Fishing can be an expensive hobby to pursue. It could be tackle, costly syndicate membership, petrol or even bait that makes it that way. How perverse that something so simple and readily available as worms can be so pricey. I also think it's a price worth paying though, and even though the initial outlay for a kilo of dendrobenas or a hundred lobs might seem extortionate, at £15-25 a bag, the confidence I get from using this bait and feeding it in decent quantities is massive. Even then, I would expect to get at least two sessions out of one purchase.
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Armed with a bagful of lobworms and a full tank of petrol, I made the journey across rural Devon to meet Dom Garnett at a fishery new to both of us, but one we were told held decent roach and perch. My swim was a hazard to get to - an absolute mud pit of a peg - but made up for that in perchy features. Some marginal trees looked appealing, as did a snaggy island at 14m, which I earmarked for a personal best perch, or two...
In went four chopped lobs and a few casters over to the island, then three balls of groundbait laced with squats at around eight metres. What was surprising (and reassuring) was very little deviation in depth between the two lines. Although I had only around four foot of water, I knew this would be more than enough on the long line at least. The squat produced roach immediately, and typical squat fish they were too, at 1-2oz each. After around twenty of these, I slipped on a red maggot and immediately lost a very heavy fish which had me flummoxed as the lake contains no carp, but does hold decent tench, bream, elusive large chub and of course, the aforementioned perch. By the end of the session, a big perch seemed the most likely culprit.
I kept busy with little roach, occasionally adding a few more casters and chopped lobs to the long line, before dropping my light rig over it after an hour and a half of prep. A single maggot was taken instantly and I was surprised to see my 4-6 elastic come streaming out of the pole as I was expecting another roach. It took a good five minutes to subdue the perch, which for all the world looked a two-pounder, and would have been my first over that weight for a couple of seasons. In the end it fell an ounce short, but a cracking fish nonetheless, without a scale out of place.
That fish ensured that I didn't use the light rig to the far bank again, instead opting for my lobworm rig, with a size ten hook and blue hydrolastic more up to the job of extracting those big perch from near the snag. As the squat line continued to throw up more of the same in the way of small roach, and the catch rate was so high, I decided to abandon that line and feed maggots by hand close in instead. If anything the roach were now bigger, and I also had a 1lb 11oz perch this way aswell. The lobworm line however was taking a long time to settle again. Whilst waiting for the perch to switch back on, I managed some decent hybrids on half a lob, including a roach/bream of about a pound and a quarter, and then this rudd/bream hybrid of just over a pound; a personal best, as I've never weighed one before.
A plethora of roach on the top two prevented me from over-pressuring the island swim, and eventually I gained reward for both my patience and perseverance with two stonking perch towards the end of the day. The first one beat my personal best by an ounce, before the second upped it again to 2lb 11oz. Incredible to think how long it can take to catch a fish which I often consider to be greedy and aggressive in its feeding habits. We did stop to wonder how much these fish move about or whether they are present in the swim all along and just require that trigger to make them feed, whether it be changing light levels, rising water temperature through the day, or just regular feeding.
My grand total in the end was nine perch, the best being 2lb 11oz, 2lb 7oz, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 11oz, aswell as a smaller one of approx 1¼lb, and another four of around 12-14oz. Well worth shelling out for half a bag of lobworms I'd say.
Armed with a bagful of lobworms and a full tank of petrol, I made the journey across rural Devon to meet Dom Garnett at a fishery new to both of us, but one we were told held decent roach and perch. My swim was a hazard to get to - an absolute mud pit of a peg - but made up for that in perchy features. Some marginal trees looked appealing, as did a snaggy island at 14m, which I earmarked for a personal best perch, or two...
In went four chopped lobs and a few casters over to the island, then three balls of groundbait laced with squats at around eight metres. What was surprising (and reassuring) was very little deviation in depth between the two lines. Although I had only around four foot of water, I knew this would be more than enough on the long line at least. The squat produced roach immediately, and typical squat fish they were too, at 1-2oz each. After around twenty of these, I slipped on a red maggot and immediately lost a very heavy fish which had me flummoxed as the lake contains no carp, but does hold decent tench, bream, elusive large chub and of course, the aforementioned perch. By the end of the session, a big perch seemed the most likely culprit.
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| 1lb 15oz |
I kept busy with little roach, occasionally adding a few more casters and chopped lobs to the long line, before dropping my light rig over it after an hour and a half of prep. A single maggot was taken instantly and I was surprised to see my 4-6 elastic come streaming out of the pole as I was expecting another roach. It took a good five minutes to subdue the perch, which for all the world looked a two-pounder, and would have been my first over that weight for a couple of seasons. In the end it fell an ounce short, but a cracking fish nonetheless, without a scale out of place.
That fish ensured that I didn't use the light rig to the far bank again, instead opting for my lobworm rig, with a size ten hook and blue hydrolastic more up to the job of extracting those big perch from near the snag. As the squat line continued to throw up more of the same in the way of small roach, and the catch rate was so high, I decided to abandon that line and feed maggots by hand close in instead. If anything the roach were now bigger, and I also had a 1lb 11oz perch this way aswell. The lobworm line however was taking a long time to settle again. Whilst waiting for the perch to switch back on, I managed some decent hybrids on half a lob, including a roach/bream of about a pound and a quarter, and then this rudd/bream hybrid of just over a pound; a personal best, as I've never weighed one before.
 |
| 1lb 0oz 8dr |
A plethora of roach on the top two prevented me from over-pressuring the island swim, and eventually I gained reward for both my patience and perseverance with two stonking perch towards the end of the day. The first one beat my personal best by an ounce, before the second upped it again to 2lb 11oz. Incredible to think how long it can take to catch a fish which I often consider to be greedy and aggressive in its feeding habits. We did stop to wonder how much these fish move about or whether they are present in the swim all along and just require that trigger to make them feed, whether it be changing light levels, rising water temperature through the day, or just regular feeding.
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| 2lb 7oz |
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| 2lb 11oz |