The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I have a soft sport for perch. Small specimens often saved me from blanking when I started out. I've caught them on a variety of what would be considered normal baits (maggots, worms, spinners, plugs, minnows etc). More recently on prawns and cubes of meat. I have on occasion caught them on grains of corn, when being retrieved. However, on Saturday I chalked up a first. I was float fishing for roach. Fishing on the bottom in 8 feet of water, using bread flake. The bait had been static for about 10 minutes when a few bobs of the float indicated interest and it shot under. A strike produced a perch of about 6oz.

Has anyone else had similar experiences? Perhaps a new strain of vegan perch

As kids, bread was the main bait we used, due to it being free and readily available, we caught many perch on our local pond with it.
(even though our fishing line looked like something you could haul a tuna in on and floats were free ones from the front of angling times )
Happy Times!

MGs,

The same as you I have caught plenty of perch on all of the usual baits, I have only had one unusual experience. I was fishing on the canal and I had been feeding hemp and caster, bites had tailed off and as there was an elderberry bush behind me I decided to give the berries a try. I had not used them before and wasn't very hopeful, anyway I caught two or three nice roach and then the next bite resulted in something that felt heavier, it turned out to be a perch of about a pound in weight.
Regards,
John

I used to fish with liver flavoured 6mm boilies now no longer available unfortunately. They were great for barbel, chub, bream etc but one chap using them on the Trent caught 18 perch from one swim. He eventually moved and had plenty of chub from his next spot. Perch, it would seem, are quite opportunistic but I don't recall having one on bread.

I often catch perch on sweet corn.

The only time I have caught Perch on sweetcorn was on a heavily stocked day ticket water - they were taking static corn from the bottom there.
I assumed at the time it was because of the pressure for food and the quantities of bait being chucked in.

Looks like it's more common than I had thought.

I have taken Pike to around 2lbs on bread flake in the Warwickshire Avon at Stratford. Certainly surprised me first time and more so when the event was repeated.

My two biggest perch - about two pounds - were taken on seeds; one on hemp from a Hampstead Heath pond, one on a tare from the Colne.