Perch  found in most of our water’s from streams, rivers, canals, reservoirs, lakes and ponds, nicknamed stripy, with their perfectly natural camouflage they blend almost unseen in the thick undergrowth of weed and other various water plants,  hiding and waiting to strike at an unsuspecting pray as it passes by,  (they themselves use this camouflage to help hide from other larger predatory fish), with an olive green back and distinctive dark stripy cross bars coming down from the top of the  body and bright red to orange lower fins they are one of the most strikingly colourful predatory fish to be seen, there scales are quite ruff,  they have two dorsal fins the smaller at the rear and being quite soft, very different to the foreword one which is a spectacle, very large and spiny ( be very careful when handling them) they lift this magnificent fin upright baring all these spines when they suspect they are in danger from any other predators.

At 2lb they are classed as a specimen, and  4lb would be the fish of a lifetime, In January 2008 fishing in the mouth of a Thames Marina a magnificent specimen of 6lbs 2oz was caught using a live gudgeon as bait, this was the biggest perch ever caught in Britain, but much controversy surrounded this catch and it was declared invalid and not officially recognized as the angler did not have a “valid fishing licence”, (How sick is he).

               It is recorded that a perch of over 10lbs was once taken from Lake Bala in Wales.

Perch when small tend to swim in large shoals looking for their food,  when they are three summers old they have reached maturity and spawning takes place from March to May laying strings of sticky eggs that adhere to the water plants that grow in the undergrowth and reed beds close to the warmer margins.

They feed throughout the year, slowing up their food intake as there metabolism slows down during the winter months but many large perch are  often caught between January and March, they have voracious appetites in the warmer summer months feeding on anything they can (often trying to eat something that is far too large to get into its mouth, Their natural food consist of smaller fish, minnows, rudd, roach, (including their own), snails, crustaceans, frogs, crayfish, and a variety of lavie and insect life. They have an average lifespan of around 12 -13 years.

Fishing Method; Float, Ledger, Feeder.
 
Anglers Bait; range from red maggots, casters, gentles, live baits (Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Minnow etc), and a variety of different meats, one of the firm favourites is worm, some anglers prefer spinning with a variety of plugs and lures.

The British Perch record: 5lbs 15oz (February 2006).
Caught by: Les Brown,
Sussex Stillwater.

The Biggest ever taken from running water: 5lb 6oz. (Oct 2009).
Caught by: Noel Jones,
River Ouse.

Perch:

Native to North America

         and Europe.

Latin Name:

Family: Percidae.

Perch

Contact:mail@watersidediary.co.uk