GAMECHANGER
How fake maggots were the key to catching a personal-best perch
“MY WORK colleague Freddie and I heard that big perch were being caught from a popular stretch of the River Ouse, so we set off early one morning to see if we could catch one.
“After settling into swims opposite some trees, we decided to fish as tight to the overhanging branches as we dared. We reckoned that was where any perch in the area might be hiding. I’d come armed with two feeder rods, both rigged up with 1.5oz glass quivertips, and 6lb mainline on my reels. On my upstream rod I went for a cage feeder filled with chopped worms and groundbait, with half a lobworm as hookbait on a size 10. On the downstream rod I used a maggot feeder set-up, and a size 14 hook baited with three red grubs.
“After clipping-up to the branches and casting out the rigs, I think I only had to wait 10 seconds for the tip on the worm rod to slam round, which resulted in a stripey of about 1lb. A shout from Freddie signalled he was into a perch too, and we got the feeling it was going to be a great day.
“Over the next few hours we banked a number of big perch to just over 2lb on worms... but I was struggling to catch anything bigger than about 2oz on the maggot rod!
“There was a lull in sport at around 2pm so I rooted through my tackle box to find something new to try. There was an unopened packet of rubber maggots at the bottom, so I took out a red one and threaded it along the shank of the hook on the maggot rod – effectively creating a mag-aligner rig. I nicked a single maggot on to the hook for extra attraction then cast the rig back to its spot.
“After 10 minutes of nothing the tip suddenly smashed round and I struck, thinking I’d hooked a small chub. This giant, head-shaking perch then surfaced and I can remember the panic setting in. I could see the fluoro maggot just nicked inside its jaw so I had to play it carefully. It was trying hard to throw the tiny hook, and after a few tense minutes it finally slid over the net.
“Freddie ran over to share in the catch, and what a perch it was! At 3lb 10oz it was my new personal best and the biggest either of us had seen in the flesh. The action didn’t end there either, as just before dark another perch of
3lb 1oz took a liking to my mag-aligner rig. It was the perfect end to a perfect day’s fishing.
“Needless to say I’ll be using fake maggots the next time I go perching.”
“At 3lb 10oz it was my new personal best and the biggest I’d ever seen in the flesh”