James and the giant perch

A couple of weeks ago my friend Jamie came up to visit from Wakefield, he had brought his lure fishing gear and was very keen to get out and give it a blast.Jamie and I have fished some far flung places, Cyprus for largemouth Bass, Spain for carp and around Yorkshire for various coarse species. He was quite keen to go light rock fishing and I was more than happy to oblige!

His visit also  coincided with my newest purchase, an 8' car toppable dinghy and I was itching to get out and see how it performed. Our plan for the weekend was to head down to St Abbs on the Friday to play in the harbour then head to the perch loch on Saturday for the perch and the new boat test.

we headed to St Abbs and I lent Jamie my Cormoran ULF rod  as it was more sensitive than his heavier spinning rod.We rigged up simple dropshot rigs #8 hook tied via a palomar knot on 8lb fluro and clipped on a 7g weight 30cm from the hook.Gulp sandworm was the lure of choice and as soon as the lure hit the water it was swarmed on by wee coalies. Ritchie had also joined us and we  caught coalie after coalie with the odd codling thrown in for good measure. Jamie was really enjoying himself, he had never experienced the non stop action of a coalie swarm with every cast producing a fish. With Jamie in coalie land Ritchie and I tried our best to target flounders but getting a lure past the coalies was nigh on impossible! In fact Ritchie had fished the past 3 days in various areas around St Abbs and hadn't been able to escape the ravening hoards.

We moved around trying to find other species but it wasn't until near the end of the session we finally manged to bag a couple of flounders each. We were working our lure over the shallow sandy areas and we saw the flounders chasing the lures. It was really tricky to catch them as the coalies kept diving in and intercepting the lure, it was only through sheer persistence that we eventually caught a couple of flatties each. Flounders are one of my favourite species to catch so I was really chuffed we manged to grab a couple, Jamie had never caught a flatfish before so he was doubly pleased to have a new species and on a lure too!

A happy angler, Jamie shows off his first flattie

We really had to work at avoiding the coalfish to get the flounder

One of the two flounder I managed to tempt

Although the session had been fun, I was heavily distracted by the prospect of trying my new boat. At last Saturday morning came and Jamie and I loaded the car up with tackle, life jackets, food and popped the boat on the roof.

My new toy on the roof and ready to rock

 The journey up was an anxious one as I was constantly worrying about the boat being secure, however apart from it singing like a boiling kettle as we went over 40mph it remained securely strapped to the roof bars.We stopped off at the fishing tackle shop and got our permits and the key to the slipway . At the loch we quickly got the boat to the water and stowed our tackle and supplies before setting off on its first fishing trip. The loch was flat calm with the clear water as smooth as glass and with the warm sun out it really was the perfect day to fish. I had no engine or fishfinder so it was under oar power that we headed off to my normal shore spots for the perch.It took about 1/2 an hour to row into the rocky bay that usually throws up perch from the shore and we anchored about 60 meters offshore. We both still had the same dropshot rigs on from our flounder foray at St Abbs only instead of gulp sandworm we rigged up some lake fork live baby minnows.

Fishing without the aid of a fishfinder/sonar meant I had to locate the fish through a combination of knowledge of fishing it from the shore and instinctive water craft. The tactics once we had reached the rocky bay was to anchor up, then make long casts 360degrees around the boat.We then slowly worked the lures back giving the rod little twitches and pauses. Once we had completed our circle of casts with no bites we upped anchor and moved further up the bay. it was on our third anchor that Jamie started getting a couple of wee taps and a couple of casts later he managed to bag the first perch. He was really pleased to get the first fish and doubly satisfied as it was taken on a new technique he had learned the day before. I did the necessary glory shot and after we released the fish I got back to fishing. It only took a couple of casts and I was into the perch too and while not a big fish it still provided much fun on the LRF gear.

We managed another 2 or 3 fish from the area before bites dried up and we upped anchor and rowed another fifty meters along the bay.

Jamie unhooks his first perch of the session

Lake fork Live baby shad does it again

My first perch of the session

See ya!

Again we went with the same tactics, anchoring the casting right around the boat till we got interest in the lures. It didn't take long and soon we were both into perch again. I managed a couple of better ones close to the pound mark and Jamie had a couple as well. Again when the action dried up we moved up the bay another 50meters or so and repeated the process. Jamie was in first and as he was playing in his fish I had a couple of taps and struck into a better fish. As I played the fish up through the clear water I noticed another fish following it up which turned away as I reached out with the net to land the perch. I unhooked my fish and took a couple of pics as it had a really golden colour especially around its mouth.

Super stripey with a golden sheen, what a lovely combination

It had a really yellow mouth

 I quickly released the fish and flicked the lure out around 12 feet away from the boat , I let it hit the bottom then I began to shake the rod tip a bit whilst giving tiny twitches. Pretty much straight away I felt a tap then the line went slack as the fish grabbed the lure and swam towards me.A flick of the wrist set the hook and the rod went into its fighting curve as the fish powered off stripping some line off a lightly set drag. As I played the fish back towards me I was aware it was a good fish and as it rose up through the water I got my first look at it, a PB for sure! The fish made another couple of spirited dives and these were nerve wrecking  but eventually the fish was wallowing on the surface and we quickly slipped the net under it.

What a fish! A brilliantly coloured, pristine conditioned, fin perfect beast of a wild perch. Jamie and I couldn't believe the size of it, we grabbed some snaps of the outlandish fish and popped it into the net to recover whilst I hunted for my scales. The scales however were conspicuous only by there absence leaving me only able to estimate its weight. We measured the fish which came in at 40cm and I guessed its weight at  between 2.5 and 3lbs. In the end I put it at 2lbs 9oz which was an under estimate but it was an ounce over my previous personal best which had stood for 18 years or so!

My new personal best perch

What an awesome fish

Gorgeous!

The obligatory ruler shot, 40cm of wild loch perch

Out of all the fish I have caught over the years this one is very special to me,awesome.

I released the fish in a state of happy delirium, my new boat on its first fishing mission had broken my long lasting perch PB, I couldn't have been happier!

We fished on for another couple of hours which yielded plenty more perch of around the half to three quarter pound mark before it was time to begin the long row back to the slipway.

Eventually we got back and unloaded the boat before popping it on the roof bars and heading back to town with arms that now felt like boiled noodles!

What a day, both of us had done our PB's and the boat had performed brilliantly and to cap it with such a beast of a perch had made the whole session truly one to remember.

Perch fever is back and I hope to get an engine for the boat for the next session, one that I am really looking forward too!

Tight Lines

Schogsky