Do herons have a passion for perch?

qtaran111 · Apr 25, 2016

Yesterday I was fishing a small local stillwater where a heron has made its home. Usually it stands around the edge or in one of the trees and occasionally swoops over the lake.

So, I caught a variety of fish (bream, roach, tench, carp and perch). When I caught the first decent perch, the heron swooped down towards me just as I stuck the landing net out. It veered away at the last moment and landed in the adjacent swim, giving me a herony look. A bit odd I thought.

I carried on fishing, again catching roach, skimmers and hybrids. Then came another sizeable perch and just as I stuck out the landing net, down came the heron again, veering away at the last moment. This happened twice more, but only with perch. I caught plenty of roach and bream of similar size, but no dive bombing heron, so it set me wondering if heron have a liking for our little stripey friends.

john step · Apr 25, 2016

That is very strange. Your heron must have a preference.

Twice I have seen what I think is strange heron behaviour. Once in Barnet and once in France........ A heron swooping ungainly and hovering to pluck a small fish off the surface well away from the bank.

I have recounted this to birdy types and they seemed reluctant to accept that a heron would do this. I suppose we as anglers spend more time by the water and therefore see more? Such as your perchy heron?

Keith M · Apr 25, 2016

I remember reading somewhere that the Perch is one of the tastiest fish in our waters (including sea fish). I don't know how true this is as I've never eaten one.

Keith

barbelboi · Apr 26, 2016

I've often seen herons catch perch in the margins (possibly just because they're there?) - some of them looking far too big for them to eat although they still manage to fly off with them in their beak if disturbed.............

Apologies for the picture quality. As luck would have it I'd forgotten my camera and it was taken at distance with my 'phone and digitally zoomed in.

no-one in particular · Apr 26, 2016

When I first read Qtarrin,s post, I thought its the fact that Perch are supposed be very tasty as mentioned by Keith, but how does the Heron taste it? They just swallow the thing whole.

Just some by observations:-
I once saw a heron perched on a concrete slip way about 3 or 4ft above the water, it dived in and then came up with a sizable chub. It sort of flapped its wings on the water and got up onto the slip way again. Until then I always thought they just stood on the edge in the water.
Round my way the rivers have loads of Marsh frogs which the herons feed mainly on apparently. But as I am near the Channel I suspect they are French Herons.
I have one started visiting an outside fish pond recently; it has about 70 fish in it; its about 6ft deep and the heron stands on the edge. We haven't seen it jump in yet but the odd thing is it has become bold as brass, you can walk up to it about 6ft away and it just stands there.
See lots of herons these days, I think they have increased in numbers.

S-Kippy · Apr 26, 2016

The ones I meet seem to eat anything.....be that self caught or bits of deadbait that I give them. They seem very fond of a mackerel head which the mallards cant manage though it is quite good fun watching them try....especially if its still frozen !

Cliff Hatton · Apr 26, 2016

Dr Barrie Rickards wrote of a heron that actually settled on 12ft of water and paddled around like a duck. He'd cleared a space in the ice on the Middle Level and had tossed out a handful of frozen mackeral 'discs', which floated.

---------- Post added at 10:46 ---------- Previous post was at 10:38 ----------

"I remember reading somewhere that the Perch is one of the tastiest fish in our waters (including sea fish). I don't know how true this is as I've never eaten one"

Keith

During the war ( !!! ) perch were trawled from Lake Windermere and canned.
Today, perch are still trawled from Bodensee (Lake Constance / Konstanz) and canned. Very nice too!

barbelboi · Apr 26, 2016

Perch are very popular in many parts of Italy. Risotto with perch fillets is the 'national dish' of Lake Como.....................

rubio · Apr 26, 2016

Known as Egli to german speakers who love to eat them.
Redfin Perch often a target for 'a feed' in Oz too.
One possible is that a heron doesn't have to process weed and detritus from the guts of perch in the way they might need when consuming roach etc.

flightliner · Apr 27, 2016

I was on a water yesterday when a heron dropped onto the lake surface with its wings outstreched and plucked a fish up before taking off again.

robtherake · Apr 27, 2016

flightliner said:
I was on a water yesterday when a heron dropped onto the lake surface with its wings outstreched and plucked a fish up before taking off again.

It sounds as if some of 'em have a bit of cormorant in their family history, Mick. Got to say, I've seen hundreds over the years and none have displayed any aberrant behaviour when fishing - the only odd happening was when one was stalking along the bank (admittedly at a distance) and grabbed and swallowed what appeared to be a snake after giving it a good old shaking. It could have been an eel, I suppose, but I'm fairly convinced that it wasn't.

Keith M · Apr 27, 2016

I used to Carp fish at Walthamstow Reservior, and in the evening there were literally hundreds of Herons roosting on the islands both in the trees and on the ground, and in the early morning they used to fly off in all directions again.

I haven't fished there for years so I don't know if it's still the same today.

Keith

qtaran111 · Apr 27, 2016

Yeah I initially thought the same thing about taste and as many have mentioned they are eaten in many countries.

Rubio could be onto something, not necessarily taste but easier to digest perhaps. Also, as far as I'm aware, part of the perch-eaters likes is not only the taste but that it's easy to eat/filet because of its bone structure (i.e. not loads of little bones). Perhaps that's part of it too.

Or perhaps mr heron has dived into the lake once too often and got brain damage. It is very shallow after all

binka · Apr 28, 2016

There have been numerous reports of an enormous heron around these parts which I reckon has snaffled all the 4lb perch which I haven't been able to catch.

I dismissed the reports at first, until I managed to get a candid snap of the fella when he wasn't expecting it...

flightliner · Apr 28, 2016

If he's been so successful Steve maybe you should ask to borrow the suit ------- it might be the only way ?.

binka · Apr 28, 2016

flightliner said:
If he's been so successful Steve maybe you should ask to borrow the suit ------- it might be the only way ?.

It might be a bit of a squeeze Mick, looking at those legs it's hard to decide which pair are part of the costume and which pair belong to the person underneath

flightliner · Apr 28, 2016

Aaahh yes, I'd forgotten about the pies !!!.

Do herons have a passion for perch?

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