Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Day-ticket surprises – Stu Lennox
When he heard rumours of big perch being caught from a venue in Kent, Stu Lennox couldn’t wait to have a go for them. How would he get on...
If YOU’RE looking for high quality silvers and big perch there’s no need to despair just because the rivers have shut down for three months. There’s a certain type of water that contains these sought-after species and there is a good chance one of them is close to you. Hidden below the surface of your local carp fishery there’s some excellent sport to be had. And the best bit is that nobody fishes for them! Growing big on a constant supply of quality bait provided by carp anglers, roach thrive and where there’s plenty of prey fish perch will always do well too.
Two line approach
for my most recent trip I travelled to Tricklebrook fishery in Kent for the first time. While there are carp to almost 40lb in the Main Lake I was excited to see what else it held. I had heard rumours of some big perch and it would be these I was going to target. I set up in the middle of the lake and fished the pole for no other reason than I find it the most enjoyable way of catching big perch. I plumbed up two lines to rotate between throughout the day. My first line was 11m along my left-hand margin to a large bush. features like this will always hold perch because they hide among the sunken branches waiting to ambush their prey. My other line was also at 11m, but this time straight in front at the bottom of a shelf where it dropped off into slightly deeper water. My rig for each was almost identical – a 0.5g AS3 float on 0.10mm (2lb) Drennan Supplex to a 0.10mm (1.7lb) Supplex fluorocarbon hooklength finished with a size 12 Kamasan B560 hook. The wide gape on this particular pattern is perfect for holding large worm sections or half lobworms. for shotting I had a strung out bulk of No.8s that minimise resistance to a taking fish, with a couple of No.10 droppers to aid presentation and sensitivity.
Maggot magic
I fed the bush swim with a combination of finely chopped worms, maggots and prawns while the open water line was treated to large sections of lobworm and half prawns. These are classic perch baits that will work on any venue. For an added edge I gave the mix a generous slug of Sticky Cloudy Krill Liquid. From the start of the session the bush swim was alive with small ‘wasp’ perch. The open water swim, however, remained quiet. The weather conditions were terrible. I struggled to achieve a decent presentation and neither line was showing any sign of producing the big perch that inhabited the lake. With only an hour left I knew I had to try something different. I hastily set up a third line short at 6m and just fished maggots. My rig was similar but with a lighter 0.4g AS3 float and a size 20 Kamasan B510 to a 0.09mm (1.3lb) Supplex Fluorocarbon hooklength. I had been trickling a few maggots on to this spot while fishing elsewhere but I was still surprised to see the float bury on my first put in. My reward was a chunky roach. To say this last hour was frantic would be an understatement! I started to feed heavier and heavier, throwing in large handfuls of maggot twice every put in and the roach came thick and fast. The more I fed the larger they got. Within no time at all I had caught well over 10lb of roach. Excellent fun!
Last gasp perch!
Before packing up I decided to have one last look on my open water perch line with a big lobworm hookbait. The float sailed away and elastic streaked from the pole tip. After a dogged fight in the deep margin a big perch of 2lb-plus popped up and was swiftly netted. This was more like the sort of fish I had come to catch and clearly showed the potential of this lake. With the chance of perch twice as big on the cards I will definitely be back to target them again. I had an excellent short session and it clearly demonstrated the hidden silvers potential of this lake. Best of all I had the lake to myself so why not get out there and give your local carp fishery a go?