Perch activity

[Jake Hamilton]

In the last few years I've got more and more interested in perch. One of the things that really fascinates me is how in the south of England perch are caught through gaps in the ice during December, even on lures, while up north in the Lake District they seem to vanish around September and don't show themselves again until late spring the following year, as far as I can tell.

I've been researching their habits more and more and wondered if any of the Scottish lads could tell me if the perch in Lomond follow the Lake District pattern and fade away for winter in around Sept or is it different again up there?

I'm not at all interested in locations....just purely when you notice the perch activity dropping off as the year gets on, and when it all picks up again?

Thanks lads.

[dannytaylor]

I fish a bit north of the border for Perch and ive noticed a similar trend. I seem to have picked up my bigger fish in the months of May and September, results and sizes of perch have slowly tailed off as the season progresses, i think the latest we have had fish of 3Ib+ has been in early November.

These are just my personal observations and im sure some of the scottish lads are better informed to comment. One thing to consider though is that i rarely venture up north in the winter months after Perch and im sure the same is true for many other anglers, if your not fishing for them you cant catch them, so in theory they could still be present and catchable but with most targeting pike and poor winter conditions putting people off who knows? The Jury's out on this one, id to be interested to hear from other Perch anglers............................

[Jake Hamilton]

Thank you very much, Dan

[Woodchucker]

I tend to fish UL for both Pike and Perch until around late October when the Perch just seem to stop taking lures, not sure why because even in the depths of winter I can catch well on jigs, but they do seem to tail off towards October. I do really well when fry are all over the margins but once these move out into the main flow of the rivers away from the marginal weed the Perch seem to follow and become harder to catch

[Jake Hamilton]

Cheers Ade. There's no rhyme or reason to perch, I'm starting to find. On somewhere like a glacial lake it's deemed too cold beyond Sept to find perch easily.....then I'll see a pic of a 3lber caught in Sussex or similar in December at minus 8

[DavyMc]

Jake think your about right with your times where I fish, have notice the same but there again don't try too much as Danny say's out with the better weather. Out of trout season no trolling so its cast and retrieve or bait fish haha would rather have pike rod out then..
Know there was a netting study done on the loch and spring (March) the perch were not in shallow water, later in the summer the same nets were full to bursting. At the moment you can catch them almost anywhere on the loch, but at a loss where the BIG one's are

[Jake Hamilton]

Thank you Davy

[Woodchucker]

Cheers Ade. There's no rhyme or reason to perch, I'm starting to find. On somewhere like a glacial lake it's deemed too cold beyond Sept to find perch easily.....then I'll see a pic of a 3lber caught in Sussex or similar in December at minus 8

Jigged them up in the depths of winter on a larger glacial but they tend to be in 30-50ft of water, could be due to predation from the black death and otters but they do seem to leave their spring/summer haunts in the colder months, stable water temps perhaps?

[twisty]

allways amazes me why i dont pick them up on small deads when pike fishing the big waters i fish only ever had 2 when fishing for pike on one well known water in all the years i have fished it,the odd dropped run could be them though,fished for them on one water up north many moons ago and was catching them in 60ft of water on popped up worm this time of the year,worms were popped about 2ft

[Jake Hamilton]

Really interesting, lads. Appreciate your info.

[Woodchucker]

allways amazes me why i dont pick them up on small deads when pike fishing the big waters i fish only ever had 2 when fishing for pike on one well known water in all the years i have fished it,the odd dropped run could be them though,fished for them on water up north many moons ago and was catching them in 60ft of water on popped up worm this time of the year,worms were popped about 2ft

Seen plenty of shoals in that sort of depth (and deeper) on said water, but I usually put them down as roach/trout/char rather than Perch, I often find Perch hug bottom and show up as small peaks and troughs

[Emma Hamilton]

During the first three years on Chew when some of us "accidently" caught big numers of 3lb plus fish that were abundant at the time, October was the time to catch lots of big ones, Febuary they did seem to be there or catchable in the same areas.



rob

[Woodchucker]

During the first three years on Chew when some of us "accidently" caught big numers of 3lb plus fish that were abundant at the time, October was the time to catch lots of big ones, Febuary they did seem to be there or catchable in the same areas.



rob

What was the bottom like in these areas, rocky? Structure? or flat?

[Emma Hamilton]

During the first three years on Chew when some of us "accidently" caught big numers of 3lb plus fish that were abundant at the time, October was the time to catch lots of big ones, Febuary they did seem to be there or catchable in the same areas.



rob

What was the bottom like in these areas, rocky? Structure? or flat?

They were always under the two big trees that were just to the side of the left hand boat jetty, lots of crap on the bottom that the prevailing winds blew in. They then cut the trees down and we didnt catch them again.Me and my mate Dave only fished there when it was pishing down with rain and no one would catch us and risk a black mark against our names ! We had 18 x 3lb plus fish in two hours once !

I found on a gravel pit that big ones were in one corner that had a load of brick rubble on the bottom. These two waters are my only experience of catching 3lb perch. The gravel pit was a bit of a carp puddle and the fish were big but grey and old looking, the Chew perch were gorgeous marked bright fish all like peas in a pod.

rob

[dannytaylor]

Sounds top perching that Rob. Are the perch still knocking about on Chew or are they no more?

[Emma Hamilton]

Hi Danny, difficult to be 100% sure tbh. My guess is the first few years were the best. To give an idea of the numbers of 3lb perch about at the time on several occasions Dave and I both had 3lb fish at the boat with a shoal of 15-20 3lb perch following them in right up to the net ! We were temped to have a big scoop with the pike landing net ! Those first three years were not fully booked up, more innocent times and you could fish a little more easily to target them , if ya know what i mean They were certainly like peas in a pod and would weigh 3 - 3.08. A year class perhaps that may not be there now. There were some bigger ones caught, but we never had them and we caught lots. You could catch the odd one jigging a big spoon under the boat in certain spots, we have not caught them in more recent years doing the same. We forgave the pikeing a bit to target them and had the perch fishing of our life-times. I dont regret it !

rob

[Jake Hamilton]

Great going, Rob!

[Woodchucker]

During the first three years on Chew when some of us "accidently" caught big numers of 3lb plus fish that were abundant at the time, October was the time to catch lots of big ones, Febuary they did seem to be there or catchable in the same areas.



rob

What was the bottom like in these areas, rocky? Structure? or flat?

They were always under the two big trees that were just to the side of the left hand boat jetty, lots of crap on the bottom that the prevailing winds blew in. They then cut the trees down and we didnt catch them again.Me and my mate Dave only fished there when it was pishing down with rain and no one would catch us and risk a black mark against our names ! We had 18 x 3lb plus fish in two hours once !

I found on a gravel pit that big ones were in one corner that had a load of brick rubble on the bottom. These two waters are my only experience of catching 3lb perch. The gravel pit was a bit of a carp puddle and the fish were big but grey and old looking, the Chew perch were gorgeous marked bright fish all like peas in a pod.

rob

Perfect ambush point for big Perch Rob and what a result