"There is no bigger fish than a big Perch"

I had the pleasure of catching up with Gordon McPhail yesterday, yet again in search of some of Loch Lomond’s finned occupants. The objective on this session would be to find some big ‘stripies’, or in Gordon’s view, any Stripy as if successful this would be his first ever Perch.

An early start saw us on my usual hot spot, a renowned big Perch area and I was optimistic that by now, the fish would have moved into the vicinity after spawning. My last attempt for Perch last month ended in a great net of fish, albeit the wrong species. Surely now the Roach would have moved off allowing the Perch to stamp their authority on the area. The day’s tactics were to fish two rods each, one with a maggot feeder and one with a simple running ledger. Initially the plan was to fish big baits like Lob Worm and Prawn over a bed of maggots in the hope this would help pick out the bigger fish. However, ironically, it was a change to double red maggot on a size 16 hook that brought the bigger fish with the Prawn being of no interest to the fish. I, on the other hand love prawns and they weren’t put to waste.

Bites came early on and only increased in frequency as the session progressed with each result generally being a pristine Perch of 6 – 14oz. Even these small fish had the opportunity to show their full beauty as they approached the net in deep clear water, illuminated by the now strengthening sun and with their infamous tenacious, spikey attitude. Then some of the bigger fish started to show with some going well over 1lb, interspersed with the odd Hybrid, spawned Roach and even an eel getting in on the action. Surely perseverance will produce that big fish we were after.

Eventually that moment we all hope for arrived, the moment when you strike into a slight twitch on the Quivertip to be met with a dead weight and you think “Could this be it?” I was apprehensive to get too excited as I know that there are Bream and the by now obvious Hybrids around but if this was a Perch, it wasn’t small. The moment of truth came and a lump of a Perch drifted into view in all it’s glory. There is a saying that there is no bigger fish than a big Perch, and I completely get it.

These fish, even at barely 2lbs are an impressive sight, possibly due us becoming so used to the sheer numbers of small ‘nuisance’ fish that we encounter (although not if you’re Gordon) and are often over looked. This was a different class of fish and exactly what I was hoping for.

Gordon got his Perch, Roach and Hybrid and I got my big Perch, all in a net of fish weighing well in excess of 20lbs. This in turn made us two happy anglers and was a fantastic result in good company.

An Eternal Angler