Catching perch with ultralight in winter, spring, autumn, on the lake.

Good afternoon, dear visitors of our site. This time, we will discuss with you a very pressing topic of how the notorious ultralight perch fishing is carried out. Everything is extremely simple. Perch is not a big fish.

Only in rare cases does it survive to the long-awaited moment of full adulthood, burrow into the muddy bottom and go out on night raids in order to feast on the fresh flesh of its own species (often) and others, as luck would have it.

And in river realities, a lot depends on luck. It's either you or you. Whoever is bigger and stronger, more agile and angrier is right. Harsh reality dictates its conditions. But perch, although small, is not a weak predator.

For thousands of years, this baby survived in the harshest conditions. Moreover, it has multiplied so abundantly that it now lives almost everywhere where there is “big water.” But still, due to its modest size, it makes a certain sense to use an ultra-light type rod to catch it. Why? You will find out if you read this article to the end.

Types of ultralight baits

When talking about spinning with an ultralight rod, one cannot ignore such an important thing as baits designed specifically for the lightweight version. However, you are unlikely to find any fundamental differences here. All that should be noted is that there are two main types of such baits - silicone and live bait.

How to catch perch using ultralight at different depths - selection of baits and tactics

Catching perch with ultralight is quite successful on lakes with depths of 4-5 m, and light baits are especially helpful in severe lack of bite. With such decoys and at such depths, as a rule, there are few holds, the main problem is to clearly penetrate the working depths. Lake perch is found near various shallows in the depths - underwater mounds-banks, spits. The search begins from the foot of the dump, gradually going to the very top. Wiring from shallow to pit usually gives better results. But there is no single rule; perch often reacts superbly to a change in direction of fishing, and it is not clear why. Several boats can stand on such banks, all thrown in one direction - bites are very rare. But as soon as someone weighs anchor, goes around the underwater hill on the other side, changes the direction of casting, and the grabs come one after another!

At depths of 4-6 m, in the vast majority of cases, rubber works, most often supplied on a rig with a separate load. A good rig option is this : an olive weighing 10 grams slides along the main line, a leash 70-80 cm long is tied through a swivel, and a small twister is on the hook. Wiring is a pull along the bottom or a smooth jig step near the bottom; large perch usually take it during pauses, carefully, only when restarting the retrieve do you feel the heaviness and increasing resistance.

Silicone baits for perch are my favorites

There are also those who like to “torture” weakly biting deep-seated perch with jig heads weighing 1.5-2 g. A bait with such a load floats for a very long time, and when approaching the bottom - bang, a bite! In some reservoirs, a similar technique is used to search for fish during the period of summer temperature stratification of water - the thermocline. At this time, perch occupies a variety of water horizons and is almost always above the thermocline strip. Moreover, it is in the water column that even respectable humpback whales respond better to small ultralight decoys. During vertical searches, they don’t just let the bait glide, but in parallel carry out various types of retrieves - a step, a wavy one, with a slight twitch.

In places with significant depths, spinners with front loading are gaining popularity , which are perhaps more popular in ultralight than in classic spinning rods. And this is not surprising, because a regular zero-one spinner will not be able to be loaded with a central weight weighing 3-4 g, and the rotation of the spinner blade will not be normal. And if a load of the same weight is placed in front of the turntable, then everything will work without problems. But experienced spinners are not too keen on the size of the load; too large and massive creates turbulence in the water that interferes with the rotation of the petal. And it visually increases the overall size of the bait, which often reduces the number of bites. Therefore, in recent years, spinning anglers are increasingly using not lead, but homemade tungsten weights, which, while weighing the same as lead, are one and a half times less. One of the variants of such bait can be created on the basis of a failed winter tungsten jig - a “drop” (about a centimeter long) with a broken hook. A rigid wire is soldered to the fragment, on which the turntable is assembled. Instead of a tee, a single hook is soldered to the wire, pointing upward - you can safely scratch along the bottom without fear of picking up debris.

Such “rotating jigs” from a boat are used to catch not only perch, but also large roach at lake depths of 5-6 m. The advantages of front-loaded spinners also include the good performance of the blade on the fall, when there are many perch bites. And also the absence of line twist, unlike classic spinners, which require a swivel.

