Mixed Fortunes on the Perch front

Saturday 7th January

Canal Perch - Nothing but bones!

I had a small window to fish this morning so i decided to take my lad Lewis for a wander along the canal with the lure rod for an hour or so. The weather was overcast with a light wind and the water clarity was pretty good indicating that no boats had yet been through.
I was hopeful of getting at least a pull or two but despite working the stretch pretty hard nothing was forthcoming . Lewis took it all in his stride through and seemed to be enjoying himself  especially when we came across the toothy remains of a small Pike on the towpath . Sadly that was to be the nearest we would get to a fish of any description and it wasnt long before we were headed home.

Sunday 8th January

Commercial Perch - Its coming together nicely!

Todays session was to be a visit to a local commercial with my old mate Phil seeing as the rivers were still out of sorts . After cracking the method late-on in my last session i was keen to get back down and have a proper go at them. We arrived at the complex for first light and made our way around to our respective swims. The weather was the same as yesterdays and once again i fancied our chances.

Bites proved to be really hard to come by in my first choice swim despite careful feeding so when the wind picked up and changed direction making for uncomfortable fishing a move was required! Phil felt the same and seeing as we had the whole pool to ourselves there was no shortage of swims.

Once settled on our new spots we began getting bites straight away and after a procession of Roach to the maggots it was time to switch to the Prawns. It was a while before the fish responded to them but once they did we went on to land some nice fish.  The action was slow but steady and we found we had to fish tight into the edge in mere inches of water to get the Perch . Being heavily stocked with Carp, the water is quite coloured which worked in our favour for fishing practically under our feet as we were.  

Phil had the biggest Perch of the day which went an ounce shy of 3lb and was a new pb for him . Nothing huge for me but i managed half a dozen including some nice 2lb plussers so i certainly wasnt complaining! Hopefully one of the lakes biggies isnt too far away for me now although it looks like i might have to play the numbers game as there seems to be more mid sized fish in there than i originally thought.