THE JOY OF FISHING
Winter perching is fantastic fun, and that includes catching the livebaits required to give yourself the best chance of success
KNOWING what to fish for when the weather is constantly changing is key to success at this stage in the angling calendar.
Given the extremes we now face, the constant yo-yoing between cold and warm, ice and rain, it’s more important than ever to keep abreast of the situation by constantly monitoring river levels and referring to weather apps.
If you leave your angling to chance, you’ll seldom be in with a shout, and even if you put in the effort it’s still easy to get it wrong. That was the situation I found myself in on a couple of recent trips in pursuit of a specimen perch.
On the first occasion the river was close to turning into a block of ice and, although I did catch a single fish at the end of the day, it was a long wait for that bite.
Next came mild weather, but I miscalculated the amount of rain overnight and arrived to find the water looking like coffee. I’d have to wait until the river started dropping and clearing, and then I'd be ready.
A week later there was only a tinge of colour in the water, and overnight temperatures had remained above freezing, giving me that window of opportunity.
I felt the fish would be just as keen to feed as I was to catch them, so I arrived early because I had an important job to do first. That was to catch livebaits.
My stick float and maggot rig soon attracted small roach and bleak, and I have to admit that fishing for these was great fun –so much so that it was difficult to stop myself having one last cast, even when I had enough bait. By now I was slipping each little fish back.
The thought of a big perch eventually prevailed, and I went back to the van to swap the tackle over.
The float rod was replaced by a 1lb test curve model teamed with 6lb mainline and my very simple paternoster rig.
A big, buoyant chubber float sat on bands, and beneath this I’d tied an overhand loop in the line, leaving a long tag end. On to this I’d pinch the anchor shot.
Separately, I created a short 6ins hooklength out of fluorocarbon, with a size 6 hook on the end. This was connected loop-to-loop to the mainline. Having created a boom, there would be no tangles and, importantly, no swivels, tubing and the like to spook the perch. Just imagine how much these stand out when a livebait is tugging them around!
All I needed to do now was slide the float up so I was fishing at dead depth, and I was confident that if any perch were about I’d get a bite.
With the minimum of bits and
