Hello folks, now that the trout season's almost over, my good friend and I still want to get out and about, so have decided to chase some big perch on Loch Lomond, I haven't fished for these for years and always caught them on the worm, does anyone have any tips/experiences. Much appreciated
The main problem with catching good perch is finding them. They tend to roam around in generation shoals where the fish are of similar size. They tend to feed at dawn and at dusk and invariably around structure. On big waters you need to know the best areas and observe very carefully in order to find a shoal. Small fish jumping clear of the water or causing surface disturbance is a classic indication. A good pair of binoculars for scanning the water helps. An echo sounder is the most useful equipment for finding the structure. Or a map of the underwater structure.
Once you have found a shoal you can usually get quite a few good fish from it. Flies will work if you can present them properly, a small perch streamer will often work very well, but there are two other methods which invariably work much better. One is a "perch trail". This is a setup with a small spoon or similar mounted on a trace about a foot long behind a swivel, and another trace about a foot long attached to the spoon ( no hooks on the spoon), with a sliced shank worm hook. Mount the worm so that the tail hangs free. This setup often results in very good perch once you have found a shoal. You want stuff like this for the "spoon". Smaller lures up to one and a half inches work best, sometimes much smaller;
(http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/420/zocker02.jpg) (http://img594.imageshack.us/i/zocker02.jpg/)
remove the hooks and mount swivels. The worm trace, from 12 to 18" is mounted on the lower swivel.
The other method is a "drop-shot" rig with a soft plastic fish, plastic worm, or similar. This is usually absolutely deadly for perch. You can use a worm if you want as well. The rig is quite simple but works best with a special drop shot hook which keeps the hook standing out from the line and with the point upwards although you can use ordinary hooks as well if you rig them properly, you can also use flies ( streamers) on this rig as well. The hook is mounted like this;
(http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3140/dropshotrighook.jpg) (http://img29.imageshack.us/i/dropshotrighook.jpg/)
the rig is simply cast over the shoal, and then retrieved as desired, slow sink and draw retrieves usually work best but of course you can experiment as desired. The weight is attached to the line below the hook. Choose an appropriate weight for the water and conditions;
(http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/2938/rigdropshot.png) (http://img40.imageshack.us/i/rigdropshot.png/)
Lures of up to three inches long work best. Larger ones may be ignored or you get a lot of "grabs" with no hook-up. Also may be a problem with pike biting off larger lures. You don't need a wire trace for perch, although you may occasionally lose one when the line is cut on the various very sharp areas around the head. It is best to use somewhat heavier nylon for your rigs, at least 10 lb breaking strain, and check for chafing after every fish.
Both these methods are far superior to spinning or similar and if you find the fish you can have a field day;
(http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6271/messofperch.GIF) (http://img11.imageshack.us/i/messofperch.GIF/)
(http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8373/perchfly1.gif) (http://img141.imageshack.us/i/perchfly1.gif/)
(http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/1175/perchflytube2.gif) (http://img196.imageshack.us/i/perchflytube2.gif/)
One of my local angling clubs here in Germany has a lake which has lots of Perch in it, and they were extremely difficult to tempt. Quite a few times small aggressive Perch in the three to five inch range grabbed my fly, usually a small fish imitation of some description. The curious thing was that about every third or fourth time this happened a much larger fish rushed from nowhere at the small Perch and grabbed it greedily.
This was quite exciting, the pulls were heart stopping, but resulted in very few large Perch hooked. I tried all sorts of flies over quite a period of time, but the results were almost always the same, I either caught nothing on a particular fly, or only small Perch, which were often grabbed by their larger brethren, but unfortunately not hooked.
I read as much literature as I could find on Perch, their sight and hunting preferences, I even tied quite a few of the recommended flies, but to no avail. Quite a few of the club members thought I was mad anyway fly-fishing for Perch, this is to say the least not common here, and they all advised me to try natural bait, preferably minnows or worms. I was determined however to catch a decent Perch on the fly. I tried dozens of different patterns all with the same results, and then decided to try inventing my own. This Perch fly was the result. The techniques for dressing tube flies can be found in the article on tube flies here on this site.
It is quite simple to tie. Cut off a piece of Q -tip tubing about three quarters of an inch long. Hold the ends in front of a gas lighter flame to thicken them slightly, this prevents the thread slipping off, and makes the fly last longer, push this tube onto a needle or similar, and fix this in your vice. If you have a tube fly vice use that of course !
Starting just behind the front of the tube, whip on your thread carrying it down the tube about a quarter of an inch. Then Take a small bunch of white hair ( Arctic Fox is good ) and tie it in on what will be the bottom of the tube, then take a small bunch of Guinea fowl hackle dyed blue ( small Perch have bright blue chins ! ) and tie this in over the white hair.
Then take two bunches of hot orange hair, I use dyed kid goat for this, and tie a bunch in at each side of the tube. Now take a bunch of dyed green goat or similar hair, paint some stripes on it with a black marker pen, and tie this on the top of the tube. A thin coat of varnish or glue between each bunch of hair is a good idea, this makes the fly very secure, perch have impressive teeth !
Do not build a head with the thread, whip finish now and varnish the turns of thread. Place the result on a needle stuck in foam to dry. When it is dry, take two movable dolls eyes as sold in most department stores for handicrafts and superglue ( cyanoacrylate ) them one to each side of the tube. Let this dry, and when you have a few flies finished put a drop of five minute epoxy between the eyes to fix them firmly. When all is dry place a piece of rubber tubing over the back end of the tube, this holds the hook in place for fishing.
The fly is complete ! Be careful using this type of glue, it can stick your fingers together so strongly that you have to use a scalpel to separate them ! There are lots of bait-fish you can imitate using this technique, try a couple of your own ideas. The eyes are definitely a good trigger for fry feeding fish.
I use silvered long shank hooks for this fly, thread your leader through the tube, tie the hook to your leader, and pull the hook into the rubber tube to hold it for casting etc. See the diagram, it is much clearer than a written description. You may of course use treble hooks if you wish, but I get excellent results with the singles, and there is little or no damage to the fish, which may be released unharmed. Perch are quite good to eat as well !
Fish the fly on an intermediate or sink-tip line, in a fast jerky motion with pauses in between, vary the retrieve until you find the right speed for the day. If the Perch are there you will get them.
Very large perch are invariably solitary, but you can occasionally get a big one hanging around another shoal. I have had them up to 7 lbs. You can often find fairly large shoals of fish of about 2 lbs in weight, but the larger the fish the smaller the shoals.
We tend to get rather larger perch here I believe this is the current German and European record. I have never bothered with any records but I have had fish this size and larger quite often over the years.
http://www.fisch-hitparade.de/angeln.php?t=59803 (http://www.fisch-hitparade.de/angeln.php?t=59803)
Hey Col, im not too used to chasing big perch either but I'm thinking take the rib or the canoe over to clarinch off the tail end and try jigging or smallish dead baits. Don't think we can troll with a coarse ticket I'll need to get a ticket and read the rules. Less anyone knows ? Also i think i remember something about being required to use wire trace but i would nt want to leave hooks in any pike we might encounter anyway. Sb.
Almost forgot,don't be afraid to use big hooks! I generally use at least 1/0 beak hooks with a sliced shank for worms. Perch have big mouths, and they are also rather fragile in places. Small hooks can easily tear out;
http://www.sears.com/mustad-92158-1-0-27-beak-hooks/p-SPM6262525401P?prdNo=19 (http://www.sears.com/mustad-92158-1-0-27-beak-hooks/p-SPM6262525401P?prdNo=19)
a big perch can fight long and hard and small hooks will often tear out.
