Carrying on from my last post i'm still on the hunt for a 4lb perch and the way i'm going i could be doing this until part 107 but i won't bore you that much i hope. Its not as easy as it looks first you got to find a fishery with the potential to hold such a creature then juggle work and the fact that I like to spend as much time as I can with my wife and two teenage boys because that is very important to me.
This will probable be my last perch trip of the season, I'm going with Dave who I went with to shillinglee (part 4 still trying) but this time his taking me to a small club lake in capel near dorking. Now I'm lead to believe there are potentially some very big perch in this place let's hope they want what I got,
the tackle I'll be using will be my trusty Matt Hayes all rounders and my sexy shimano baby bait runners reels, end tackle low resistance free running rigs from korum and good old drennen super specialist hooks they are strong and won't let you down. I'm also going to take my pole to catch some live bait, now that's the bit I'm looking forward to the tiddler bashing lol.
We arrive at the farm just after 8am and I'm greeted with a lovely looking well keep lake all of about 5 acres surrounded by trees and bushes all hanging invitingly over or in the water. The hairs on the back of my neck
stand up because this place has got a very perchy look about it the only problem that I've got is the water is like a cup of hot chocolate, not the best water colour for catching perch as they are mainly a sight feeder I'm just hoping that the baits I've got (prawns,worms,maggots) can temp one of the monsters to feed ?
stand up because this place has got a very perchy look about it the only problem that I've got is the water is like a cup of hot chocolate, not the best water colour for catching perch as they are mainly a sight feeder I'm just hoping that the baits I've got (prawns,worms,maggots) can temp one of the monsters to feed ?
Entrance to the fishery
Now I'm not one for parking the car and sitting in the first swim(unlike my brother) I do like to have a look round but after Dave and I walked around half the lake with all my tackle then decide to go back and sit in the first swim, with the biggest over hanging tree that we stood and talked about looking very perchy, and i was told by another member of this fishing club that his friend had a couple of three's from this swim just the other day, i could of just gave up and collapsed in a heap of sweaty cloths and remember i'm no getting any younger and I've put on some extra weight according to the wife thanks babe love you to xxxx .
Now my game plan is to fish as tight as I can under the over hanging tree to my left with a live bait and my other rod is going to be flicked out just by the end of the branches just to the right of the first rod with either a prawn or a fat lobby on. Both rods will be sprayed with a liberal dose of red maggots every five minutes or so, this is to keep the small fry swimming around to attract the predators, i'm keeping my fingers crossed hoping this will work because the colour of the water keeps nagging at me. I'm here now and I've just got to get on with it, i have caught in this sort of colour before at framfield park if you remember (part 1 breaking my p/b) but it wasn't this bad if i catch a big perch today it is going to be quite an achievement.
You have to remember this is what fishing is all about working your swim out and making the best of it i'm learning different things all the time and even though i don't always catch what i'm after i'm enjoying myself immensely.
Perchy or what
Now to say this place is stuffed with carp is a understatement no more than two feet from the bank there was loads of them playing around all of about 5lb so if the perch don't play ball then I can have a carp or two.
Right I am sitting behind my buzzer this time because I just felt with the free running rigs I set up, would give me the best chance of a hook up. So now I've got to catch a live bait, sounds easier than it looks i brought three sections of my leeda pole with me today and partially had a rig set up, i just put the finishing touches to it when i got here (weight,depth). I'm going to fish for the small fry down the edge but i just got to be careful i don't hook one of those carp because my hooklink is only 1lb 2oz with a size 22 hook, i don't want to keep being smashed up and ruin the swim, so now i try to my left and then to my right not even a nibble oh come on i usually only catch small one's now i want one i'm not going to get any. I even try the next swim without any luck i sit back in my chair and put the kettle on for a cuppa, while i waiting for the water to boil i bait one of my rods with a big fat lob worm and just nick off the end to let the juices leak out and with a gentle flick i cast it straight into the tree. Its not going to plan is it so with a bit of tug of war i get my rig back minus the worm well at least i got some bait in the swim, i check my hook is ok and re-baited up again this time my cast goes right where i want it to lovely. All this time the kettle is boiling away nearly to the point of going dry so now I've got to put more water in for my first coffee of the day, sitting back and enjoying my hot beverage at least one rod is fishing now, I've got to get the other rod out that means live bait fishing again i'm going to be cool this time and think like a gudgeon with all the carp tearing up the bottom in front of me the small fish can't be far away picking up the tip bits floating around. So i drop my pole rig as close to the carp as i can but not that close as to hook one and guess what it worked my float dips and I strike with the speed of a gazelle, what ever is on the end doesn't stand a chance and a lovely little gudgeon is swung in at last i sigh but now i've got to re-hook it and swing it back out, i failed miserably and lost that first gudgeon. So i had to catch another one but I've sussed how to do that with the same tactic as before booosh!! i catch another small gudgeon and this time my casting didn't let me down and i hit the spot now at last both rods are fishing.
Perch food
Now as you can see in the picture below the baits that i'm using are plain prawns or prawns soaked in predator plus, lob worms and red maggots. These are the best baits to use for perch, its a good idea to chop and change to see whats catching, well i tell you something Mr robin sure enjoyed my maggots all day long he pop in and out and filled him self up i'm surprised he could fly afterwards because that's all the action i got not a bleep from the buzzers. I tried all my baits but not Mr robin lol, I even swung my live bait rod over to the dead reed bed down to my right and fished with my pole over the top and I did catch a few small perch, but I couldn't stir up anything bigger so it looks like I'm going to have a go at the carp or it's a big fat blank for me. I knew this was going to be hard because of the colour of the water, and that's what happened i spent the last few hours fishing with one rod right in the margins it's just a shame the perch didn't feed with that much gusto.
At least the robin keep me busy
Pretty little mirror
one of many carp with lovely markings
On the other note me and my youngest son Louis had a day down the Basingstoke canal drop shotting like I did with Paul in the last blog(jigging with jellies), but in a different stretch we didn't have any luck not even a follow but we really enjoyed ourselfs and Louis learnt a lot about casting, retrieval, plus tying up baits and jig heads so all is not lost.
So that's it for now with the perch i'm going to concentrate on the bigger carp and bream, plus some nice big tench so i will still be blogging my stories so keep reading until next time tight lines.
