Big fish falls to... molehill soil!
Soil-based groundbait tempts year’s best river stripey
AFORMER Division One National champion has banked the biggest river perch of 2018 from a waterway in the Midlands.
Chesterfield’s Tony Hopley, who won the 2003 event on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, reckons he has molehill soil to thank for the 5lb 1oz fish.
The 74-year-old Perchfishers member legered a lobworm over a carpet of the magic natural ingredient that he had collected from the riverbank.
Four balls of the soil mix laced with casters and chopped worm were introduced before he cast a groundbait feeder rig over the top.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the retired head teacher.
“I was getting really tentative plucks on the quivertip, but lifting into nothing, so I decided to try touch-legering, holding the line between my thumb and forefinger,” he said.
“This did the trick. I felt a couple of taps and then the line tightened ever so slightly and the big perch was on.”
Unsurprisingly, the five-pounder smashes his previous personal best for the species that stood at 4lb 10oz 12dr.
“Big perch just love molehill soil, and it’s the secret to the capture of both my personal-best perch,” Tony continued.
“The soil is full of natural attractors but, unlike groundbait, it doesn’t give the perch anything to feed on. It’s not like bream fishing, where you’re looking to hold lots of fish in your swim.
“I add just a few casters and worms to the mix because there will only be one or two fish moving around the area, and the lobworm stops them in their tracks.”
This latest capture comes just a few weeks after Dave Ladds banked a 5lb 1oz perch from a stillwater in the north of the UK – as exclusively revealed in last week’s Angling Times.