Perching fishing in a hooligan wind Weds 18th Dec.

Recently we had some expected rain which increased the levels of the rivers. I’m still concentrating on the H.Avon and wanted to focus my efforts over the winter of a 7lb chub from there. However a quick comment from John was telling me not to bother as it’s up and coloured plus there was plenty of debris to go with it. The EA level gauge at Easr Mills was confirming what he had said.

So I had to have a plan B which was to fish for perch. Now as you know I’m using prawns to cacth a few but my last visit with Tim and Jake resulted in just a couple coming out which is most unusual for this place. I had 3 pints of maggots and plenty of jumbo,king and smaller prawns. So was well prepared. I could have used worm however with the more unseasonal warm weather carp were still very active.

So I stuck to my normal plan of feeding the swim with maggots and using king size prawns. I arrived at about 7.25am just as it was getting light enough to see my way to the swim.

For about 3 hours nothing much happened other than a couple of swift pulls. These were in almost ideal conditions. Warm overcast and bloody windy. They had forecast winds of 60-70mph. So I was sat there thinking what on earth was I doing wrong. There was a match on one of the other lakes and they were catching loads of carp and bream. This got me thinking. If I were a match angler then I should be making changes to my rigs bait and presentation in order to find the most productive option. So thinking this over I thought why not go lighter on both hooksize and bait size. So off came the size 6 hook and king prawn and on went a size 12 hook and one of the mini prawns that I tend to use for feed.

Well the rig had been in the water for less than 5 minutes when the bobbin rose to the top and soon I was playing and landing my first perch of just over 2lbs. The other king prawn bait sat there not touched. Out went the rig again this time with a thin sliver of prawn and 10 minutes later perch no.2 came along and being just over the 1lb and about the smallest I was going to catch that day.

Thin slivers of prawn

Well the light came on in my head and I was soon changing the other rod over to the same rig. Bingo for most of the remaining time I was getting plenty of action and ended with 3 more over just over 2lbs and 6 more just under. So 11 perch was not a bad return.

The wind was awful with gusts that I thought were going uproot the umbrella and throw it back to Bristol.

So I learnt a very good lesson today think about what you should be doing to improve your catch rate just as the match anglers do.

Not too sure whether I will be going out again before Xmas as like many others there is much planning and action over the next few days that will keep me busy.

So to those who are reading this, may I take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas.