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River Kennet perch lesions/damage

Mark Swaby

Mark Swaby

Senior Member
Fished the Kennet,a backwater and the kennet and avon canal with a mobile approach for perch last week and every perch i caught had lesions/sores,even the smaller perch.The areas i fished produced some really big perch a few years ago and they were clean fish.I am a bit concerned that some form of perch disease is back.Has anyone else seen similar problems.Sorry did not take any photos.
 
Mark Swaby said:
Fished the Kennet,a backwater and the kennet and avon canal with a mobile approach for perch last week and every perch i caught had lesions/sores,even the smaller perch.The areas i fished produced some really big perch a few years ago and they were clean fish.I am a bit concerned that some form of perch disease is back.Has anyone else seen similar problems.Sorry did not take any photos.
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Oh lordy....that doesn't sound good Mark. I hope to hell it ISN'T the start of the return of perch disease :(

Cheers, Dave.
 
I caught in all 3 locations,all interconnected and am very worried. I did not catch any of the very big one's,but i caught around 25 and did not see a clean fish.All had some form of ulcer/fresh lesion.Does anyone have any experience of this,will they die off prematurly.
 
Think i should have thought about that,thanks Gary,gave them a ring and have been given a ref number.Lets hope its not the perch disease back .
 
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Within 1 hour someone from fisheries contacted me and said he will contact the people in the area to look into it.It sounded like perch do have issues with this sort of thing in certain fisheries.He explained that they might already know about an issue in these sections.
 
Lets hope its an isolated issue.
I fish the Kennet for Perch regular on the wasing beats.
Thankfully all my catches have appeared to be in the very best of health.
 
Hi Mark. I have had quite a few perch around the Ufton area and all have been in good nick and no signs of infection.

Lets Hope that it doesn't spread.

Graham
 
Interested in trying for perch, never had a serious go, is it best to float fish worm on light tackle, rove around or try lures? Planning to try some of the RDAA canal/ river beats and maybe Froxfield, any tips?
 
100 lob worms , 4lb clear mono line,size 8 and a swan shot or two on a 4 turn water knot paternoster about 12 inches from the hook.Chop 6 worms and feed into swim before fishing.Fish a very light 10ft bomb type rod,the bigger perch will drop the worm if they feel too much resistance.Hit the bites as quick as possible,if you miss, its usually a small one.If you get tiny taps wind in quick its usually a crayfish,perch usually pull a soft tip round quickly.Move on if still pestered by crays.Stay mobile and pick swims with plenty of cover and fish into dark,fit a betalight to the tip,so you can stay 1 hour into dark,That last 2 hour's of the day are the best time, good luck.
 
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Most of my Perch fishing on the river is done with float fished lob.
Very similar to Mark, except I use my Drennan Tench float rod and pin.
I fish 6lb line with a balsa float set over depth 'stret pegging' style.

I feed chopped lobs and red maggots.

For fishing into dark I push an isotope into a pre drilled hole in the top of the float.

Bites are normally sail away affairs....

The Severn is well worth fishing for Perch these days, with plenty of 2's and fish up into the 4lb bracket more than achievable.

Steve
 
had and seen Perch with marks on them. Looked more like wounds than disease to me, this is around Ufton, although it could be ulcers. Hopefully there is an attachment with a pic of 1 of the fish
 

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Look like similar issue,though some of them looked a lot worse.The thing is if they are wounds what would have caused them.Some of the smaller fish had a mark that was 1/2 of their body.Some of them were ulcers,so maybe the ulcers started like these marks and got worse.Was this perch caught recently,Robert?
 
Hi Mark yes it was, thursday, another 1 yesterday with 2 marks on, only seen it on 2lb plus fish so far. A mate believes this was how the last outbrake of the perch disease started. in the last week that 5 fish over 2 with the same marks. . Be disastrous if it is the perch disease. Guess we will know in a year or so, have noticed a drop in perch numbers on some venues. :(
 
Any wounds that become infected due to poor water quality and/or the general health of the fish can become ulcerated. However, it would seem improbable that so many fish should be injured at the same time. Unless of course there was a sudden influx of predators that found the spiky old perch too painful a mouthful to swallow :rolleyes. Still seems a bit far fetched though...but if it is that rather than the return of perch disease, then it just remains to be seen what critter has done the damage. Otters? Mink? Cormorants? Locals should know if there has been a sudden marked increase in any of these. Unlikely though...and not too sure which option would be preferable :(

I just hope for everyone's sake the problem clears up...whatever it is.

Cheers, Dave.
 
Amen to that Dave, fished a different stretch today, smaller fish but even a couple of them had the marks...:(
 
Yep, already done that and given them map references,within an hour of reporting it they came back to me.Have heard nothing since.But it might be good if other anglers reported the problems they are finding on the Kennet with perch.This could be the start and it could get worse.
 
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i reported it to RDAA fisheries officer as well as these fish have been coming off their waters, he was aware and investigating as well.
 
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