“It was the most hectic perch fishing I’ve ever experienced”
IF THERE are great fishing days that result from meticulous planning, then there are others that take you completely by surprise. Such was my recent experience with an absolute glut of perch on Chew Valley Lake.
These fish were barely an afterthought on a recent visit with Mark Miles, one of the country’s finest competitive fly anglers. We’d been filling our boots catching trout using everything from Blobs to dry flies, while I studied his tactics with a view to producing an article on the cusp of the Cortland Team Championships.
Then, all of a sudden, something quite spectacular happened. In one of the lake’s shallow, weedy bays, carnage erupted. Every few seconds there was a mass of leaping fry. But what was the cause?
As we motored our way over to take a look, I suspect Mark was hoping the answer had spots. As much fun as it is catching pike or perch, they are of no value in a fly fishing match!
Switching to bright fry patterns, we had our answer in seconds, as we simultaneously hooked chunky perch around the 1lb mark. Equally exciting, however, was the gaggle of similar sized and bigger fish following them to the boat!
What followed was the most hectic hour of perch fishing I’ve ever experienced. I was happy catching these fat fish in single hits, but with his multiple fly set-up, several times Mark hit three fish on the same cast!
The action beside the boat was just as crazy. At any time one of us hooked up, all the other needed to do was drop a fly right behind the fish being played and the line would go solid.
The perch just kept on coming and Mark, to his credit, was as enthused as I was, even though we were cutting into his practice time. They say that an hour at peak time is worth 10 in the wrong conditions, and so it proved, with a tally of over 60 perch between us. We didn’t find any of Chew’s true giants, but there were stacks of fit, young looking one-pounders and the odd “two” thrown in.
Inevitably, it came to an abrupt end. I’ve since been back to the very same spot and had only a handful of fish. Speaking with John Horsey, who knows the water better than anyone, this is classic Chew. You really must make hay while the sun shines, because yesterday’s hotspot can quickly switch off. But it would be boring if every session was that easy. Besides, those slower days are worth enduring when there’s the chance of such utterly magical fishing.