One of the all-time great hauls of river perch has just been taken, after John Power landed fish of 4lb 8oz, 4lb 1oz, 4lb, eight three-pounders and 10 ‘twos’ in a wild morning’s fishing.
The Yorkshire angler was fishing a river in his home county which he found fining down after some recent floods. There was still around 2ft of water on, and at first light, he saw dace topping in a slack, so decided to fish there. Armed with 30 lobworms, John kicked off on a two SSG link leger to fish in the slack. Interestingly, he found the perch stacked up in the main flow, so upped his link to three SSGs, to cope with the pacier water.
A manic few hours’ fishing followed, with bites often coming on the drop. Unusually, John didn’t feed a thing. He believes that, when perch are in the area and feeding, all that’s required for a quick bite is a single hookbait. His catch certainly proves his theory true, with the 4lb 8oz fish the highlight of his haul and a PB for John, who says it was four-inches thick across its back. All the fish were subdued on a light quivertip rod, a fluorocarbon hooklink and a size 6 hook.
Well done John!