Here Perchy Perchy! Where are you!!!

Fished yesterday , my intention was to target the perch on two pits, that are next to each other,

This was a very optimistic challenge, as I had not so much as caught one fish, from either pit to date.

Anyway I like a challenge, and was I determend to break the deadlock. 

I arrived at about 11am, my MO was to fish along the front bank from the stages , and then work my way around the rest of the pit, then go onto the next lake, which is about 50 yards behind the other, seperated by a small feeder stream from the main river.

I started with a white 5.5mm Kopyto shad, on a small 3gm, size 4 jig head, I started fan casting to either side of the first stage, a bank of reeds runs either side of each stage, the water was very shallow, and very clear close in , when I reached 12 o'clock on the cast, I had a solid take on a slow steady retrieve, and managed to miss it, a quick chuck back to the area, I let the lure hit bottom(about 6ft) and then started the retrieve, nice,slow and steady, to get that little Kopyto's tail working, and I was in straight away, a good solid lunge , I hoped that is was a perch, as if it was, it was a good'un, but there was none of their normal headbanging going on, I knew that it was yet another Jack,

He put up a good scrap on the 6.3 rod, he gave a good show of tailwalking to throw the lure, but I had him in the net after a while. when he promptly started to do a crocodile roll, but having bought a rubberised net and using single hooks , this is no longer the nightmare that it used to be.

A quick photo and back he went, still full of piss and vinegar, he shot off slapping water in my face with his tail as he went, none of the sulking in the margins as others do! 

So at least I had broken my duck on this water, and had a bit of fun in the process. 

First Jack of the day 3-4lb ish

I then proceeded to work my way around the pit, chopping, and changing lures 3 or 4 times per swim, I try to do this all the time, as I have found on occassions that a change of lure can often trigger an aggressive response, I always end up using a really garish lure as a last choice, to see if I can get something to just want to kill it . Like this Jack, below I had a tentative pluck, on a small Lake Fork Baby Shad , and then could not get another go at it,changed lures 2 or 3 times, with no response, so I fixed on a red spinnerbait blade, and it attacked it straight away!

A jack from the second lake Sun Perch Lake Fork Baby Shad with red spinnerbait attached.

I caught another 2 smaller jacks, and lost 4 more, but still no perch, I returned to the reed beds on the first pit to fish the last hour, but there was no movement in the shallows, it still needs to warm up a bit more, me thinks.

An enjoyable day on the waters, a bit of action, I have now managed to get fish out of each pit, so my confidence is higher than it was before.

If we can have a couple of weeks of good rain, followed by so warm weather, the fishing will hopefully improve. 

I am  looking forward to the next season,  the new venues that I will have access to , also the challenge of  running the Junior section of the club.