A brace of crackers

My last blog post is going to be a hard one to top but nevertheless I've still been out a few times since trying my best to catch something else worthwhile. I tried the same swim again twice in the hope of maybe catching another lump but the conditions were completely different and a blank was inevitable. I've fished the river for many years and never seen or heard of anything that size being caught before so I guess I'd have to be exceptionally lucky to get another unless the same fish pops up again. I'm not into chasing repeat captures though so for my most recent session I decided to look elsewhere.  Fortunately the water levels and colour  had receded on my other river venue and things had fallen right for me to fish a couple of Swims I had earmarked from some livebaiting trips a few weeks ago.
I arrived around mid afternoon and setup in my second choice swim as there was a Barbel angler in my most fancied spot. Barbel and Big Perch don't normally share a love of the same spots but there is a lovely snaggy slack along the margin where I caught a 3lb stripey the other week and it looked good for another but for now that swim would have to wait. My chosen swim was a new one to me a short distance downstream and here the water was a bit steadier and was almost still down the edge to my right with a small bush sticking out over the water but not in it. I decide to lay on with a worm next to the bush in around four feet of water.
The dead leaves which had fallen off the trees in recent weeks were proving to be a proper pain in the backside and I was having to recast regularly to make sure I hadn't picked up any on the hook as the worm tried to bury itself in the bottom debris. After a couple of inactive hours I was starting to have the usual doubts about the spot but I knew the best time was fast approaching so I decided to stay put.   The light was showing its first signs of fading when my float began to register a bit of interest. A couple of slight knocks had my hand hovering over the rod butt and I was well ready by the time the float slid away. Solid resistance meant a good Perch was hooked and sure enough I soon netted a real clonker. At a glance I almost thought I'd done it again with a 4 but as soon as I picked up the fish to unhook it i knew it wasnt quite in the same league. Last weeks  4lber was around four inches thick across its back and although this fish  had a similar length it was noticeably thinner girthwise. At 3lb7oz it was a fantastic fish though and I was very pleased indeed!

I returned the fish a few pegs downstream and cast back in, it was getting dark fast and I was struggling to see my float. In fact I was really struggling and then the penny dropped, the float wasn't even there! I lifted the rod and bent into what felt like another good Perch. I netted it and was pleased to see it was another cracker and although a shorter, stockier fish its colours were very vivid. It went 3lb6oz on the scales and completed the biggest brace of Perch I've ever caught. This years Perch Campaign couldn't have got off to a better start, how much longer will my luck hold out?