Prawns for perch?

[Chris Turnbull]

Hi chaps.

This winter I am keen to try catching a few big perch, a species I mostly neglected over the past 30 years. Mostly I'm likely to be fishing commercial stillwaters where livebaiting is banned so I'm considering my baiting options? I notice that a number of perch anglers use prawns as baits.... can anyone offer any advice on this subject?

 

[Chris Taylor]

hi chris

I cant say i have any experience fishing commercials for perch but i do fish the kennet a bit, neither can i say that i have caught any on prawns.
I have considerd liquidising prawns though and baitdroppering them into the swims for attraction?

From experience i think you will find that lobworms take some beating. Live baits can be good,sorting out the better fish and it also pays not to overlook red maggots as a hookbait.

usually when fishing a stretch of river i would baitdropper three or four swims with chopped worms,red maggots and somtimes some casters if i have them.
then rove the swims throughout the session,you no the score on that front.
If fish are present then bites can be instant.

With regards to feeding a steady trickle of red maggots works for me, although i know some people like to chuck in a ball of chopped worms every half hour or so. Maggot feeder can be good in the right swim aswell.

I think prawns become a good alternative bait when the fish become a bit pressured,which would make more sense if fishing comercials.
i will have to give some prawns a whirl this winter aswell although i cant see them out fishing the good old lobs.

chris give tony king a call he has been fishing some comercial fisheries recently.

 

[Mark Cavanagh]

chris
I have been using king prawn with a moderate amount of success,and will be again come the autumn.
If not float fishing i have been hair rigging them with some rig foam so they pop-up and soaking them in predator plus (they go bright red) and then spraying with red maggots
regards
mark

 

[Chris Turnbull]

Hi Tinca, I've got my eye on some river perch up North too, so your advice is valued.

Mark, thanks for that. I assume you are using cooked and peeled prawns? I see some anglers are also using raw king prawns, though DEFRA have put out a warning against doing so on the grounds that it could spread tropical diseases into our waters. Aren't king prawns a salt water species? It's a pity DEFRA didn't act as quickly on preventing signal crays and mink invading our waters!

 

[Tim Walden]

Hi Chris,

I too have read of the success of prawns, but when i've tried them on commercials it has always been the carp that got there first.

I'll try again this winter.

Cheers,

Tim

 

[Mark Walters]

I wouldn't think about going Perch fishing without some Prawns now, for me on the venues I fish they out score lobs. I microwave a few for 10 seconds which firms them up and use these as hookbaits and fish them with chopped prawn(chopped very fine as not to over feed) on a size 8 hook. The biggest problem is that every other fish that swims also love them.

 

[Chris Stothard]

Hi Chris, I have had some success using prawn as bait for Perch. I think they come into their own on waters that have seen some pressure IMHO. I know of several monster Perch that have fallen to hair-rigged Tiger Prawn. Indeed, it's hard to get them on livebait or worm on this water. I also believe that prawns are good on some waters, but poor on others, as is my experience.
I usually feed small prawns, and fish a large prawn ,or Tiger over these. C*rp are a problem, as are large Roach !
They have to be worth a go, alongside worm. Also, on commercials, a bed of pellet/groundbait can be beneficial to gather a shoal of small fish to the area, where big Perch will follow.
Hope this helps. All the best, Tenchmagic.

 

[Chris Turnbull]

Good to see so many new faces coming onto BFW. Thanks for the advise chaps. Luckily at least one of the waters I've earmarked is going to let me use livebaits so I seem to have plenty of options.

 

[Chris Summersell]

Using prawns for big perch on a local commercial I had tench queuing up, but did find some decent perch eventually. I always find commercial perch nowhere nearly as stunning in colouration as those from natural waters though, and on natural waters lobworms have always been my favourite bait, nothing better than just twitching them to induce an aggressive take from a big stripy. I've had a few fish on trotted minnow too, which is a really exciting method.

I really want to go perching now.

 

[Paul Hiom]

Never had any success with prawns for perch, apart from one investigation on the upper thames last feb, which i missed. They clearly work though and i do take a few with me on perch trips, especially on new venues. There definitely seems to be venues where they work and venues where they just dont. Light feeding with reds and a couple of big lobs always seems to work best for me and not just twitching, but jerking the lobs a foot or more at a time was a killer for me back in the colder months especially well into dark. I too got pestered by carp using prawns on commercials.

Paul