Improve your perch fishing

Perch fishing
Andy Browne, in search of perch (Image credit: Angler's Mail)

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Perch fishing tips are fine to read… but it’s all about putting them into practice at the right time.

And at this time of the year, perch are a great species to target. They are commonly found near features such as overhanging trees, woodwork in the water, rush beds, inlets and outlets.

Sport can be especially good when the rivers are up and coloured, as this tends to push perch into the margins where they can be present in large numbers.

Perch fishing tips – the approach

I like to fish for them in short sessions at dawn and dusk – times when they are most active.

My approach is simple, I normally start with the swim furthest away from where I parked the car that possesses likely perch-holding features.

I spend about 15 minutes in each swim, moving on to the next one until I find out where the fish are located.

When the fish are in a feeding mood they will come to the chopped worm very quickly.

Some day’s results might be instant, but other days you can’t seem to raise a bite – that’s fishing, and we all blank every so often!

1 One of the most productive methods to use for river perch is to quivertip with a feeder rod.

Best reel for perch fishing

Try a large diameter spool (Image credit: Angler's Mail)

2 My reel of choice for this is a 4000-sized reel loaded with 4 lb line. I like a reel with a large diameter spool, one that is  light in weight and with a front drag that is very sensitive and easy to operate, especially with cold hands!

3 Another piece of kit that I find invaluable, although not vital, is this hook tyer for tying line to hooks. This make is an improvement on the old Matchman Hook Tyer in that you only have to turn the top of the tyer – the lower part of the handle remains in your palm and freely rotates.

4 Where certain swims have seen a lot of angling pressure I tend to use smaller hooks such as size 16 and 14. When baiting up with lobworms, I normally break the tail off, thread the hook through the centre of the broken end…

5 …and push the hook out of the side of the worm. For the feeder chop some worms over some dark groundbait and mix in an additive like Predator Plus or Liquid Worm to dampen down the mixture. Load this mixture loosely into your selected feeder and cast out.

Andy’s bonus perch fishing tips