On rivers, front-loaded models work confidently at depths of up to 2-3 m, if the current is not very strong. They work great when “freezing” - when the reeling stops, the spoon freezes in the water column, and the petal continues to rotate. This technique is considered one of the most effective against inactive striped animals, and not only for them. The classic jigging step with tapping the bottom is rarely done - there are a lot of hooks, and it is difficult for the tackle to perceive the contact of the mini-spoon with the bottom. But they are excellent at catching uneven river bottoms at depths of 1-2 m using near-bottom fishing. As soon as you pause the reeling, the bait, without ceasing to play, goes to the bottom of the hole, the reeling accelerates - the bait goes up, deftly jumping over the rise of the edge.

Skilled perches greatly praise front-loaded spinners, which on lakes and reservoirs in the summer heat produce much larger fish compared to rubber wobblers, especially during the feeding season . By the way, about the perch’s active exit, it is usually quite fleeting. And for the spinning angler, the speed of removing the fish from the hook is important, only then the weight of the catch is gained by the number of tails. Here, all the advantages of a single hook, and for such cases, some people have turntables and small vibrators, where the treble hook is replaced with a single hook. A jig head is also good, from which the perch can be quickly removed, but striped robbers often gnaw off the tails of the rubber bands with their brush teeth, and the bait has to be changed, which takes precious seconds. There are rumors that during periods of active feeding, perch are excellent at grabbing tailless rubber bands, but this information has not been confirmed on many fishing trips.

A short cast greatly increases the speed of boat fishing, so you need to try to stay no further than 15-20 m from the school. Some fishermen even drive the boat into the school, working with short casts in a circle. Bites occur throughout the entire course of the bait, right up to the approach to the side of the boat. It happens that the bait is not visible, no one is chasing it, but at the last moment the perch attacks from under the boat. Large humpback whales do this more often, successfully breaking light spinning rods on a wooden board or oar. Therefore, if a large perch takes a shortcut and takes the line under the boat, the tip of the rod is lowered into the water, while at the same time moving to the side. Such a simple technique will protect the tackle from damage and prevent the fish from getting away.

If after a perch fry there is a lull in a particular place, then you need to know that the fry usually does not end, but simply moves - the striped school drove the poor fry further. Knowledgeable perch fishermen follow; those who like boat fishing move around a lot, and in order to keep the perch caught fresh in the summer, they use spacious cages. In recent years, conventional metal models have been losing popularity - fish quickly get injured when moving from place to place. More and more people are using mesh float cages, which are being somewhat modernized - 15 centimeters from the neck, a string with a “noose lock” is passed through the mesh. This simple improvement allows you to instantly open and close the cage, insuring yourself against fish losses.

Speaking about perch fishing, it is impossible to ignore the topic of twitching mini-wobblers, capabilities that advertising extols to the skies. But, as fishing practice shows, these baits do not bring outstanding results. More serious catches occur with rubber, spinners, small homemade tail spinners, and other popular non-standard baits. And small poppers for perch, 3-4 cm long, are common among ultralight lovers; they are praised when fishing in heavily snagged shallow waters of lakes, reservoirs, peat mines, and in river bays and canals heavily overgrown with algae. In such conditions, the popper is one of the few baits with open hooks that can work effectively in the “low-hook” version. But, it is worth noting that in actively visited reservoirs, especially those located within populated areas, where at the height of summer there are a lot of vacationers, perches may not react at all to poppers, as well as to other surface decoys. Wiring with a small popper is practically no different from wiring with large baits: jerk - stop, jerk - stop, etc. Only the jerks are smoother, shorter (maximum 20-30 cm), taking into account the light weight of the bait. Nothing special is required in the tackle, including a fast rod - any will do well, because the resistance of a miniature popper when pulled is small, unable to overload the spinning rod.

There is also an opinion: small poppers perch attack with a bang, but at the same time they are not often spotted and played with, but baits 5-6 cm long are grabbed more aggressively, there are more bites realized, and you can even run into a good humpback salmon with a larger one bait. The perch ultralight does not mindlessly fence itself off from the “big” spinning rod; often both tackles are successfully used alternately. There are many conditions when the interaction of two diverse spinning rods leads to overall success. A typical example, a river, a powerful current, a fairway hole, perches standing at the exit of an eight-meter hole at a depth of 4-5 m - nothing can be done with ultralight tackle, so it’s better to use a classic wire rocker - a twister on a meter-long leash, a heavy load of about 40 grams , or even more, the spinning rod, accordingly, will require a more powerful one. The bite is usually good from the bottom, but not long - perches often rise above the hole, following the fleeing fry. This is where an ultralight rod with a small spinner or the same twister on a light head comes in handy. If the bite then dies down, then the perch often shows itself at the entrances and exits of a shallow backwater, where it smothers small things among the grass - again there is work for a light spinning rod. Quite often, ultralight perch tackle is a kind of lifesaver during periods when pike are caught very poorly. Here a perch caught on a pike spoon, another timidly butted the spoon. The sluggish fluidity of the moment is undeniable, but a small miracle happens - put aside the powerful pike tackle, go to work with the ultralight with light baits, and right before your eyes the fish tank is replenished with good perches.

