Hi Guys

Woke up this morning 6.30am which is a 2 hours more than normal ! Anyway decided to go Perch hunting up the Forth & Clyde canal as its only 2 mins from the house.

It was 10 oC with a light north east breeze.................

I was armed with my 9' 3wt Vision Cult and my New Hardy Flyweight reel and wild fishing forum heron grey WF#3 floating line, 13' leader of 3 lb maxima. My choice of fly ..................... my size 10 L/S pink wriggler and my size 14 flexi floss blood worm tied on a B110, both of which have been very successful on Perch, both were attched with an open loop knot to allow extra movement.



Pink wriggler and Flexi floss blood worm

There were lots of small roach and tiny perch along the side but no sign of the bigger perch or roach, a few long diagonal casts ...........let the pink sink until it starts to pull the floating line under then a slow figure 8 retrieve not long and bam ! i felt something hit the fly ! as i lifted in the rod bent over and started bouncing to my joy a stubborn little Perch, i love Perch they remind me of Jack Russel dogs them dont seem to know there are so small !



A while later while blind casting the pink again i felt some thing slam the fly Out of interest i find blind casting for Perch the hardest way of catching them, opposed to sight casting at them which is more productive although often yields smaller specimens.




Moving further along i fished all the open pockets in the reeds it was at one of these i had a Tench follow the pink right back to me ! ive never had this happen before the Tench came within an inch of taking the fly but then spooked and bolted !! My nerves were short to bits ! I have to wonder what a 1.5 lb Tench would do to my little 3 weight !

Having recovered my composure i carried on only for one of the F & C many wee Pikelets to nail the pink just as i was about to lift it and recast ! the wee fella put an amazing bend in the Cult as i headed for the bottom and tried to get into the weeds i had to give it some stick to keep it out ! it made numerous rod bending lunges for the bottom bottom i slipped the net under it luckily it was lip hooked.



Now i changed to the little size 14 Blood worm and quickly picked up two small Perch almost with out trying





Moving to another opening i sight cast at a group of Perch and quickly took the most aggressive



It was in the same opening while blind casting a huge thump and the little rod buckled over ! This time a slightly bigger pikelet again it made very powerful crash dives for the bottom grat fun on such a light rod.



I called it quits not long after that fish, great fun on the 3wt it would have been no where near as exciting on a 5wt or similar. And very satisfying to set out to target a species and achieve it.

People often say perch are easy to catch catching perch while fishing for trout isnt the same as "Targeting Perch" which is a whole different ball game ! Try it

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Englander

"Barbless since 2008"

Vision GT Four catapult 9' 6#
Vision GT Four SW 9' 9#
Vision 3 Zone 9' 5#
Vision Cult 9' 3#
Shakespeare Trion 9' 5/6#
Cortland Endurance 9' 6#
Shakespeare Expedition float tube
Vosseler DC3 reel
Okuma Helios 8/9 reel
Greys G series 3/4 reel
Snowbee Geo 3/4 reel

thats a pretty imressive catch, could catch on, perch are actually pretty good to eat.

haha I enjoyed reading that

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Your fish ----> ><((((º> My fish ----> ><(((((((((º>
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Cheers Danny

Co-Founder of S.S.F.D 2010

Tench in the F&C Canal! Blimey!

Nice catches there.

Neil

The F and C is heaving with tench. I have had 100lb plus bags on a few occasions( on bait)

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It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)

My late father used to enjoy eating Perch and small pike. I used to laugh at photos on the front of Anglers Mail of a proud Angler "down" in England showing off a 2 or 3 lb Perch while my Dad was tucking into a similar sized fish. You could catch Perch that size all day on Martnaham loch. Near Ayr. Until that nasty lurgy killed most of them off in 78. By the way best pike from Martnaham was a 44 lb beauty ! I wonder if the Perch have made a comeback ?

Thanks for sharing that steve

Pete

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Thanks to all who donated to 999 comp 2011
New rainbow PB 22 lbs Bangour 23/10/2011

I enjoyed reading that to. Perch are fine fish. I got a new 3wt rod a month back and gagging to have a chuck went to my local carp lake. Put two ptn's on and caught two at the same time about 5th cast. They were very angry . Think I might go again tomorrow morning having read your report, thanks for sharing .

Chris.