perch

are any of you fishing for perch at the moment /and are you catching!!
last perch i caught was in nov and weighted 1lb 15oz from a canal in slough floatfishing with lobworm.
would like to hear what you caught and when
thanks

Whent perchin on sunday{just gone} I fished for 3 hours ,from first light and only had one fish.It weighed just under a pound,for some reason it was especialy hard? The pond im fishin at the moment is said{not proven} to hold some realy big fish?? Wot sort of water r u targetin?

I haven't done much fishing lately due to my wife being ill. However, I've not done as well as normal, and even recorded a blank on a usually easy water. I suspect the problem has been the changeable weather, which I find can put perch off. Hopefully this will settle down before long and then we can look forward to the best month of the year for big perch - March.

im targeting some local canals and also two local farm ponds one of which i have had perch to 2lb 8oz from , but as steve pointed out weathers not helping, will be out this sunday if the weathers better.

I was lure fishing for them on Sunday...one follow from a decent fish..and one Jack pike

They seem to be the fish of the moment on here at the minute. I was out after perch for a change at the weekend. I had some fish from 12oz to 1.04 or so on the worm, but have a couple of questions for those who know a bit about perch.

Is there much advantage in using a keepnet? I know some reckon that perch are very sensitive to their mates being returned

I missed a couple of very positive looking bites on a small livebait. Any tips for hitting these or is it likely to be small perch hitting the bait.

I used to believe the story about returned fish spooking others. Then I deliberately did so and found it rarely ever happened, PROVIDED THAT THE FISH ARE QUICKLY RETURNED WITH THE MINIMUM OF HANDLING. This even applies to perch. Indeed, I've sometimes caught the same perch again a short while later!

OTOH, if you take a while in getting the hook out or weighing or photographing the fish, then it probably will spook other shoal members. Mind you, it might be that your catch rate falls off purely because you've stopped feeding whilst dealing with the fish!

There could be umpteen reasons for missing positive bites apart from it being small perch. One of the most likely is that the perch are feeling some resistance.

Try float fishing, or if ledgering make sure you use a heavy weight so it stays put and the indicator moves instead. If the weight moves the fish will feel it.

Also make sure your rod points down the line - if it's at an angle the perch will be able to feel the increasing resistance on the rod top. If none of these work try increasing the distance between the hook and weight/bottom shot.

Talking of hooks, one that's too small for the bait can cause missed bites, as can the hook twisting and the point being masked by the bait.

There's just a few for starters. I'll probably be able to add a few more tomorrow when I'm not so tired!

Steve, Thabks for that. You've given me the reassurance I hoped for regarding retention. The missed bites came on float fished (2ssg loafer) baits of about 3.5" on a size 6. Given the state of the rivers it looks like I'll be trying the perch again this weekend, so I'll experiment with hook size. BTW when lip hooking baits in the top lip do you hook them from inside to out or from the outside down through the lip, or doesn't it matter.

I usually hook through both lips from the underneath, but it depends on the venue.

Good hunting!

last saturday, i was on the canal (shropshire union) with my m8's. we had only gone gudeon whipin' but 1 of my m8's had gone bout 3m out and was catchin' loads!
so i thought "wat the hell!". so i got my pole and went bout 5m out. i had pulled in bout 5gudeon in 15mins. i put a white maggot on and within 1min of puttin my float in the water, it plumited under the water. i struck and was in 2 a 1lb 2oz perch. i was buzzin my tits off!! my m8 even more so! it didn't fight at all. it was really drozy. neway, i was usin a dibber float which took 2 size 8 weight's and a size 20 hook. good luck

john

Some good solid advice + tips but has anyone found a tried and tested way of sorting the beast's out?? I've had plenty of specimens{upto 3'10} but i'm still split between lobs + lives! Both methods have proved themselfs effective for me but none more than the other.

Copied from one of my posts on the "In a Spin" thread on the Coarse Fishing Forum:

If the water is clear, lures are a good bet for searching out productive swims and you may well hook into a biggie whilst doing so.

In general big baits are more selective for the specimen stripies. My favourite size of live/deadbait for 2lb+ perch is 5". Freshwater deadbaits can be dynamite on some waters, but bear in mind perch very rarely take sea baits.

Lobworms are somewhat less selective, but I seem to do very well with them on clear water, and my best 3 perch have come on them. OTOH, lives and deads seem better in murky water, which may be because such waters are often overstocked and the perch in them feed mainly on fish.