A Thames Perch story.
Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 12:02 am
I have the benifit of being allowed to fish the property of Crowmarsh Mill, just below Benson lock. I once gave some lifechanging information to the then owner over a serious medical problem he was experiencing and in his gratitude he allowed me to fish the 400 metres of the Weirpool bankside plus the lead from above Benson Weir to the sluice and the Millpool. I have had three PB's from the waters, a 27lb Pike, an 8lb Bream and a Dace of almost a pound.
In windy conditions the millpool is a comfortable spot to fish. Quite small, lots of Lily Pads, it forks around a small island where the ashes of the now late owner and his wife are buried under the willow tree. In late October on, Pike feed voraciously on the roach and fry, making their presence known by splashing and swirling with small fish jumping to escape.
My wife, an acomplished angler, had never caught a Pike. She decided to try to rectify this and decided to come fishing with me to the Millpool. I caught some small roach and set her up with a 4 inch livebait under a Chubber type float with my old Milbro hollow glass spinning rod and my faithfull Intrepid Elite spooled with 12lb BS monofil.She learned to guide it around the small pool, working it along the edge of the current and back into the eddy.
Nothing doing for an hour. She allowed the bait to become stationary in a group of Lily Pads. After a moment or two, the float moved away from the Lily Pads into the current and disappeared. She let it go while saying 'God Save The Queen' slowly, a strike timing device that works well in most cases when using livebait for Pike.
The rod hooped, the water swirled and an enormous Perch came to the surface, spat the Roach out and dived away. It was as big as a large teatray. I know perch look big for their weight, but we were both speechless with its size.
You cant lose what you never had, so back to the drawing board. Ten minutes later she broke her Pike duck with a fiesty eight pounder.
I have fished for that huge perch many, many times since.
All I catch are small Pike..........................
In windy conditions the millpool is a comfortable spot to fish. Quite small, lots of Lily Pads, it forks around a small island where the ashes of the now late owner and his wife are buried under the willow tree. In late October on, Pike feed voraciously on the roach and fry, making their presence known by splashing and swirling with small fish jumping to escape.
My wife, an acomplished angler, had never caught a Pike. She decided to try to rectify this and decided to come fishing with me to the Millpool. I caught some small roach and set her up with a 4 inch livebait under a Chubber type float with my old Milbro hollow glass spinning rod and my faithfull Intrepid Elite spooled with 12lb BS monofil.She learned to guide it around the small pool, working it along the edge of the current and back into the eddy.
Nothing doing for an hour. She allowed the bait to become stationary in a group of Lily Pads. After a moment or two, the float moved away from the Lily Pads into the current and disappeared. She let it go while saying 'God Save The Queen' slowly, a strike timing device that works well in most cases when using livebait for Pike.
The rod hooped, the water swirled and an enormous Perch came to the surface, spat the Roach out and dived away. It was as big as a large teatray. I know perch look big for their weight, but we were both speechless with its size.
You cant lose what you never had, so back to the drawing board. Ten minutes later she broke her Pike duck with a fiesty eight pounder.
I have fished for that huge perch many, many times since.
All I catch are small Pike..........................