Some really good stuff there Mike. That's bound to boost the chances of success a fair bit. Sb
I have always done pretty well with them, much better than spinning or similar although I have occasionally had a bigger perch by trailing a plug behind the boat. As I wrote, the most difficult thing is locating a shoal. The "drop shot" rig has accounted for most of my large perch, but that is doubtless also because I use it a lot, the "perch trail" also gets plenty of fish, fished "sink and draw". Smallish silver spoons or similar with a touch of red have always done pretty well. I have had mixed success with flies, sometimes they work really well and other times you don't get a touch. The natural worm, a good big lobworm usually gets more fish than the artificials but some work pretty well. Good if you don't have time to collect worms. The rigs also work quite well for a few other fish, notably Zander, and they also work well in the salt, where a strip of herring tends to do the business better than a worm and is more robust anyway.
When I was a lad worms accounted for most of my perch, everything from 3 inch tiddlers to fine fish of 2 1/2 lb.
Some timely advice for me too there Mike, particulary re dropshotting, as it looks to be a good way to cover a lot of water to locate some good perch. Thanks.
Alex
Quote from: haresear on October 09, 2012, 02:06:58 PM
Some timely advice for me too there Mike, particulary re dropshotting, as it looks to be a good way to cover a lot of water to locate some good perch. Thanks.
Alex
Yes, I think that is the main advantage, you can cover a lot more water. One thing you need to do when you locate a shoal is to fish fairly fast, not fast retrieves, but keep covering the shoal as fast as you can before they move off. In clear water you can often see the shoal following the bait and they will also follow a hooked fish. Often quite amazing to see a shoal of good sized fish following the bait or a hooked fish. This works better if you have two men in the boat, as you can keep covering the shoal. As long as you keep them following they wont move off. If you wait too long between casts then they do tend to move off and it can be a bugger to find them again. It pays to know the water if you can, most of my really good days have been around known structure. I have one fairly large water which has three prominent under water "hills", and the perch are invariably around one of these. If you know where these structures are then you can be fairly certain of finding the fish, even if you have to try a couple of structures before you do find them. Fishing over "open" water tends to be very hit and miss, you can spend all day at it and never find a shoal.
There was a perch caught from Loch Lomond a couple of years ago which almost certainly trashed the British Record. There was a picture of it on the LLAIA site but they have tidied up the old reports and it is no longer there.
Perch are wonderful fish, lots of good memories, first freshwater fish I caught. At their best they are the handsome dandies of the river, loch or lake.
My advice would be regarding the rod, a soft tip is key to act as a shock absorber, with this you don't tend to lose many fish.I caught many a big Perch with hooks down to size 22 with a single maggot it's about balance.
Years ago a pennel rig with two hooks was the popular method with worms, but modern angling now goes to extremes,hair rigs are not just for Carp anglers.
My personal choice would be to use a live minnow if allowed, only caught from the water you are fishing,never take fish to another water. Worm is by far the simplist and succesful method whether with a float or legered, as has been said,near to submerged structure.
Perch are ambush predators and hang around tree roots, drop offs or even old shopping trolleys and oil drums. Perch tend to live in shoals of the same size of fish, if you find a shoal of small fish move or at least fish some distance away from the small fish.
I have not found the soft mouth problem, the soft bits tend to be in the part of the telescopic part that extends when engulfing the prey,the other bits are quite tough. I have thought about using circle hooks as they are greedy and are often hooked deeply in the throat.
Trout waters tend to have a lot of Perch in them,Rescobie and Lintrathen are both full of big Perch and can be caught on the fly(I caught one from Rescobie 8 years ago on a nymph near some lily pads)just a bit expensive fishing for the day.
Quote from: burnie on October 09, 2012, 08:18:26 PM
Rescobie and Lintrathen are both full of big Perch
Balgavies, next big loch on the Arbroath side of Rescobie had serious perch when I was a lad. Sadly fishing was banned 30 years + ago as it is an SNH run reserve. You can't really blame them though can you? Just think of the f*****g state of shite, barbeques, discarded tackle and other junk it would be in if fishing was allowed. Too many static bait fishers are mucky bastards.
