Haysden Perch Fest !

This week I've been having some great fun ultralight lure fishing for the perch on Haysden Lake ,that are smashing into shoals of smaller fish . 
Nothing of any real size , but great fun on the light gear,even the little un's smash into the lure with a real thump!Its a competitive world under the surface ,often 5 or 6 fish go for the lure at the same time.

6' 11'' - 0.5gm - 7gm
The Tronix Pro HTO Rockfish UL (ultra light) has a solid tip and light but crisp action to allow you to work tiny lures. Perfect for fishing 'down the side' or for casting.
.LRF (light rock fishing) has been big in Japan for years and is slowly starting to gain popularity here in the UK.
Basically LRF is lure fishing in miniature using scaled down rods, reels lures and light lines to target smaller species. It is amazing how many different species you can catch and this variety is the real joy in this style of ultralight lure fishing.

I've cut the tip down to the second from top eye 
I tend to use a 2-3gm jig head plus-lure makes it 4gm or so , 


The trick to this fishing is finding the prey fish, find signs of activity and the perch are not normally far behind, you have to keep on the move though , as they can disappear quicker than you can find them.
When perch are smashing into a shoal of small fry,I tend to fish on the edge of the main activity , picking off fish from the edges,rather than bullying them from the middle and spooking the rest of the raiding party.I caught over 60 fish in one session ,before getting exhausted and frustrated at not being able to find the bigger ones ,that are in there ;)
 If bites slow down ,change lure type and/or colour , if bites stop- MOVE.

small perch taken on a drop shot plastic worm

 A feisty little stripy 

I fished on Longfield today ( Sunday) just for a change , there was a lot of feeding activity with rafts of bubbles appearing all over,apart from the shallow end which is covered in an oily film , and cotton wool balls that clog up the braid on my reels.
Caught a dozen or so perch ,biggest one about a pound and a couple of micro jacks
No two fish fell to the same lure

 on a small chartreuse spinnerbait

on a small floating crankbait 

also caught on

 1" kopyto shads, different colours

2" kopyto shad, different colours

Got an all action shot of Tony Crossly netting a good sized roach on Haysden.
a lot more fish showing up this year !