Angling features and news

 Wednesday 9th January 2008 feature

Words and photographs by Russ Evans

Southern Match angler Russ Evans shows why big predators have distracted him of late from match fishing to go in search of big perch on his home water at Bury Hill Fishery in Surrey………….

Every time I walk along the leafy path past Bonds and towards Milton Lake at the well-known Bury Hill fishery, the air of expectancy increases along with the excitement of another good day’s action. The lake is well stocked with my favourite species, the crucian carp but for today my target is big Perch that roam around the thirty peg water almost untouched and virtually invisible during the summer months when small mirrors and commons charge around grabbing all bait put before them.  But today in the middle of January where the winds have been bitterly cold and water temperatures have barely risen above 6 degrees C, the Perch come out to play in force like battle hardened stripey machines.

As I arrive at my chosen swim which today is peg one situated not far from the path I am greeted with a stiff south westerly breeze blowing right into my face, conditions look okay and I am confident of a nice perch or two. In a recent outing towards the back end of 2007 I took my personal best perch to 2lbs 9oz from Milton but I lost a good fish and that convinced me to come back for another crack and to see if I could raise the bar another notch.

Today’s tackle set up was going to be different from the normal short pole approach I have adopted and I wanted to see if a soft action rod could perform just as well when a big lunging perch was hooked. I have found that the bites have been very delicate and deliberate from the bigger perch in Milton and only their small few ounce cousins have taken the hook right down and out of sight. The main catching area of my peg was going to be in the margins to my left next to a group of wind beaten reeds which incidentally is a great hide out for the big mouthed monsters. Before I set up my Drennan 15ft combo Floatmaster rod, I wanted to register the water temperature during the session to see if any patterns occurred and flicked out the sensor of my Rivertherm thermometer 4ft out into the peg. As I started to set up my tackle I kept glancing down at the readings and after five minutes or so noticed that the display had settled on 4.8 degrees C, which was much colder than I had envisaged. Plumbing up revealed a nice depth of just over 3ft and the rig was presented at dead depth, I take plenty of time when plumbing up as I think it is one of the most important factors of attacking a peg plus it also reveals if there are any small dips in the lake bed or just importantly flat spots. At 8.10am I introduced a small pot of chopped worms and casters in the form of mush with a squirt of Predator Plus liquid to create a nice red cloud and followed that by flicking out a few red maggots over the top. My reel was a Daiwa 2503 CU spooled with 2.6lb Bayer Perlon and I attached a very light Drennan Choppa pole float shotted with 2 No 10 droppers to take the tip right down to a dot and create a really sensitive bite indicator. With a 12-inch 0.10mm diameter hook length I tied on a Kamasan B510 pattern size 18 hook and placed a single red maggot very lightly hooked.

I flicked out the float into position and a quick glance at the thermometer produced a recording of 5.5, which was encouraging, and after five minutes I was swinging in my first fish of the day, a 4oz roach. The next twenty minutes produced 4 roach and two rudd before the peg went quiet; Hmmmn was that a sign that something predatory had turned up on the scene. At around 8.45am the reading had gone up to 6.0 and with a steady pattern of flicking out just three maggots every five minutes the tip dipped slowly under and as I lifted into the bite my rod curved right over and as I watched the tip bang around I knew I was into a good perch. Playing the fish away from the reeds with the help of the extra-added 2ft section of the rod a perch rolled over in front of me displaying all of its colours. As it graced and lay in my landing net I peered in and saw a big plump belly, which pushed the needle of my scales round to a nice 2lbs 3oz, a good start indeed. With the introduction of some more chopped worm and caster mix I repeated the feat again with a more positive bite on a piece of worm and red maggot combination. The perch battled well and I could feel every thump of its head vibrate right through the rod, a feeling that would not have been experienced on the pole as the elastic absorbs so much of the strain. The second target species of the day was slightly smaller at 2lbs but not that I was disappointed as any perch over 2lbs is a fine catch.

For the next hour and half of the session the wind had picked up and the readings on the thermometer dropped slowly to 4.5, I can only assume that the upped strength of the wind had pushed the water into the bank I was fishing and with a rolling motion pushed colder water from the deeper parts into the area I was fishing therefore dropping the water temperatures. During this time the roach moved back into the peg and although I had none bigger than 8oz it was enjoyable all the same. Around 11.30am the wind had dropped and the sun briefly at times shone through the fast moving clouds. It was very noticeable that the temperature readings started to rise again and by midday it peaked at 6.0 again, I continued my feeding patterns as from the off and again the roach disappeared. With renewed optimism I eagerly waited for the perch to return but much to my surprise a quick succession of bites produced two gold and buttery crucians before all went quiet again. I increased the feeding patterns to try and trigger some more action and instantly another perch was on but this time it felt much bigger and meaner. Turning its head from the reeds it slowly with quick bursts headed off into the middle of the lake and with the fish at least three-rod lengths out I parted company.

