A look back at 2014. Part 1-The years first target.

Right then lets get things started and may I wish you all a very happy new year! As well as good luck for 2015. It wouldn't be the new year though without some reflection on the year that has just passed and that's exactly what I am going to do for my first few posts. Partly because I haven't had much time to get out on the bank recently due to the joy's of work. Never the less 2014 was actually a great year personally for me angling wise. I managed a number of personal bests in 2014 and to be honest would probably call it one of my best fishing years ever.
At the start of 2014 I had a number of angling objectives and the first one of those was to catch a personal best Perch. With my personal best Perch being a little over 2lb this objective on paper did not look too difficult. The first choice I had to make however was venue. The good thing about Perch is they can literally be found almost anywhere from ponds to rivers and canals to lakes. But would a big Perch be so easy to track down? With the use of the power of the Internet I managed to find some reports of 3lb plus Perch being caught from a venue in Devon. The venue was Stafford moor fishery in Winkleigh approximately 40 minutes drive from my house.
Stafford moor is a commercial fishery with a number of different lakes on site. The lake I would be targeting however was known as the "Pines". A week or so after reading up on these monster Perch and the best methods to catch them I headed off early accompanied by my good friend Kevin Dobson to see if we could connect with one of these big Stafford moor stripeys. On arrival we were presented with a stunning lake that just screamed Perch!! A look from the car park revealed a tree lined pool with a number of islands, snaggy margins and reed beds. From what I've learnt from my own angling and what I had read a Perch paradise! The issue was however, where do you start? Luckily the choice was made easier for us, as a quick walk around revealed that these Perch were being quite heavily targeted. So we decided to set up in a central area of the lake both swims with a number of areas to fish to.
I began setting up two rods for the Perch. The first a simple float set up on which I would be fishing a small worm in  my near margin to the right of my swim. Looking down to the right there was a large tree with a bush coming off the stump, this looked the ideal place to present a bait. The second rod was set up with a equally simple running ledger rig, which I decided to bait with a larger lob worm tipped by a couple of red maggots. This rig was to be cast to the margin of a island opposite and for bite indication placed on a delkim alarm system. During my research on the species I had read that Perch are very sensitive to bite resistance and when ledgering tension should be kept to an absolute minimum. The best method for this is to fish with your bale arm open and your line in a clip or under and elastic band down to a very light bobbin.
So with both rods set up and spots found I began fishing,the session started with bites from the word go. Albeit these bites were from Roach, Skimmers and small Perch. It wasn't till mid day until the first bleeps on the alarm was heard soon followed by a full blown take! As I hit into the fish I knew straight away that it was no Perch! After a short but hard battle a small mirror Carp came to the surface and was slipped over the net. This was obviously going to become one of the main issues with targeting the Perch, how to avoid the other species.

Not getting disheartened by my lack of success with the Perch I carried on with my initial game plan. I was constantly tinkering with hook baits on my float presentation as my margin swim had now become absolutely alive with fish! At about 4pm though this all changed as the swim went stone dead. Confused by what had happened I did think maybe a group of Perch had moved in and spooked the other fish. This time I wasn't wrong and after changing my hook to accommodate a larger worm I was rewarded with a Perch of a pound and a half almost instantly!

It was the biggest Perch of the day so far and things were looking up. I couldn't wait to get the rod back in the water and this again was justified as on the very next cast I connected with what felt like a much bigger Perch. A hard and jagged fight indicated this was a decent fish and as it popped to the surface my heart began to race, it just looked enormous! I quickly shouted to Kev but with no reply I could only assume he had fallen in or asleep. Not worrying about that I quickly put the net under the fish and she was mine. As I looked down in the net I thought to myself "Well that's the biggest Perch I've ever seen" so surely it was mission achieved and the personal best beaten. I took the fish round to Kev in the swim next door to find as predicted he was asleep. So after giving him a nudge we weighed the fish to confirm it was a pb at 2 lb 12 oz. Not the biggest in the lake but It felt like it was to me and I didn't care.