Just a wee point as livebaiting has been mentioned a couple of times. livebaiting with fish is now illegal in Scotland.
Three guesses what my biggest perch was caught on? :roll:
Alex
You can use a dead minnow or similar ( small roach are good) on the drop shot system.
I have some of these. Should do a job. http://venomlures.com/venom_gobies_super_soft_hand_poured.htm (http://venomlures.com/venom_gobies_super_soft_hand_poured.htm)
Alex
Quote from: haresear on October 09, 2012, 11:02:38 PM
I have some of these. Should do a job. http://venomlures.com/venom_gobies_super_soft_hand_poured.htm (http://venomlures.com/venom_gobies_super_soft_hand_poured.htm)
Alex
They look OK. It can be a real problem choosing artificials. Some days they will go for a particular colour scheme or type, and on another day they wont look at it. Natural worms always work and fresh deadbaits will usually work as well, but it can often take quite a while to catch a few baits, so I invariably use worms. I have been meaning to try herring strip for quite a while but somehow I keep forgetting to prepare it. I think it ought to work as well.
Quote from: Mike Connor on October 09, 2012, 11:18:47 PM
I have been meaning to try herring strip
.
Mike ive just cut a sliver off in the past do you do something to make it more appealing or stay on the hook better.
Cheers Ian
Quote from: sinbad on October 10, 2012, 08:28:54 AM
.
Mike ive just cut a sliver off in the past do you do something to make it more appealing or stay on the hook better.
Cheers Ian
As I wrote, I have been meaning to try it for perch for ages now, but I keep forgetting it. I have used it a lot in the sea. There I fillet the herring, using a thin very sharp fillet knife I then cut most of the flesh off so that I have two relatively thin fillets. Then I just slice these into fish shaped strips.
I have seen various methods of preparing/preserving herring strip, but I don't really like any of them, I think fresh is best. You can use thread to tie one end on to the hook, this stops it falling off too easily. It should work OK for perch, works for pike and zander. Pike will take legered herring well. mackerel will probably work well too and the skin is tougher.
Just musing on what somebody else wrote. Perch are not ambush predators like pike, they are chasers and harriers. They will chase and harry shoals of small fish. Usually they will engulf the prey in their large mouths, but it is still better to use a size of artificial that suits and not to have too long a bait, or at least ensure that the hook is properly placed. On long lures a rear hook is worthwhile. The size of artificial is also quite important, I virtually never go over three inches and often a much smaller size is better. The drop shot rigs which are mounted fore and middle ( as shown below) seem to get the best hook-ups;
(http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5946/dropshot.jpg) (http://img39.imageshack.us/i/dropshot.jpg/)
( From http://www.60secondangler.com/articles/dropshot.cfm (http://www.60secondangler.com/articles/dropshot.cfm) )
although I like to get the nose of the bait well forward. This does not mask the hook strangely enough, when a fish takes it is usually well hooked.
If you use ordinary hooks then the palomar knot will mount them properly;
(http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/7074/palomar.jpg) (http://img826.imageshack.us/i/palomar.jpg/)
there are a variety of "special" drop-shot hooks available but I have had no problems with ordinary straight eyed hooks.
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Standout_Drop_Shot_Hook_Red_Alert/descpage-SDSHRAL.html (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Standout_Drop_Shot_Hook_Red_Alert/descpage-SDSHRAL.html)
Everyone seemed to be hanging round the carpark area. I looked and didnt see any lights up on the hill.
Thank you for all your replys guys, especially your good self Mike, gonna take a lot of this on board and enjoy myself this weekend. I'll drop a wee post and let you all know how I get on.
Cheers once again.
Quote from: cocotosh71 on October 10, 2012, 10:35:40 PM
Thank you for all your replys guys, especially your good self Mike, gonna take a lot of this on board and enjoy myself this weekend. I'll drop a wee post and let you all know how I get on.
Cheers once again.
My pleasure, hope you have a good time and plenty of fish.