Fat perch

A few weekends ago, when it was still Winter, or at least not Spring, let alone the Summer weather we had atthe end of March,  I actually caught some lovely fat perch, from Lydes Farm near Bristol.  The lake is set in the middle of a manicured golf course - a very modern type of water.  I caught the fish on juicy fat lobworms, collected at dawn from the local park, after some overnight rain. This is a very old fashioned way of bait gathering.  The best perch was over 2lb in weight and I lost a much bigger one. I also caught two ‘nuisance’ carp, both long commons, of 12lb and 7lb.  All great fun on 6lb line.

For tackle technicians, I have been using a paternostered feeder. The hook is tied to the end of the reel line after a float stop has been threaded on.  I then tie a link above the float stop, using a Billy Lane stop knot.  The tag nearest the reel is about 30-40cm and the other tag is trimmed down.  That way, the loading from the feeder keeps the stop knot tight and you still have the security of only one knot in the line, at the hook.  Useful when the nuisance fish are large carp.