Perch: Two personal bests

There's never been a better time to catch big perch, After years of neglect, autumn saw me have my first real go culminating in Severn 2 pounder. My PB has crept up slowly but I was still awaiting a big 2 pounder or landing that magical 3lb fish.

A friend of mine arranged for us to make a trip to a new stillwater. With live baiting banned the approach was going to be worm and prawn based. A simple running ledger rig was baited with prawn while a small bobber float and centrepin were employed for the worm. The plan was to feed maggots regularly to attract the small fish and hopefully see the perch follow. 

Personal best number one - 2lb 11oz

Arriving at 10am the next few hours were slow. My friend then managed a a great looking perch of exactly 3lb. The fish came completely out of the blue as did the sunshine. This killed the fishing and the next few hours were a non-event. I did change the hook to a size 16 to get a few bites. A few roach and the first perch of the day arrived.  It was a 3, about 3 inch but it was beautifully marked. By 5pm the cloud arrived and with it much better prospects. I chopped some worms and threw them around the float. Within seconds the float buried and the tell tale jagging of the rod tip told me a perch was on. It was safely netted and I was confident that a new PB had been landed and so it proved at 2lb 11oz. The float went back out and within 30 minutes I had another perch on. It felt a better fish. It then surfaced to reveal a huge stomach and also a very precarious hook hold. The fish was landed and it was no surprise to see my PB beaten for a second time and with it my first 3lb perch. Like my friend's fish earlier, it was 3lb on the nose. I did manage to hook another fish soon after but instead of another perch a beautifully coloured linear carp of around 6lb came to the bank. Following this spree the only other thing to report was a dropped run on the prawn rig before the light faded. 

My first 3 pounder and new PB

The artistic shot

It's not everyday that you catch a personal best fish. To do it twice in less than an hour is some session and makes up for all those tricky days that we all encounter throughout the year. Thanks must go out to my ghillie for giving me the opportunity to fish a new water. It looks like I'm going to have to find a venue in the summer to pay him back.