After a few pictures and a shake of the hand from Kev I returned the fish just stunned by how impressive it looked.As has been said previously a big Perch really is "the biggest fish of all". By this time though the light had almost gone and I packed up my gear a very happy man.
A week or so passed by and I was still buzzing from my big Stafford moor Perch, so much so that even though the objective for 2014 of a pb Perch had been reached I couldn't wait to go back and try for an even bigger fish. So I gave Kev a quick ring to see if he was up for it and unfortunately he was heading out on the town that night so didn't fancy it. This made me re-think a little as it was a long way to go on my own as I was a little tight for cash at the time. In the end however I just decided lets go for it! So the following morning I jumped in the car and was off to Stafford moor for the second time in two weeks.
On arrival I could see once again that pines was very busy with anglers but there were still some spots free. I jumped straight in a swim a couple down from where I had my perch the previous week which was unfortunately occupied. The new swim was a lot more open then the previous but was located in front of a gap in between two snaggy islands. The methods would be exactly the same as the previous week with two rods. One a ledger rig and one a float rig. The baits this time however would be slightly different, as after watching a lot more videos on you tube about targeting Perch a bait which I hadn't yet tried was brought to my attention. That bait was the Prawn. Prawns have become a phenomenal bait for perch in commercial fisheries and now some of the best catches of Perch have been on this cheap and readily available bait. I decided to do something a bit different with my prawns however and flavoured them up with a Carp bait additive. The prawns had now gone a blood red colour and just oozed attraction. Could this have been the bait for another massive stripey?

 The flavoured prawn hook bait would be presented on my ledger rig which was to be cast in between two adjacent islands, a spot were I believed a big Perch could ambush its prey as they pass through.
The float rod would be fished similarly to last session in my own margin with maggots and worms for bait.
The session started in a very similar fashion to the previous with bites instantly on the float presentation, the fish this week however were of a much better stamp and I was taking quality Roach and Skimmers on the maggot right out of the edge. Some Perch then got in on the action and I caught about 5 to just over the pound and a half mark. It was good fishing but I couldn't help but want to see another of those big Perch in the net again.
During this time the ledger rod had remained without a bleep and I began to doubt the effectiveness of the prawn hook bait. I decided to leave it tough and continued to spray pouches of maggots over the area in an attempt to liven up the spot. Then in true fishing style as I was happily eating my lunch thinking not much was happening the alarm burst into action. A bizarre indication with the bobbin coming right to the top then dropping the rising again. I hit into the fish and was pleasantly surprised by the resistance felt on the end! From the way the bite developed I felt certain it was a Bream or a small Perch. As the fish began to jag and shake its head my thoughts went back to last weeks fish however this fish had a lot more power. A battle of a few minutes followed until eventually the sun hit the stripes on the flank of what looked like an even bigger Perch!! The fish just looked ridiculous!! Now shaking like a leaf I grabbed for the net terrified it was going to drop off! But luckily she went in the net first time. Amazed by what was in my net I sat back and smiled. Next thing I knew however a angler from up the bank had seen the commotion and come down to see what I had caught. It was Christopher Lambert who I had met on the bank previously and whose blog I had been reading for a number of years. Chris kindly got the scales and we weighed the fish. I didn't look as I was certain it was another pb. Chris said "Well its a three" and I literally went into melt down and was just so chuffed! He turned the scales to reveal the fish was indeed just a little over the 3lb mark. What a moment and one I will never forget. My first three pound Perch. The next moments went in a bit of a blur as Chris and his friend kindly took some photos for me and showed me a little trick in keeping the perch's fin up for those trophy shots. It wasn't long though before I was returning the fish by hand back into the murky depths of the pines. I grabbed the phone and began to tell everyone what I had caught. Most of whom probably thought I was mad!! Kev called to congratulate me on the fish and probably wished he was there to see it but there would always be next time. Once again the light quickly faded and it was time to go, but if it was even possible I went home more content than the previous week. The objective of a big perch now really was fulfilled.

Tight Lines!!!