Mini Perch

[neil r 1,861]

 

Had an hour on the canal early on trying to bag a roach on a lure . Had 3 of them annoyingly drop off under the rod top but I did manage about a dozen tiny perch and a couple of surprise little jacks on a 0.8 inch crazy fish whitebait with a size 12 big eye hook and a little fly tying bead . I normally use 12lb knot 2 kinky for ultra light traces but because I was Texas rigging such a small lure for roach and perch I went with 4lb flouro . There was a knack to getting the lure to work right but once I cracked it the perch were fairly easy and if I'd have taken my solid tip rod I would have had a lot more .

[Ossie n Arch 1,682]

Did you get that off Socks.....................

[neil r 1,861]

Believe it or not that wasnt even the smallest one , the smallest was about the size of my little finger .

[ratbuster 807]

But still it's good sport to catch them on very light tackle..., keeps you busy, while waiting on that PB .

[neil r 1,861]

But still it's good sport to catch them on very light tackle..., keeps you busy, while waiting on that PB .

 

I used to be obsessed with big pike and used to travel all over chasing them but it got to the stage that i was just going through the motions and if they didnt look over 20 i wouldnt even bother weighing or photographing them , now i prefer ultra lighting on the canal for anything that takes the lure . Last year i had countless perch to about 2lb and at least 300 pike from the canal and none of them came broke double figures but like you said , when you get one on the ul gear its good sport

[northern lad 2,292]

Used to be an old fella on the Bridgewater Canal in lymm would use a 5wt and small drys/buzzers...he used to get a lot of roach/hybrids/perch etc looked great sport,one of the things Ikeep meaning to get round too

[neil r 1,861]

Used to be an old fella on the Bridgewater Canal in lymm would use a 5wt and small drys/buzzers...he used to get a lot of roach/hybrids/perch etc looked great sport,one of the things Ikeep meaning to get round too

Funny you mention that , ive been thinking of trying that for a while now , ive had chub , dace and minnows on the river on dries and pike on the canal on flies but never got round to having a go for roach . Ive got a little 7ft 3wt and a load of 20&22 dries to give it a go . If its not raining tomorrow night ill have a look on and see if i can get some .

[neil r 1,861]

 

Had a go with the fly and only managed 2 little roach on a size 22 black f-fly . I thought dace were quick but I must of missed about 40 rises . The head on wind was making it hard to present the fly properly which didn't help though . Can't see me giving it many more goes , it's very frustrating .

[neil r 1,861]

Keep saying I wanna try course fish on fly after getting some dace and chub from river on nymph, fancy sharing the set up you used pal?.

The rod was an old 7ft 3wt Shakespeare oddysey xt , the reel a small 3wt one and the line a snowbee thistledown with a silk furled leader and an 0.10 reflo line tippet , the flys that got most interest were size 22 f-flies . I started with a little nymph on a dropper aswell but never had a touch on it so just cut it off and carried on with the dry . I should of used one of my longer 3 or 4 wt rods because the 7ft struggled with hitting fast bites with a longish line out and also struggled with the wind aswell . Be warned though it's not that easy . I've had loads of dace on the river on flies but the roach were something else .

[neil r 1,861]

The stream kit will be ok for it , just watch for striking too fast though or the rod will act like a spring with the really small fish and catapult them out the water towards you . I sometimes go on a little overgrown stream near haslingden that goes in to the irwell . Never had anything over about half a lb out of it but it's decent fishing , you get some funny looks from the dog walkers though when they see you wading in a stream you could jump across in most places