perch to spinners

[stubbojo]

went out last night about 7.30pm to a local venue , decided to fish old school on the old mepps spinner , first cast out resulted in a lovely perch about a 1lb then it slowed up for a while
moved swims and had another 4 perch on the bounce , nice way to spend a couple of hours , and a stunning sunset too...my mate was fishing with rubbers and shads and never had a touch
the old spinners still work on the day ....and they must be 40 years old some of them ....

[John Milford]

I plan to try exactly the same on a local canal in the next few days Steve.

Spinners and lively little crankbaits are my 'confidence' lures for perch, neglected all too often these days in favour of trendy soft plastics.

(Plus, you can fish them wearing normal clothes, without feeling compelled to dress up like a racing cyclist and wear a ridiculous 'snood' over your face! ).

[peteren]

Well I made the effort of an early start on 16th for maybe first time in 50m years! Fished 2 rods for tench 0500 - 0800 without a touch. First cast of a shad up river was grabbed within 2 seconds by this 2.5lb perch! As a lure nut I seem to struggle ever more with bait fishing!
SP not spinner, I admit - but rest assured I was not dressed up like a racing cyclist!

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[Catfish Paul]

went out last night about 7.30pm to a local venue , decided to fish old school on the old mepps spinner , first cast out resulted in a lovely perch about a 1lb then it slowed up for a while
moved swims and had another 4 perch on the bounce , nice way to spend a couple of hours , and a stunning sunset too...my mate was fishing with rubbers and shads and never had a touch
the old spinners still work on the day ....and they must be 40 years old some of them ....

If I could only ever use one lure fishing for perch, then I would choose a spinner without hesitation.
I grew up using spinners and whenever I'm struggling, on goes a spinner.

[Catfish Paul]

Well I made the effort of an early start on 16th for maybe first time in 50m years! Fished 2 rods for tench 0500 - 0800 without a touch. First cast of a shad up river was grabbed within 2 seconds by this 2.5lb perch! As a lure nut I seem to struggle ever more with bait fishing!
SP not spinner, I admit - but rest assured I was not dressed up like a racing cyclist!
2.5 perch 2021-06-16.jpeg

Well done
Great fish especially first cast

[John Milford]

Perch will have a go at spinners of all sizes.

My worst case was one about 8oz on a Mepps Giant Killer. How it managed to get all three hook points of the huge bucktail treble into it's gob I will never know.

It didn't come out so easily, but the perch went back OK after some tense manoeuvring to free the big treble.

When perch are shoaled-up and active, I find tail trebles continually snag the smaller, less cautious fish - which is fun for a while but quickly becomes tiresome if bigger fish are visible among them.

To avoid the little ones, I found a switch to a long, skinny soft plastic like a 6" auger tail worm gives the larger fish a chance to get in on the act. With the single hook in the front 1/3 of the bait, the smaller nipping perch don't get hooked, but the larger ones do.

A little spinner is the surest way of finding them in the first place though, or for picking off random fish

[stubbojo]

Perch will have a go at spinners of all sizes.

My worst case was one about 8oz on a Mepps Giant Killer. How it managed to get all three hook points of the huge bucktail treble into it's gob I will never know.

It didn't come out so easily, but the perch went back OK after some tense manoeuvring to free the big treble.

When perch are shoaled-up and active, I find tail trebles continually snag the smaller, less cautious fish - which is fun for a while but quickly becomes tiresome if bigger fish are visible among them.

To avoid the little ones, I found a switch to a long, skinny soft plastic like a 6" auger tail worm gives the larger fish a chance to get in on the act. With the single hook in the front 1/3 of the bait, the smaller nipping perch don't get hooked, but the larger ones do.

A little spinner is the surest way of finding them in the first place though, or for picking off random fish

john you are correct in using the smaller lures to find the shoals , which can be huge on some of the venues i fish, and its hard to target the bigger fish , which i find seem to stay in there year classes ,what i mean by that is in size class.., so i went back today only for 2 hours to try something different , i decided to fish the spinners again , but i started with the smallest in my box , and worked my way up in size on the spinners to see how far they would catch.
the results were interesting must have tried a bout 10 different sizes and all sizes caught fish , even the biggest spinner in my box took a perch these are designed to catch pike big fire tiger patterns ...lost count after about 15 perch this was the best of the bunchl

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so lost a slightly bigger one at the net

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good couple of hours action not monsters but who cares....

[Sebas]

If I could fish one lure for rest of my life its a size 3 Mepps. Catch most of the usual predatory species in fresh or saltwater. Saved me many blanks and they catch big fish.

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[stubbojo]

If I could fish one lure for rest of my life its a size 3 Mepps. Catch most of the usual predatory species in fresh or saltwater. Saved me many blanks and they catch big fish.

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you forget how good spinning can be with the old style spinners and spoons , had about 15 or more perch today , my mate was on the usual rubbers 15-0 to me today

[stubbojo]

just had a sort out to see what i have in some of my old lure boxes , you just forget what you have , the lures have changed over the years , but the perch still loves the old spinner
on the photos there are some that i have used today , bottom row and in that order of use ,caught on all even the big pike spinners .......

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rod used today was a spro CRX preditor 6ft.2 CW 10-30gram extra fast action with 20lb braid and a 15lb flouro leader about 2ft ...as i know there are no pike in this venue........

