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Perch

I just started fishing for perch only a month ago for the first time had 5 over 2 lb with the 2 biggest going 2 lb 13 oz enjoying it as well
 
Hello All,
After a couple of trips last January/February I've started fishing for the Perch once again on the same stillwater that holds fish to 4lb.
I've been relatively successful with fish to two pounds on float fished lobworm,however I have been failing to hook into fish when using a perch livebait of say about 3" long, when it is either float fished or legered .
Any pointers as to where I am going wrong and particularly any advice on hook pattern /size and whether to lip or tail hook the bait would be appreciated.

Thanks
Howard
 
The only thing I would say Howard, though this is only what I've found with River Fish.
Sometimes, if there is an abundance of the same livebait about, it pays to make the one on your hook behave very differently, make it seem like such an easy option that it can't be refused.
For example (and 90 percent of my livebait fishing is on a paternoster) I'll have gudgeon up high as all their energy will be put into diving toward the bottom and, I guess, panicking. With bleak, I pin it as close to the deck as I can and in return it fights to get upward.

This obviously gives of distress and all sorts and I figure it does the trick. I've had instances of trotting livebait on a chubber without a hit, introduced the paternoster and WHAM! (not George Michael)
 
Sometimes i find a small drennan or vb double hook in the vent or anal fin (in addition to the single hook) can help with hooking up, although dont leave the strike any longer than necessary. Sometimes perch will snap at the tail or back of a livebait to disable it or slow it down, before engulfing. Some people have differing opinions on hook position, but i like my single hooks coming out of the top of a gudgeon or small silver, rather than the bottom.

B983s are also my hook of choice for perch, for lobs and lives.

cheers

Paul
 
Lip hooked on a B983 is how i do it,and i've not had a problem with missed takes to date, although i can see the logic in Pauls 'stinger" type set up, however i would be just too paranoid about potentially having to work on two hooks if one gets deep hooked, (it does happen even with instant strikes)

A quick question for Will on your excellent post over the page, how the hell do you stop Bleak tangling a paternoster rig mate? they generally cause havoc in my experience !
 
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Many thanks to you all for the quick replies and advice .
Until now i have used either the Kamasan 911x or the Drennan Carp Match hooks in a size 10. Both of these hooks have a wide gape pattern but from what you have suggested it is probably fair to say that as a hook size they are actually not big enough - i'll get some of those 983's .
One other question and being mindful of avoiding deep hooking a fish, when I do get a take when livebaiting how soon should I strike ?
The one fish I have had on a legered livebait was a proper run with line being taken off the spool with the baitrunner on its minimum tension setting .
Last weekend I fished with the indicator on a drop of about 10" from the butt and after what was a comparatively tentative take I struck when the indicator reached the butt. After missing that take I fished open bale arm , and let the next take develop into a couple of coils of line coming off the spool, but on striking I failed to connect with the fish once again.
As I said earlier it may well be down to hook size but as before any advice is much appreciated.
 
Steve Cole said:
Thats good going Dean. Got any pics to put up ?
Click to expand...

008-2.jpg
 
I fish a light bobbin on a long drop and strike as soon as the steady rise of the bobbin starts. That said I have had quite a lot of missed bites on the current venue, which I believe are small perch. I've also had a couple deep hooked despite striking as early as I can. So would be interested to hear what others say too.
 
Darren George said:
I fish a light bobbin on a long drop and strike as soon as the steady rise of the bobbin starts. That said I have had quite a lot of missed bites on the current venue, which I believe are small perch. I've also had a couple deep hooked despite striking as early as I can. So would be interested to hear what others say too.
Click to expand...

Darren, we usually fish liveys on a surface paternoster rig, as soon as that float makes any positive movement we strike, mostly any perch caught are hooked well in the mouth but a small percentage are still deep hooked, its unavoidable i think, having watched a fish of 3-10 that i stalked take a livebait, it swam up to it 3 times and had a real close look, on the 4th visit it just engulfed it completely, no grabbing no turning no nothing just gone in a split second.

Logically i suppose a single hook somewhere in the middle of the bait would be safest/most reliable ? or not ? maybe do a bit of experimenting this year.
 
Simon. I use the shorter of the John Roberts paternoster booms. I tie the rotten bottom to the swivel beneath it and just ensure the hook length is much shorter than the aforesaid rotten bottom.
The tube on the little boom in conjunction with a stiff flouro seems to work just fine.
Again, this is on rivers so there will be flow to kick the bait away from the line too.
 
Cheers Will, i have always avoided using the Roberts booms as to me its just more paraphernalia to tangle but i'll give them a go, as you say, in any decent flow the problem doesn't really arise but in slack water Bleak just cause havoc !!
You mention stiff flouro, what b.s. are you using to achieve any stiffness ? and do you find that the stiffer hooklinks affect the amount of pick ups you get ? I ask this because we have found that dropping from 6lb hooklinks (bayer) to 4lb made a huge difference in clear water.
 
I have a little 6" perch in my 4ft deep,very clear,garden pond and whenever I have dug up a worm or two I stand by the pond ,over he comes and without fail will take them on the drop, before other rudd,roach, carp,goldfish etc can.
Recently chucked in 3 worms and nothing took them,sunk to the bottom.
Two days later the 3 worms still on the bottom but I dropped a new worm in and perch took it on the drop !
My curiosity lies with a moving bait being preffered to a much easier static meal ???
Any thoughts or experiences ?
 
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