms...no particular order, but by hell the trout LOVE crab boilies!