How To Catch Big Perch With Thom Hunt!

Venue selection is critical. You must be fishing on venues that you know have RECENT form of good sized fish. Perch are very cyclical in their growth patterns, and a venue that was good say 2 or 3 years ago those fish may well have hit their peak, passed away (they don’t live very long at their maximum size) and you might need to wait for the next year class to grow to a good size.

So what are you looking for? Typically, a good perch venue will have a degree of natural clarity to the water (minimum 1ft+). Big perch can be found in coloured water & commercial carp fisheries etc but they wouldn’t be my first choice and certainly not if lure fishing. I personally love bigger venues like large rivers, gravel pits or reservoirs, and clear water allows weed growth and subsequent invertebrate life to be abundant so the perch have food to grow! It can take a while to locate them on larger venues and work out the correct methods, but when you do there are some very special fish indeed to be had and I’ve been lucky enough to catch 4lb+ fish from multiple venues.

A little bit about the kit I use. For lighter canal and finesse presentations I absolutely love the W3 Finesse Ned rod. It’s 7’3” and 3-15g and a perfect action for all soft bait methods. However for bigger waters where I may be using up to 10 or 15g weights my go to is the Finesse T&C in 7-21g. I have it in W2, W3, W4, W6 and W10 models and the action is consistent regardless of your budget….. fast but not too fast, super sensitive and a beautiful fish playing action with plenty of power in the middle and lower sections.

I do have to stress though that the next most important part of the equation is the braid. A high quality, low diameter braid is essential, otherwise with thick heavy braids you end up with big bows in the line losing sensitivity. You need to be as direct as possible to register the delicate bites and, or trust me, you will be missing out on a lot of big fish! I favour the W6 8-strand braid as I love the bright green Lime Punch colour, but the W3 braid in ’Dutch Orange’ is also excellent and unbelievable value for money. Something between 8-15lb breaking strain is ideal.

Time of year. In the Spring and Summer perch are generally spread out, and if you do manage to bump in to some big ones they will be on the lean side. Starting from about September they begin to group up and start their Autumn feeding rituals, putting on weight to sustain them through winter and ensuring enough body stores for spawning in the Spring.

My favourite months are October - December as they are fat enough for a real specimen but the water still won’t be at its coldest for the winter. January - March is the time for a REAL big one, but the fishing can be brutally hard so expect plenty of difficult sessions or blanks on your quest. The water at this time of year will be at its lowest around 3-4°C meaning feeding windows are very short, sometimes only 30-45 minutes a day and the rest of the day their activity can be virtually zero, but if/when you do get a bite there’s a real chance it could be a new PB.

In terms of where to fish, keep it simple and remember….. perch are structure addicts! Man made structures like bridges, locks and marinas are a very safe and obvious bet, but also think about less obvious underwater structures like gravel spits off points, mussel beds and edges of weed beds. Perch love hard bottom areas, as there are many types of insects/bugs/nymphs/crayfish that live in the crevices between rocks, gravel and mussels so if you ever drag up a clump of mussels remember that spot for future reference! 

A 2-10g Tungsten bullet weight (I love the Westin ones as they have a silicone tube in the centre, protecting the line) and a Westin Crecraw 6.5cm on an offset ‘Weedless’ hook. Nice and simple but deadly, I’ve caught crazy numbers of 3lb+ and 4lb+ perch on that set up. I personally love dark coloured baits and Watermelon Red or Black/Chartruese are firm favourites. The tungsten gives incredible feedback through the rod, allowing me to tell the difference between gravel, silt, weed or mussel beds, and even if I need a heavier weight due to depth of water of strong winds, the sliding nature of the Texas weight allows positive bites to be detected

Although crankbaits are generally seen as a warmer water method, in Autumn & Winter there are still opportunities for these baits to produce. Cold water cranking is a method that can work when all else fails, and on days when it seems the perch have completely shut up shop, running a Buzzbite through the swim can switch on a response like no other bait I’ve ever known . For many years, anyone that follows my content will have seen me raving about the colour ‘Bling Perch’….. and the number of people I meet on the bank that tell me their PB came to a Bling perch Buzzbite is unreal! If you’re faced with a venue that doesn’t have too many snags, and has either gravel beds or mussel beds at a depth you can reach, then getting a crankbait down and digging in to the bottom can be a tactic that creates a very aggressive reaction from any nearby perch!

These 2 methods I tend to reserve for the coldest months of Jan - March. Ned baits for on the bottom if you have clean ground, or a dropshot with 1 or 2 Westin Bloodteez worms if you have weed/leaves/branches etc and want to present a clean bait off bottom. Small twitches and long pauses are usually the order of the day, and don’t be afraid to ‘deadstick’ or pause for up to 10 seconds…. For a lure angler it feels like a lifetime but remember those fish are very cold, and 95% of the time will not chase a bait, so give them an easy meal!