Disappointed at the thought of losing a personal best I quickly flicked out another single maggot offering and flicked six maggots close by. A quick lift of the float saw it shoot straight under when it settled and this time determined not to lose this one I gingerly took my time and after a good fight landed another creature of 2lbs 10oz to set a new PB. Fish of that size are just simply awesome and to think the record stands at 6lbs 2oz it simply is mind-boggling. With another hour of the session left I carried on in similar fashion as before feeling rather pleased with myself with thoughts of job done. My float dipped again and a smaller perch of 1lbs 10oz joined his mates and it was turning into a very good session but little did I know that things were going to get even better.

At 1.45pm I dragged the float around the swim and then let it settle, in a split second the tip disappeared and I struck, the rod bent over powerfully and a good fish was heading away from me before stopping and lunging around about three rod lengths out. With a beating heart my gut instinct told me that this was a much bigger perch and very carefully I reeled in slowly trying not to antagonise the predator. All of the perch had been hooked right in the bony parts of the mouth and like the one that got away earlier, one false move and the fish could quite easily shed the hook. Slowly the fish headed back to me as I kept a minimum amount of pressure on and when the fished surfaced in front of me out of landing net reach it was heart in the mouth stuff before my net scooped under the striped beauty. At 3lbs 1oz on the scales I could not hide my smile and sheer delight long enough from a passing Robin who probably wondered what all the fuss was about as I chucked him a few maggots to feast on.

All in all I have had 30lbs of mixed species today including a nice 3lbs fully scaled mirror and two bonus crucians around the pound mark. All bar one of the fish were taken on single red maggots and the light rig performed well with the bait falling slowly to the bottom in a natural way as possible.

Summary: The temperature reading s I took during the session were quite revealing in the sense that all of my perch came when the temperatures were between 5.5 to 6.0, in fact four of the five perch caught today were landed at 6.0, when the readings dipped below 5.5 down to a low point of 4.5 I had a steady flow of roach and rudd plus a couple of very small perch. Only time and further experiments will reveal if the findings are consistent but my hunch was confirmed on this session.

 Angler File:

·        Name: Russ Evans

·        Age: 46

·        Born: Plaistow, East London, living in Oxted Surrey

·        Occupation: Tackle Shop Manager at Bury Hill Fishery, BCUK backed angler and Surrey Mirror columnist.

·        Best Catch 250lbs of Lough Erne bream

·        Notable fish: 26lbs 6oz Pike, 3lbs 1oz Crucian, 3lbs 1oz Perch

·        Angling ambitions: To qualify for Fish O Mania final and attract a tackle sponsor.

The technical stuff:

Q. Why do you feel it is better to fish at dead depth?

RE. Today there is not much flow on the lake apart from the wind and I want the red maggot hook bait to drift around and be more visible to the perch hence the need to constantly move the bait up and down, if I was lying on I would also be picking dead bits of reed that have fallen off over the winter months.

Q. How much feed did you use today?

RE. In total I used about a quarter of a pint of red maggots with a few whites mixed in, a few casters and about 30 chopped up dendras for the cupped out mush.

Q You also used a colour attractant in the mush mix, why?

RE. Perch are attracted to colour which is why I have caught so many on red maggots, they are also inquisitive and simply cannot resist a cloud of red mist falling through the water which is why I used some Predator Plus today.

Q. How big do the perch grow to in Milton?

RE. That’s a good question, all I can say is that I am sure I have hooked bigger perch and lost them like the one I pulled out of today. I like to think that there is a near four-pounder in the lake, well I hope so.

Q. What did you gain by using a long rod today?

RE. The Floatmaster combo rod I used can be used either in 13ft or 15ft versions, because I was fishing close to the margin cover I set it up at 15ft so I could gain more leverage and guide the fish away from the snags. The tip action was very forgiving and took the lunges of the perch superbly giving me total control when playing the fish.

Q Why use a pole float over a waggler?

RE. Mainly because of better presentation, today it was paramount to present the bait as natural as possible with minimum weight on the line and I used the smallest Drennan Choppa float in the range with 2 No 10 shotting. One shot was 6 inches from the hook and the other one was just above the hook length.

Q What hook pattern did you use and why?

RE: I used a Kamasan size 18 hook; it provides two important factors for me when vital presentation is needed. The hook is very sharp and light plus it is also very strong which is ideal for hard fighting perch with bony mouths.

Q. Finally what is the stocking of perch in Milton?

RE: That’s a tough one to answer accurately simply because the perch are often not fished for in Milton apart from the winter months. In matches half of the winning weights are made up of perch but I do know that there are plenty of perch over 2lbs and stacks over 1lbs. Today’s session proved that there is a good head of specimens but a fine tactical approach is very much needed to fool the real lumps.

Top Tip

Invest in a decent cupping kit, which is ideal for placing the bait exactly where you want it. When using chopped worm for feed cupping out is the only way to go. When you have emptied the bait into the swim scoop up some water and then pour it out straight over the feed, the splashing around will make those big perch curious.

Russ Evans