With his local rivers out of sorts, Paul Scowen instead headed to a reservoir, where perch were his target.
After locating what he describes as ‘the mother lode’ of big perch stacked up on the top edge of a depression, he set about catching them on lures.
However, in the clear water the fish were unsettled by his boat hanging over them and soon spread out, staying close to the bottom.
Paul found the fish to be extremely finicky and cautious of his lures, but during a short feeding spell he tempted a monster 4lb 10oz specimen alongside a 3lb 10oz fish.
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Encouraged by the previous trip, Paul returned to the venue and enjoyed three spectacular days of action, landing 10 fish over 4lb, topped by a huge 4lb 15oz stripey.
On his first return trip, Paul headed to where he’d had his fish from earlier, but struggled to locate them.
Eventually, he found some perch shoaled up tightly and, using drop shotting tactics, he brought six ‘fours’ to the boat, topped by the 4lb 15oz specimen.
On the next session the fish had moved again, but once he got among them Paul landed yet more big perch, this time to 4lb 14oz.
Finally, on his third day, he had a fish of 4lb 2oz and six slightly smaller specimens.
Paul found that the perch would tend to ignore his lures for long periods, only to go on a short, chaotic feeding spree before finally dispersing around lunchtime.
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