OTHER EUROPEAN GIANT PERCH VENUES
PERCHZILLA, NR BILBAO, NORTHERN SPAIN
AN INCREASINGLY popular destination with UK anglers, Perchzilla produces 5lb-plus perch each season, with fish to over 6lb a real possibility.
Ian Jones, digital marketing coordinator at Rapala, visited last month and left with fish of 5lb 3oz and 5lb 11oz under his belt, both falling to three-inch crayfish imitation lures.
He told us: “The water is gin-clear, and I could see the fish head-shaking 20ft down the shelf within seconds of hooking them. Proper heart-inyour-mouth stuff when you see a perch that looks more like a rugby ball than a fish surface for the first time!
“The objective was a 4lb fish, so catching two ‘fives’ completely blew me away.”
For more information on the venue, visit www.perchzilla.com
SWEDISH ARCHIPELAGO
A VAST and largely untapped brackish area of the Baltic sea with superb stocks of predatory species. Over the past five years, perch fishing has become much more popular, and one man who’s experienced the action is Thom Hunt, lure fishing ace and marketing manager at predator tackle company Westin.
“The size of the perch shoals is insane. I went last November and we had a rake of good fish to 51cm. They can be so plentiful that you feel like shaking off 40cm perch at the net!” Thom told us. “Because of the crystal-clear water and the sheer mass of crustaceans and other natural food, they are also the most beautiful perch you’ll ever come across – vividly coloured and scale-perfect.”
Thom advises anyone wishing to fish the area to fly to Stockholm, then book a local guide.
For more details see the websites www.fishing-in-sweden.com and www.balticseafishing.com.