Deep hooked perch

chrissh · Jan 15, 2017

Fished the chesterfield canal yesterday for perch everyone I caught was deep hooked I was using a size 16 hook and worm for bait, so went up to size 14 and still deep hooked not one fish was lip hooked . Could it be the type of hook I was using or the set up?
I was using a waggler with 2 No: 6 bulk shot 1 each side of the float and 2 No: 8 dropper shot and 6” over depth the hooks were Korum CS Series worm hooks

thecrow · Jan 15, 2017

The over depth may be the reason, perch can be very greedy and with the water so cold may not have been moving far after taking the bait.

How near the hook were your droppers?

kevt · Jan 15, 2017

Hi Chrissh

Perch can be greedy especially on worm and if they are part of a shoal will wolf the bait down due to feeding competition, I usually fish dead depth or just slightly off bottom as Perch don’t normally mind a suspended bait. If you’re getting deep hooked fish it means that you’re rig isn’t sensitive enough and the amount of line you’ve got on the bottom means the fish can eat the bait and has to swim off before you get an indication on the float, dead depth or just off bottom means anything touching the bait will indicate a bite.Get yourself a Slammo disgorger it’s the only reliable way to unhook deep hooked fish

KevT

sam vimes · Jan 15, 2017

Most likely to be the six inches over depth that's likely to be the biggest issue. Plenty of scope for them to pick up the bait with very little or no indication at the float. However, some days perch are just so up for it that they engulf every bait they take, regardless of the way it is presented.

theartist · Jan 15, 2017

thecrow said:
The over depth may be the reason, perch can be very greedy and with the water so cold may not have been moving far after taking the bait.

That's spot on, having spent a lot of time watching fish in clear water this year it's a trait that perch have of taking a static bait off the bottom then just sitting there on the spot having a good munch or a straight down swallow. Pike are similar. The float going under is the perch moving off after by which time the bait is well down.

Most other species are much more 'take and move' than they

shane99 · Jan 15, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zKXp4KwInU

Hi Chrishh, this only a short vid & makes me think 'lift method' ?

I posted this link on a thread regarding perch & I agree that over depth is the reason.

binka · Jan 15, 2017

I agree with what's already been said regarding the cause, if the worst does happen the Slamo disgorgers are excellent.

Exceed also do something very similar and are cheap as chips...

2 Exceed Disgorgers 2 large, 2 small or 1 of each size, In white only. FREE POST | eBay

Even cheaper if you have a day with Mr Vimes and he very kindly gives you a couple

chrissh · Jan 15, 2017

Agree with the Exceed disgorgers i have about 10 of them in my tackle bags I wasn’t having any problems with unhooking or removing the hooks. But as most or all have said I was fishing over depth.
Thanks all

Notts Michael. · Sep 17, 2018

I'm pleased to read this, as I had a couple of deeply hooked perch recently, and using a standard disgorger, found that unhooking was a time consuming and difficult process, and I really don't want to cause any undue stress and time out of the water to the fish, Exceed and Slamo disgorgers ordered, and poor technique on my part noted, will plumb depth and get bait depth more accurate in future, Thanks.

Notts Michael. · Sep 17, 2018

Just to add, the type of bites which ended up being a deep hooked perch were, a slowly descending, shallow angle dissapearing of the float, out into the middle of the canal, maybe the perch had already swallowed the bait (maggot in this case) quite deeply and was swimming off before I knew I'd got a bite. I was plagued by small (maybe gudgeon) false bites and left it until the float moved away before thinking ok, this is a 'real' bite. my mistake. will take more care now!

Deep hooked perch

chrissh

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thecrow

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kevt

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sam vimes

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theartist

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shane99

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binka

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chrissh

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Notts Michael.

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Notts Michael.

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