Hearing of a monster perch at Clawford Lakes holiday park in Devon, Darren Simpkin headed over there for a week to see if he could catch it.
He soon found that the fish was no myth, as he landed this 5lb 2oz beauty. Because the venue is a
carp runs water, Darren knew that singling out his target species would be tricky, but by baiting heavily with maggots to whip the fry into a feeding frenzy, he hoped he’d be able to attract a few of the big perch too.
He certainly achieved that, catching the five-pounder as well as two smaller ones on a legered prawn hookbait.
The fish is building itself a reputation as one of the biggest perch in the country, with a string of captures all over 5lb. One of the most recent ones falling to young JJ Johnson who also banked the fish at 5lb 2oz while on holiday with his family back in June.
The fish does tend to get captured on baits like maggots and prawns quite often but has also been tempted on a lure, as Gary Spillard found out when he landed the fish at a tremendous 5lb 5oz in 2023.
LURES ARE A GREAT WAY OF CATCHING PERCH, CHECK OUT THE BEST LURES TO TARGET THEM IN OUR BUYER'S GUIDE.
