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Perch Commercials Bath

George Maltby

Senior Member
Hi guys,
Since my little stretch of river near frome has been completely done by the furry darlings and our friends from the other side of the channel. I am now looking for a replacement perch water, and seeings as all of the BA and tribs seem to have the same issues discussed earlier, i think that is probably a commercial. I have fished down at the viaduct a bit and have had some success but it seems very hard and the fish all seem to be about 1 1/2 lbs...which isn't quite worth the 2 hour round trip. Does anyone know of any relatively consistant commercials in the Bath area...that have a fence...and some reasonable perch? Anything towards 3lb. PMs with any pointers or tips are most welcome. Thanks in advance guys.
 
George -

Can't answer too much about any commercials as I tend to avoid those like the plague, but:

Lydes Farm is renowned for its big stripeys. 'tis, in my opinion, an awful place though - quite a barren and bland landscape. Ridiculous opening hours as well.

Huntstrete's smaller lakes have some 2lb plus fish, but I don't know if any go close to or over 3lbs. It's also both a shadow of its former self and hammered.


Aside from those, I can only offer non-commercials that still have half decent fish in them:

There are plenty of very very nice perch in the BA up at Malmesbury and Christian Malford - mostly less than a pound, but my fishing buddy has caught them to over 2lbs in recent months, and they have all been in tip-top condition. You can almost guarantee a good bag of perch at Christian Malford with ledgered worms. I've also seen a few lunkers below Lacock bridge, although I've not caught any of them.

I'm told by a work colleague that the Kennet & Avon canal still has some monsters in there - his personal best was from the K&A and was caught somewhere around Avoncliff/Limpley Stoke a couple of years back at either 3 12 or 3 13 (I can't remember which). Only problem is you'll have to adopt a roving approach in order to find them.

It's a bit further afield than what you've asked for, but most of the venues on the Bridgwater AA ticket contain bags of perch, and they are in fine fettle on the non still waters (yer drains and that). The lakes - particularly the larger Combwich and Dunwear - historically had gigantic perch in them, but I don't think many people target those these days, probably because most of the lakes have been turned into puddle chucker waters for the carp brigade. Also, Dunwear is right in the middle of a very rough housing estate. If you like that sort of thing...
 
Steve, thats excellent info thanks. More than i was expecting! I had a feeling the K and A would come up and its nice to know there are still some gooduns in there. Will give the canal a go as i lost my fake burberry cap a while back so am not sure i would be accepted in the estate!
 
Pleasure.

I've also thought of Century Ponds near Keynsham. Two pretty and well managed little ponds that are good value for money - £3.75.

The original pond contains big perch.

The only problem is that both ponds are VERY small (both less than an acre) and many of the swims (all purpose built) are very close to each other. It also regularly gets very busy, even during the week (it's a popular venue for elderly and disabled anglers).
 
The K&A in between Limpley Stoke and Dundas used to have some lovely Perch in it. There was a spot in the straight bit approaching LS where the canal widened a touch that held fish, and the turning bay towards Dundas was always a good spot.
 
Didn't the lake in the grounds of Bath Spa University have big perch in it? And big roach as well?

Newton Park.

Don't think so, at least it didn't used to - they would have been introduced within the last 15 years if so.

But yeah, it did used to have big roach, but never in large numbers. No idea if they're still there or not.

It used to be one of my favourite lakes, but then some time in the early 00s Bathampton decided to turn all of their still waters, including the main lake at Huntstrete, from the wild and overgrown estate lakes they were into typical commercials. Loads of underwater features and snags gone, marginal trees chopped down, all swims platformed etc etc. Haven't bothered with them since.
 
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