I was joined by Spack, the serial blanker and we decided to have a go at live baiting for Perch in Olney. Most of the summer weed had started to decline and the river looked in reasonable nick. I used the same setup as usual, 10lb mainline on a light running leger rig with a 15lb trace and size 8 single. The live baits we managed to catch were mostly bleak as well as the odd small chub and roach of around 3-4 inches, perfect for Perch as well as being big enough to tempt the odd Pike.
As Spack was collecting more livies I had set up and had a small dace positioned close to a weed raft on the far bank of a proven Perch lair. I didn't have to wait long as 30 seconds after the bait hit the water the rod wrapped round and I somehow managed to miss the bite, the dace was still on minus a tail and looked like the work of a hungry Perch. Next cast the same fish was taken even quicker and this time managed to get a good hook hold. After a short bullish scrap I managed to slip a good perch of around 2lb into the net.
The next cast resulted in another Perch just shy of the 2lb mark, which took a couple of minutes longer than the others to find the bait.
Casting in the same spot I had to wait a little while longer for the rod to start twitching followed by a slack line bite, which was hit immediately. It felt big the second I struck and knew this fish was a little special, when the perch surfaced 10 yards or so out my heart beat a little faster as the last two perch had been hooked just on the lip and as the big Perch turned and splashed I was convinced it wouldn't end up in the net. Luckily the hook held on and I knew instantly this fish had smashed my PB and achieved my Perch goal this season of as 3lber.
at 3lb 8oz it smashed my previous pb by 10 ounces
I managed a few more good sized Perch in the same swim before the action cooled down and decided to try a few other swims. We added a few small Pike trying to stay as mobile as possible by giving every swim 20 minutes or so and opted to return to the "super swim" for the last hour or so. Spack managed a decent Perch of just under 2lb as well as a couple more pike.
The drop in temperature seemed to make all the difference and the Perch were really switched on and look to be fattening up before the cold weather really kicks in and the fry and small fish populations find their hideouts for the upcoming winter.
I'm convinced there are a few 4s in this stretch and maybe even the odd 5lb lunker lurking in the depths somewhere and will no doubt have a few more tips to Olney for these beastly stripeys in the coming weeks.
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