Commercial perch

[C722]

Has any one fished for commercial perch? How best to approach it? There is a local match fishery that has some good perch in, but not sure how best to fish it. Any advice is welcome.

[davelumb]

A lot depends on the rules. And how many carp there are to avoid! I ended up fishing feeder and red maggots as the most selective method.

[C722]

Thanks for your reply.

No live baits unfortunately. I ended up fishing prawns and lob worms, prawns did nothing, worms I had them to 2lb, but a lot bigger there. What about baiting, I have been told to bait a lot and draw the fish in?

[davelumb]

Thanks for your reply.

No live baits unfortunately. I ended up fishing prawns and lob worms, prawns did nothing, worms I had them to 2lb, but a lot bigger there. What about baiting, I have been told to bait a lot and draw the fish in?

When I fed loose maggots it attracted carp!

[Bob Watson]

Prawns are possibly the best carp bait on my club water that I fish for perch

They have 24 hour carp matches on one saturday/sunday in the month, I fancy my chances

[cookiesdaughtersdad]

Prawns are possibly the best carp bait on my club water that I fish for perch

They have 24 hour carp matches on one saturday/sunday in the month, I fancy my chances

What type of prawns do you use. Bob and how do you fish them?

Cheers, Alan

[Oldskoolfool]

I agree with Dave - biggest issue is avoiding thr carp and trying to be selective. Prawns are good but carp can be an issue - I find I get pestered with bream on worms. I tend to find float fishing near the features if there are any is best or in the edge near rushes etc. I've used proven and chilled cooked prawns - I think chilled cooked are best. I have some success using cloudy groundbait in moderation to attract silvers can work

[muncherpike]

I tend to fish for private perch!!!!!!!

[LB]

dropshot

[Bob Watson]

Prawns are possibly the best carp bait on my club water that I fish for perch

They have 24 hour carp matches on one saturday/sunday in the month, I fancy my chances

What type of prawns do you use. Bob and how do you fish them?

Cheers, Alan

Not been out for a while but when I was, it was normally cooked king prawns on a free running leger. I just nicked them through the thin end of the tail with a size 8 or 6 super speccy' but I did get a few deep hooked fish no matter how quick I was on the rod. I've since bought some Mustad demon circles in various sizes to see if that reduces the deep hooking.

I'm also going to try raw king prawns on the hook on one rod, some say they're better I usually scatter just a couple of small prawns in the area and chop a few up with some chopped worm and maggot as an attractor.

Carp can be a pain in the a**e when perch fishing.

[C722]

There was a chap on the lake a few weeks back putting in serious amounts of ground bait and maggots, must have done 5 kilos in the session, he caught plenty to 3lb. But I know I’d be plagued with carp and bream!

[cookiesdaughtersdad]

Prawns are possibly the best carp bait on my club water that I fish for perch

They have 24 hour carp matches on one saturday/sunday in the month, I fancy my chances

What type of prawns do you use. Bob and how do you fish them?

Cheers, Alan

Not been out for a while but when I was, it was normally cooked king prawns on a free running leger. I just nicked them through the thin end of the tail with a size 8 or 6 super speccy' but I did get a few deep hooked fish no matter how quick I was on the rod. I've since bought some Mustad demon circles in various sizes to see if that reduces the deep hooking.

I'm also going to try raw king prawns on the hook on one rod, some say they're better I usually scatter just a couple of small prawns in the area and chop a few up with some chopped worm and maggot as an attractor.

Carp can be a pain in the a**e when perch fishing.

Thanks for that, Bob
Carp will not be an issue as I shall be fishing under the lodge and if I was to hook one (river fish) I will probably get broken up as they average over 20 and I will be using 6lb mono in amongst lots of structure.
After watching perch in tanks, on video and fishing for them, the way they often feed can lead to deep hooking. I m thinking of using a float rig with a shot just a couple of inches or so from the hook?

cheers, Alan

[Mark Phillips]

Has any one fished for commercial perch? How best to approach it? There is a local match fishery that has some good perch in, but not sure how best to fish it. Any advice is welcome.

There's a commercial carp fishery in Essex that I know quite well, that contains some very decent perch (4lb +). Best approach by a country mile on those lakes was lure fishing, simply down to how much water can be covered. It's not so much a problem with the other guys fishing for carp or match fishing, as you're using small lures, not 5oz jerk baits. Obviously check the rules first, as I know some fisheries won't let you use trebles or braided main lines. I'd also try fishing early and late in the day, which is when these waters tend to be at their quietest and hence there's more water available to you. Avoid weekends and bank holidays if you can!

[Oldskoolfool]

Interesting- my local commercial is the colour of strong tea - what kind of lure approach?

[Mark Phillips]

Interesting- my local commercial is the colour of strong tea - what kind of lure approach?

Where I've fished isn't always gin clear. Simple answer is lures that emit a lot of noise, e.g. crank baits with rattles, spinner baits, chatter baits and my first choice, lipless cranks with rattles. I have some that I can hear coming through the water from 20 yards away, so the perch have no problem finding them, even when it's almost dark.

[stubbojo]

fish a small feeder running rig , maggot bait , small roach takes bait , big perch takes roach ,

10lb main line , 8lb floro leader and a size 12 or 10 .........just leave it in till you get a take ........

caught quite a few like that .........its not your fault if a perch grabs your roach ..........

[Steve Dennington]

Prawns work, but my go-to will always be the biggest lobworms I can get my hands on, legered on a size 4. Not always selective, but I don't think there's a better perch bait.

[suffolk si]

fish a small feeder running rig , maggot bait , small roach takes bait , big perch takes roach ,

10lb main line , 8lb floro leader and a size 12 or 10 .........just leave it in till you get a take ........

caught quite a few like that .........its not your fault if a perch grabs your roach ..........

that’s how my first three pounder came on a little commercial. Livebaits always my first choice if allowed

[C722]

What’s your baiting strategy ? I fished lob worms and really selective for perch which was great, and had a carp on prawns.

[Gary Coggon]

How about considering deadbaiting to select the largest perch? Although my specimen perch hunt hasn’t got round to commercials (yet), all the evidence suggests that pikeless, often murky commercials are the type of water that respond most reliably to deadbaiting (although they’re not completely mud pig-proof…). I’ve deadbaited for perch successfully in other types of stillwater. Quite a few articles online plus a couple of interesting discussions about deadbaiting for perch elsewhere in the Predators section on here, with plenty of opinion both pro and con. Hope this helps. Sorry, haven’t the skills to provide links…

[Gary Coggon]

…and look out for articles and Utube by Steve Burke in particular.

[Gary Coggon]

…and see ‘Why don’t perch take deabaits then?’ thread a few down from this one.

[Sebas]

Deads, Lives and dropshot is what worked for me on a local carp puddle, had fish to just under 3lb. Don't bother with prawns unless you don't mind catching all the carp.