Bob and Paul are to thank for the best perch of my career

I ThOughT you might be interested in the capture of my biggest-ever perch, a feat inspired by a recent episode of the ‘Mortimer and Whitehouse: gone Fishing’ TV series.

We were on holiday in Cornwall last week, and when I realised we were not going to be too far from upper Tamar Lake I decided to have a day’s fishing for perch as shown in Series 2, where Paul caught a ‘clonker’ perch.

When we arrived in Cornwall I went to the lake to have a walk around and was pretty sure I found their swim. The advice from the fishing centre on site was to use worms or raw prawns for the perch. I returned in the early morning a couple of days later and there was only one car parked in the angler’s car park.

I was not totally surprised when I walked to the swim to find that the one angler on this vast water had chosen exactly the same spot.

So I went further along the bank and set up my gear. I was quivertipping, as Bob and Paul were, alternating between worm and prawn. I started to get regular bites and caught a number of small roach on worm, but no sign of perch until just before I was going to leave in the late afternoon, when I had a much stronger pull. as soon as I struck I knew it wasn’t one of Bob’s fish. It fought well and it was a lovely looking perch, very similar to Paul’s fish.

My perch weighed 3lb 12oz, beating my previous best by a pound-and-a-half.

Thanks Bob and Paul – I would not have even tried fishing this venue without seeing the programme.

John Clements, Swadlincote