Help with big perch

I,ve been given the opportunity to fish for some very big perch in the 3lb plus bracket from 2 different waters close to my home. One has crays in it but to the best of my knoledge the other doesn,t. As big perch don,t seem to live long i want to capitalise while i can. Both waters can be fished year round so i was looking to target them from april onwards. One has a healthy stock of prey fish the other is an out and out specimen water. Could anybody give me some tips on how to start for these big stripies.

Fish at dawn with a small livebait on one rod and a big lobbie on the other. Once the sun gets up fish for something else. Just remember that whatever rig you use then make sure it has minimal resistance. You won't go far wrong if you follow these rules.

I take it the worm rig is on the bottom and the livebait rig is on the float?

if you got the gear do some ultralite spinning all of my biggest perch have been on tiny jelly worms bounced along the bottom

All info is as i would have given..

Marcus ,thats sounds good fun.When you say ultra lite are you meaning true ultra light gear or just light lure tackle. I have a fox jigmaster 7" and a lighwweight 1000 shimano.I've been after the perch on Ondexes and small spinners but would like to try something a bit different.Would this suit jellyworming and can you recommend any patterns/advise on how to fish them?

ondex spinners, small live baits, spratt deadbaits, worms worms worms worms worms.
feed bread or maggot round the float rig to attract bits.

big loafer floats are the ones to use for the live baits, either that or a bob.

fish the worm below the live bait in the same area feeding regularly with liquidised bread is a good ploy.

Agree wholheartedly with Terry D. above, but would include dusk if its cold'frosty overnight. Keep on the move, if they are in the swim they will usually have one or the other. I fish both lob and live on free running paternoster and light bobbins. I am experimenting with circle hooks and they seem to work well so far. (no deep hooking nad few missed runs)

It can also work to feed maggots/cloud to get the silver fish going. Look for snags, deepwater, undercut banks, reedbeds and pay attention to the way the sun moves round the fishery - some areas are shaded am, some pm and some all day!

Never ignore the water right under your feet.

Good luck.

Find where the prey fish hold up for winter. The perch will be there.

Simple I know but its a fact, find thr shoaled up fry and silver fish and the rest is easy.

Thanks guys. marcus i have never fished lures before so i don't know what a jellyworm is and how you go about using one. Any tips for a dumber please. Waters i'm looking to target are weedy.

it's a rubber worm which you mount on a weighted jig head usually a lead ball with a hook built into it and bounce along the bottom in short jerky pulls.

have a look at the american websites berkeley powerbaits are one type of them.

has anyone cought perch on seabaits as people out there say they wont touch them ie the salt in them

sorry i meant to ask about sprats,

yes they take spratts especially this time of year.

Had a few on livebaits and lures, usually spoons or flashy spinners.

i was allways told they would not touch sprats,thanks for your info,will try them next time i go on this water,cheers.jason fisher

Never had a perch on a seabait or coarse dead but have caught them on 6oz roach.

I think I read somewhere that this is great time of year for perch because they go on a ravenous feeding frenzy just before they spawn, so get out there asap, I had a 3lb 2oz and a 2lb 11oz on wednesday..

Personally I dont know much about lake perch fishing as all mine is done on my river.. I think the ultimate perch bait has got to be a big fat ole worm.. If your lake has a steep shelf, getting deep quick, try float fishing the worm, but be sure to get the depth right as perch quite often take the hook right down, so dont delay on the strike.. try chucking a good few handfuls of maggots or bread crumb around the float to bring in the smal silvers.. look for cover if possible, over hanging trees n such.. dawn n dusk are good times..

I would always check to see if theres pike in the water before usning lives or deads, use a wire trace if so.. If not, I would stick with mono or fluoro..

If the bites are slow on the worm, try popping it up just off the bottom by injecting air into the head end, hooking it in the tail end.. be careful when you do this though.. talk to your local shop owner about it before you do it..

If you want to ledger, I would try n get away with as little weight as possible, just enough to cast out to where you want to be, and no more. I would either put the weight on with a running ledger, or swan shot on a paternoster, make that link a few inches though, about 5 or so, putting it about a foot behind the hook though..

Having said all this though, I wouldnt clas myself as a perch expert, so just take all this as stuff I would do if I was going for them.. take it or leave it..

Good luck n hope you get one.

Matt

I've only ever caught them by acciden pike or zander fishing. Almost invariably on lives trotted or paternostered tight to a drop-off, under a bridge or against some structure. If you caiught that Predators tv series a couple of seasons back (think you can get it on DVD) there was a really good perch one featuring Steve Burke lure fishing for them.

for purposes outsite of this site, I would like to stress that the wednesday mentioned in my post was a wednesday a few weeks ago.. not this one just gone..