Perch fishing tips

It’s early autumn and the temperature is starting to drop which means I’m absolutely buzzing to start my quest for perch. The time has come to search out the bigger fish from a new stretch of river. I’ve got lots of perch fishing tips to help catch these cracking fish.

When approaching a new water, I usually start off with ‘searching’ lures to find where the fish are hiding. These are soft lures and crankbaits retrieved at a reasonable pace to tempt the perch from their cover. We’ve not had a really cold spell yet, so the perch are reasonably active in the mid water and this makes my search a bit easier. As we move into winter and the temperatures begin to drop, I’ll fish my lures closer to the bottom.

The best lure for the job

One lure I’ve found really successful for perch is the Crazy Fish Nimble and I carry these in three sizes. I prefer to keep the colours pretty muted as I think these work best, rather than lures in bright colours.

I also use the Korum Squirlyz in three colours. A light colour to represent silver fish, the Dark Lord at the opposite end of the spectrum and then something in the middle, like the Real Ale, which is a neutral colour and creates less of a silhouette compared to the other two.

In addition to soft lures, one of my best perch fishing tips is to also carry a range of crankbaits, such as the Savage Gear Goby, Salmo Rattlin Hornet and the Westin Buzz Bite. These can be retrieved quite aggressively, up in the water, allowing me to move around and cover a lot of the river searching out for the perch.

Stay mobile and find the fish

Once I know where the fish are located, I often pop back into the swim a few hours later and present a lure with a bit more finesse, or try drop shotting tactics. I think this approach works best when I know there are fish in front of me and it often sorts out the bigger fish. I really love a stick bait like a Korum Squirmz. I use these in a few colours, including the Dark Lord, Bruiser and a big favourite of mine from last year, the Lobworm.

I use my Korum Snapper ZT rod which is the perfect all rounder, casting lures between 8 to 14g. This rod has a bit of backbone, it casts really well and allows me to set the hooks properly. I use 11lb braid to a 10lb fluorocarbon leader and a light trace, as there are pike in this river. If I’m drop shotting, I prefer a shorter rod casting 2 to 10g.  

I caught another nice Perch, but wasn’t setting the world on fire and decided it was time to start moving around the stretch even more. So it was time to go searching again.

My searching sessions went well and I caught a few perch, and some decent chub and pike. The fish were loving my creature baits, they were all over them and it was great fun, but I felt I needed to try something different to tempt the big perch I was after.

A change is gonna come

I’d spoken to a few local anglers and they told me the big perch are there, but I wanted to avoid the numerous chub and the odd pike. I went back a few days later to the spots where I previously caught, slowly bumping a Korum Squirmz along the bottom.

I imagined a big perch, hidden in the weeds and using the bankside cover, waiting to pounce on anything that swims past their nose. It was just a case of presenting my lure in the right way and then bang – I was in. It was a decent fish, possibly a 3lb perch and it absolutely inhaled the lure. Within a few seconds disaster strikes and the hook pulls out.

I have to say the air blue after losing such a decent fish and I’ve got no idea what I did wrong. It was several hours of searching for a big perch and I was gutted to lose it. 

Well, I’m a sucker for punishment and if at first you don’t succeed, try again. I’d obviously found a spot that they liked and I decided to switch tactics. My plan was to fish the tail of a Korum Squirlyz  fished on the drop shot as this tactic worked really well for me last season on the canal. 

I wanted to explore the far bank in the clear water near some weeds. I swapped and changed the depth a few times until I found the fish and bang – I was into another big perch. After a few heart stopping moments, my prize was in the net. Job done and I’m really happy!

After landing that decent perch, I kept casting into the swim but I couldn’t get another take. I decided to go searching again and after ten minutes, bang – I was into another fish. After a short battle, a big, dark and gnarly old warrior was in the net. It just goes to show what you can catch if you keep moving and changing your tactics, until you locate the big ones.

I hope these perch fishing tips help you bag more perch this winter! I’ve been doing some filming with a guy who catches an insane amount of monster perch for the Perch Masters series. I can’t wait to share this with you, so keep an eye out for the next of my perch fishing tips videos.

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