[stubbojo]

been out tonight last 40 minutes of light 8 perch , best of the bunch over a pound .....just good fun on spinners

[Bob Watson]

Big perch can't resist a big S

[peteren]

Big perch can't resist a big S

I do far better with spinners and sp's (combo of both in spinnerbaits, best of all) for perch, than cranks. I thought partly because they take more at depth; shallow cranks like Big S rarely good for me for perch, despite using them lots for pike.

[stubbojo]

Big perch can't resist a big S

I do far better with spinners and sp's (combo of both in spinnerbaits, best of all) for perch, than cranks. I thought partly because they take more at depth; shallow cranks like Big S rarely good for me for perch, despite using them lots for pike.

started back on the spinners , and really enjoying it at the moment , there having it ....

[stubbojo]

spoke too soon been out tonight , and they were not having it , did manage a few very small perch to a small spinner , so swapped over to a jointed jerk bait and this greedy little fecker took it
greedy little fecker

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[Flipflopjoe]

I must admit I catch a fair few perch on cranks as by-catch when chub fishing.
I normally stick a little jelly thing in if I’m targeting them, normally with limited success.
I think I’m gonna get a few more spinners type lures to have a go now

[stubbojo]

I must admit I catch a fair few perch on cranks as by-catch when chub fishing.
I normally stick a little jelly thing in if I’m targeting them, normally with limited success.
I think I’m gonna get a few more spinners type lures to have a go now

i think spinners hook up better first time when there on them , due to the trebles , my mate who uses plastics most of the time,he has a lot of missed bites where they nibble the tail ,and dont take the lure fully in the mouth....think spinners are underrated as most people go for the latest in plastic lures .......

[Oldskoolfool]

Good old Mepps in sizec2 or 3 are my canal go to for perch, pike & chub - prefer the gold for no reason. They are very consistent and excellent hookers for the size. Thr old mods I make is dress a few with Bucktail on treble not as an attractor but to slow descent in shallow parts - works well

[Pinkie]

I stopped using spinners for perch some years ago, and changed to Salmo and Rapala small deep diving plugs and started catching a much better stamp of fish, including chub to over 5lb. But the bigger perch prefer soft plastic shads, particularly perch pattern. The plugs are more expensive but you barely ever lose one, whereas with spinners I found the often slow retrieve that catches the bigger fish, often snagged the bottom.

[bryan m]

I had a lot of perch unto 2lb when I was younger using the larger Mepps, can't remember which number, spinner whilst roving a local river for pike. I caught a lot of jacks on it but the perch, even tiny ones, loved the thing. I used to tie short lengths of red cotton of the trebles, something an 'old boy' told me about, to trail behind the spinner a few inches and that worked a treat.
I think I still have some in the tackle shed somewhere, maybe I should dig them out and use again sometime.

[stubbojo]

I had a lot of perch unto 2lb when I was younger using the larger Mepps, can't remember which number, spinner whilst roving a local river for pike. I caught a lot of jacks on it but the perch, even tiny ones, loved the thing. I used to tie short lengths of red cotton of the trebles, something an 'old boy' told me about, to trail behind the spinner a few inches and that worked a treat.
I think I still have some in the tackle shed somewhere, maybe I should dig them out and use again sometime.

bryan i have recently started using spinners again , and having some really good sessions ...better than the usual rubber types ......
my mate has just had a good few hours on spinners and had 4 perch to over 2lb last night on a evening session

[stubbojo]

on a particular water where i target eels , but not doing well as of late...... i normally get the spinning rod out and catch quite a few perch to small copper type spinners
which passes time while waiting for the sniggs to bite

[stubbojo]

been out tonight on a local venue , started off with the ned rig and had a fish from the off about a 1lb then nothing for an hour. then had one on a small jointed jerk bait about 1lb
went back on an abu blue and sliver spinner had 2 more about the same size and two smaller fish , new it would not fish well as the wind was offshore this time .
normally do well fishing into the wind on this venue.....still nice to be out

[stubbojo]

been again for an hour local..... 5 perch tonight this was about the biggest

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taken on a 4 inch solid jointed jerk

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just going to keep going at it till i find the bigger fish

[Esoxuk]

I’ve been catching well using spin mads
The ones 10g and under have double hooks which reduce snagging but still hook up well. Another advantage is that the body doesn’t spin eliminating line twist. Finally they cast like bullets and don’t tend to be blown about with cross winds so can be cast quite accurately to the edge of far bank vegetation and tree lines

[Mike F]

I have had literally hundreds of pike and perch using Ondex No.6 over the years. For me they are one of the best "spinners" you can use.

[stubbojo]

I have had literally hundreds of pike and perch using Ondex No.6 over the years. For me they are one of the best "spinners" you can use.

think i have a few of those somewhere..... the old ondex .....not heard the word in yonks........

[stubbojo]

I’ve been catching well using spin mads
The ones 10g and under have double hooks which reduce snagging but still hook up well. Another advantage is that the body doesn’t spin eliminating line twist. Finally they cast like bullets and don’t tend to be blown about with cross winds so can be cast quite accurately to the edge of far bank vegetation and tree lines

spin mads i will look them up pal .....cheers not heard of them who makes them ......

[Taffypiker]

I have caught loads of perch whilst spinning for trout on my local small River

I only carry firetiger type colours and silver plain spinners

Had a load of mepps but find DAM a lot cheaper and just as effective

[stubbojo]

been out today disappointing really had some small roach to maggot , no perch, to the paternoster rigs , my mate had about 20 perch 2 pike to a vibro type spinner
so the spinner out fished the live baits today......