Catching Perch on the River
Well, today was one of those rare days where I had an afternoon to myself. So yep you guessed it, I decided to go fishing! Well, I say ‘afternoon’ I had from 1.00 pm till 6.00 pm to get some fish on the bank. Not long really, but surely long enough to get a few.
The morning’s weather started off overcast and quite warm, not bad I thought that will do nicely. But by the time 1.00 pm rolled around the cloud had unfortunately cleared and the sun had popped his hat on (bugger). But not one for being defeated easily I got my kit together and started the trek across the fields to an inlet pipe on my local stretch of the Great Ouse. This holds a lot of fry and smaller bits at this time of year which quite often attracts the Perch.
The Great Ouse is Full of Life
The first thing I noticed when I looked in the water was the amount of fish swimming about the inlet pipe (got to be a good sign I thought).
People are always saying about the Crayfish eating all the Fish eggs and there isn’t that much fry about anymore.
That surely wasn’t evident here, in fact, it was nice to see just how healthy and full of life the river was. It really is nice to see a river in all its glory.
The Moorhen Lived Another Day
There was one thing that made me sad, and that was a very young moorhen who had lost its family and was desperately trying to swim back upstream to reunite with them. You can’t help but think a hungry Pike was going to lunge out the water any minute. But after a 20 minute battle against the current and endless chirping, the mum finally heard the cries and rushed him back to the safety of the reeds.
There Was Wildlife Everywhere
As I was setting up, looking around me made me realize how lucky we are to have such nice Rivers around us.
During my short time on the riverbank, I noticed Herons, Ducks, Moorhens with young, Coots, a Kingfisher, a Grass Snake, Dragonfly’s all different colours, Crayfish (hmmm not so good) Buzzards and Red Kites circling above.
A Wren, Swans, Baby Rabbits playing in the long grass, and a Deer that got spooked in the field opposite, the Riverbank truly is a magical place.
There Were Perch Striking at the Fry
As I was just attaching my Curly tail grub to my line a Perch started striking at the little fry on the surface, another good sign I thought. Maybe the weather won’t be against me after all. After about an hour of casting and several different lures, I finally got my first bump. Not that I managed to catch it but it was a promising sign.
Size Doesn’t Always Matter
Next cast and I finally made contact with my first fish of the day! By any account it wasn’t a monster, it was a Perch about 6″ long, it certainly wasn’t going to break any records but it was such a perfect little fish, size really didn’t matter. The next few casts provided me with two other fish about the same size, then it went all quiet again.
It was now 3.30 pm and the sun was beaming down on the water. I was now regretting leaving my polarized glasses on the side at home and was wishing the sun would disappear for a few hours. Just at that moment, I got a nice little thump on my little Savage gear fat vibe lure. The fish really didn’t want to come in though. It took me into the reed bed just downstream, and I had no way of stopping it. Unfortunately, I never saw it again, it seemed to be a Pike around the 8lb mark.
To Conclude
All went quiet again till about 5.30 pm when I had another three little Perch on the Curly tail grub.
All in all, not the most productive days fishing I have ever had, but the weather and the crystal clear water were certainly against me.
I think I did well to tempt anything at all onto the bank. There’s always next time, and after all it isn’t always about the catching. Just being down by the River is sometimes good enough……..