Used when fishing for perch using ultralight spinning rods and natural baits. In July, catching perch with a small brown leech attached to the hook of a jig head (in the same way as a twister) is very effective. The retrieve is slow, steady or wavy. Many bites happen when the bait approaches a steep river bank, when the reeling stops, and the rod is smoothly, slowly played vertically - the striped fish grab it right from under your feet.

In the spring, fishing with a worm is practiced, on the same jig head; iron ore is best suited for these purposes - the most durable worm that holds well on the hook. Usually they make slow, even movements along the flooded bushes. Occasionally used in ultralight fishing and dead whitebait on a rig. Or a narrow strip of fish 3-4 cm long, cut out together with the skin, so that it stays more securely on the hook. It cannot be said that natural baits are very popular, but there are many supporters of such baits, and they do not complain about the catches. Still, for most ultralight fans, when choosing between artificial and natural baits, the sporting component is important - it’s more interesting to catch with a spoon or rubber. You can catch almost the entire open water season. Only in April, in connection with spawning, striped fish can go on strike.

And from May to November, perch on ultralight is caught quite consistently; the peak of the fishing season in many reservoirs occurs at the beginning and end of summer, also covering the first half of September. It is remarkable that the striped fish bites throughout almost the entire daylight hours; only in extreme heat does the feeding often shift to the morning (from dawn to 7-8 o’clock) and evening. In the lingering heat, when the body of water seems to be extinct all day, it is at dawn that a short-term, powerful glutton can suddenly fall upon you, during which each cast ends in catching a fish, and there are almost no escapes. The bite does not weaken even in the approaching darkness; only with the full sunset do the perches go to rest - to gain strength for the morning hunt.

Gear selection

Now you need to decide on the choice of current gear. What is their difference? The answer is quite obvious - you need to choose gear based on their values, i.e. You need to focus on the minimum casting values of reels and rods. The spinning ultralight feels great together with the same miniature and gentle comrades as himself, which is quite logical, isn’t it?

How to choose a fishing rod? It all depends on your personal preferences. Where and when is up to you to decide, but if you are interested in a truly almost universal thing, then you can give a figure of 0.6 grams - this type of rod deserves the title of universal in its weight category. In any case, you should not give your preference to weights of more than 10-15 grams.

Now, let's discuss coils. The most harmoniously combined reel systems with ultralight are those marked 1000. Of course, you can always use larger models, but here we are not talking about what is possible, but about the most acceptable from a rational point of view.

An overly heavy reel will only create unnecessary difficulties and unnecessary stress in both hands. To catch humpback salmon, it is best to wind the line tightly, directly under the reel board.

Now, as for catching perch in various conditions using the technique indicated above. In the spring, the best way to use ultralight is to use spinners (rotating spoons). Catching perch with ultralight on spinners is a favorite pastime of experienced spinning fishermen around the world, and therefore this activity is quite popular and enriched with a lot of subtleties and nuances, which people have learned about through rich practical experience.

The most important rules here are to use a rod no more than five grams and a spinner weighing no more than two grams. A fishing line is preferable to one that consists of several fibers (i.e., braided).

From the shore to ultralight, as a rule, they use a longer rod and a slightly heavier spoon and reel. Otherwise, the same rules apply here as on a boat. It should be noted that when fishing with light types of bait, a so-called beard is created due to the fact that the fishing line was tangled. This cannot be allowed.

Another point is that the game of the spinner needs to be monitored and corrections made to it periodically, i.e. keep under constant control at all times to avoid a breakdown or other unpleasant situation.

Choosing bait for catching perch in summer

Perch baits are an eternal and inexhaustible topic. In its diversity and versatility, summer perch fishing is even ahead of fishing for such a predator as pike. This fishing is carried out using spinners and spinners (micro-oscillators), spinnerbaits and basebaits, twitching small minnows (who doesn’t know, these are small driven wobblers), crankbaits, poppers and stickbaits, jig in all its varieties.

Spinners

However, with all the variety of gear, the most popular bait among perch fishermen is a centrally loaded spinner. Consistently good results are shown by Mepps spinners numbers 0, 1 and 2 of the Aglia, Comet and Long models, as well as small Blue Fox Super Vibrax.

