UK canal Perch fishing tips 

Thanks man, appreciate the comment 👌👌👌

Thank you! I appreciate for positive feedback 👌

1.5”

Cheers for the comment. I quite enjoy making them (when I have the time!)

Thank you 🙏 Glad you enjoyed it 👍🏻

Cheers. Yep, one of the oldest lures that’s stood the test of time. Rarely go perch fishing without 1 in my box 👍🏻

Must try a mepps. Agree about the wire trace, just yesterday evening I had a small perch and then a 4lb ish pike on the same lure.

Len Raby Hi Len. Where are you getting the 6.6lbs AFW wire from? See it in heavier strains but not the lighter stuff. Sounds like the perfect thing for when the pike are around.

Dave Hughes Hi Dave, thelurebox.co.uk and just ordered some off SFUK waiting for order as they are cheaper than thelurebox, let you know if I get a delivery lol. Thelurebox have never let me down on any delivery to date, so if SFUK don’t work out I can always suffer the extra few quid thelurebox charge.

Yep no probs I’ll put it on the list!

That’s the Westin Street Sling bag and an Illex Stream master roll mat. Don’t think they are available anymore but there’s a few others on the market that are small and roll up

Grant Elkin Thanks. Some canals have natural bank (grass/mud/stones) on the near bank and are generally very shallow close in (6” or so) However some canals have metal sheeting edges (I call these ‘tins’) and usually have about 2ft depth immediately where the water meets the bank. Hope that makes sense!

Time of year for big shoals is key. In the summer they’re spread out, in winter they shoal up. Yep some guys take small keep nets to briefly retain the perch and say it helps with numbers. I just tend to catch and release each fish then keep moving. When you catch a few from a shoal they often move just 5-10m so keep searching the surrounding area, also a change of lure to a different colour or shape can get extra bites after you’ve had some and they go a bit cagey

That makes sense thanks. I suppose I always have a tendency to move in one direction along the bank but once I’ve found them they could just as well move 5-10 metres back the way I just came 😁

Yeah I don’t know what to say either! Of all the fish I’ve ever caught on lures I don’t know a single 1 that has swallow the lure!

Your best bet is to just be civil and let them know that the lures are not ever taken into a fish's stomach, or designed to be. Tell them you're exclusively catch and release and prefer not to kill other things either just for bait. That should appeal to their naive sensibilities.

Try worms on the drop shot, supposed to be deadly!

You sometimes have to try many styles to see what they want on the day. In clear water see how they react, if you twitch the lure aggressively a lot, sometimes they love it and bite, but sometimes they’re scared away, so adjust to a slower more subtle retrieve and a smaller lure if they do that. Keep trying and eventually you will find out what they want

Hi Shane, no I didn’t, but it’s been such a popular topic I think I need to do a revisit of a longer version of this anyway. It’ll go on the list of videos ‘to do’!

@@Thomhuntfishing cheers Thom.

There is a huge difference! Braid is very very thin compared to the same breaking strain in mono line. For example 0.10mm braid will be about 12lb breaking strain, 0.10mm line will be 2.5lb breaking strain. But the main reason to use it for lure fishing is the fact it has zero line stretch so every bite is transmitted perfectly through the braid leading to better bite detection and more fish on the bank!

Ahhh unlucky with the rod buddy. Be careful when snagged up! Glad to hear you’re enjoying it and had a fish on lures already!

Firstly you’d have to know….. do you know there are better ones in that stretch? Some areas seem to have year classes so some venues have only big perch and no wasps, others are small fish dominated with no bigger ones (can happen when a big fish year class dies off have to wait a few years for the small ones to grow! If you’re confident there are bigger ones about, larger baits like 10cm shads, big 8cm+ crays, bigger jerkbaits etc will select larger fish. Also time of year, now it’s getting cold, Jan-March can be good for bigger fish as the small ones don’t feed as much. Expect way less bites (maybe only 1-3 a day) but they should be better stamp fish 👍

@Thomhuntfishing cheers for the reply I have seen the odd big ones and have seen that other people have caught in the area on the fish brain app. I've also fished this stretch all year round for the last few years, often covering 8 miles in a day on foot (main river and streams). Just don't know what I'm doing wrong 😅. I feel like I've tried everything.

No, these were just for easy visuals on the video! Will use those bright lures when the water is coloured, but natural colours when the water is a bit clearer 👍🏻

If you’re fishing very coloured areas of the Grand Union go with bright green 2” lures and just drop them off the end of your rod by bridges and locks 👍🏻 If the areas you fish are clear, stick to near bridges and locks but explore the deeper water down the central track Yes I can look at making a video for you no probs 👍🏻

Thom Hunt that’s great thanks - I’ll certainly try that - it is quite coloured and I was fishing more subdued colours :)

I like paddle tail shads or small crayfish style lures at this time of year, as it imitates what the predators are eating 👍🏻

@@Thomhuntfishing thank u :))

Different canals and clubs have different rules, so just check your local rules and go from there.

@@Thomhuntfishing I was checking out the Canal & Rivers Trust guidance.

Almost all canals yes. 👍🏻

On some canals you have metal sheeting (I call them tins) at the edge, usually for where boats can moor next to the bank. It’s normally 1.5-2.5ft deep right in the edge so can hold fish right under your rod tip!

@@Thomhuntfishing Cheers, thanks for that. Massively appreciate the videos as a new angler who wants to get good!

Yep totally agree, nothing better than a big perch on light kit 💪

small pike will constantly bite off 8lb flouro, this is really very bad advice

@@Jamesisapayne Calm down cupcake. You have openly admitted to being bitten off more than once, leaving a hook and lure in the poor fishes mouth when it was totally avoidable. As somebody who obviously puts catching the fish ahead of fish care, your sort of advice is irrelevant. Thanks though.

I use fluoro when targeting perch unless the water has a lot of pike in and I cant be sure if I'm gonna catch them instead of the perch but I can say from my experience that lighter is better when perching, traces make my catch and size rate drop, iv never caught a 1lb+ perch on a trace but pulled them out up to 3lb on fluoro, tackle loss is part of the game, jig heads and soft lures are cheap though, I'd only go really heavy to ensure I'd get my gear back if I was fishing on trebles with a £10+ lure, cant afford to be losing them in trees every session, only been snapped by a pike once on fluoro and that was when I had a pop up on for carp, a pike took it, no one would recommend I use traces in future while carping incase of a pike and I won't use traces to catch perch, if 3lb+ pike are biting, I'll trace up, if the water is new, I'll trace up.