The bite of a perch can also be influenced by the shape of the petals of the spinners, so you need to have different models. You can apply stripes or dots to the petal of the spinner with a marker (black or red), and attach an edge to the tees of the spinner. The measures taken will significantly increase the number of perch bites.

Spinner baits are good for fishing in vast shallow waters with sparse grass. Wiring can be carried out both surface and bottom. If a feeding perch is active in the upper layers of water, then you need to catch it there. Mounted perch almost always bites - it is in the process of hunting. The speed of the spinner can be different. One day the perch reacts to the fast movement of the bait, another time the spoon must be moved very slowly, on the verge of sticking the petal.

Oscillating spoons

Spoon baits are not so popular when fishing for perch. Although they give fewer bites, the trophies are more significant. Maybe this is an accident, but I caught my largest perches using spoons. Of the specific models, I will name only the well-known “castmaster”, both , and its numerous clones.

The small Mepps cyclops-0 is also good, as is the famous Toby from Abu Garsia with its excellent Polish copies. The above-mentioned spoons can be carried both evenly (or wave-like) in the water column, and with a jig at the bottom. Often the perch grabs the spoon during a pause, when it, swinging on a stretched cord, falls to the bottom.

My largest perch, weighing more than a kilogram, grabbed the Polish narrow-bodied spoon on the fall after casting, not allowing it to touch the bottom. It should be noted that this kind of fishing requires a metal leash - visibility at depth is not very good, but pikes can pretty much thin out the stock of spinners. It is very useful to place a small twister or just a single hook with an edge made of animal hair or lurex on a short leash above the spinner (both spinners and spinners).

Schooling perch have a very developed sense of competition - to catch up and take away the bait. The presence of one or two additional baits, and even a fellow bait clinging to the main bait, is a strong irritant for perch.

Cicadas and spinnerbaits

Finishing the topic about “hardware”, it is impossible not to mention “cicadas” and spinnerbaits. Bladebaits, commonly referred to as cicadas, are probably the most perch-like of all lures. The high-frequency game does not leave the active perch indifferent. Lures should be used as “oscillators”. This includes uniform, wavy, and jig wiring.

Small spinnerbaits also attract perch well; the same types of fishing are used. They are convenient for fishing in “windows” among the grass, and are almost not afraid of vertically growing stems of aquatic vegetation. The perch actively reacts to them.

Silicone baits

Let's move on to silicone baits. Almost any of the numerous existing silicone baits of this species are suitable for catching perch. The main thing is to correctly guess the size and, possibly, color. From my experience, I will say that perch bites (and big ones!) are also likely to occur on Predator No. 3 from Manns, but you shouldn’t really hope for it. Still, smaller sizes are preferable.

For example, twisters from Relax, Action Plastic, Mister Twister, Manns measuring 1-2 inches; vibrating tails of similar sizes are also suitable. Silicone baits can be equipped with either regular jig heads or the articulated method using an offset or single hook.

It is theoretically possible to catch perch using foam rubber, but in our area (I mean the Poltava region) it is not particularly popular, but microjig is gaining popularity. “Mikrukha” gives the largest number of bites compared to other fishing methods. For passive perch and passive baits - imitations of leeches, worms, crustaceans. A huge field for experimentation.

Mounting the bait

There are a great many differences in the installation of ultralight bait. The most popular methods are single and double hooks, when the bait is placed directly on top of the hook, and the blade remains outside, often lost against the background of a bright and eye-catching canvas. An offset hook is different in that the point does not stick through the entire body of the bait, but pierces through only its head part.

Where to look for perch

Perch is an extremely common fish. She lives almost everywhere. But most often it can be found in backwaters, off the coast completely covered with snags, boulders and tall grass. Larger specimens settle at greater depths, but sometimes they do not change their previous traditions, remaining among the large stones in which humpback whales hide during the daytime.

They are active in the late afternoon and early morning until 10 am. At night and during the day they rest. In winter, they leave their previous places and swim towards the middle of the water area, where they hide at the very bottom and only the young continue to actively plow the expanses of rivers and lakes in search of prey.

Catching pond perch from the shore with ultralight spinning rod

The conversation in this article will be about catching perch from the shore on ponds and small lakes. The specificity of such reservoirs is pleasing in that there is no seasonal migration of perch, and therefore you can fish here from the end of the spring spawning ban and almost until freeze-up with the same baits using the same gear.

However, maximum interest for a spinning player begins in late spring and throughout the summer. At this time, a huge number of vacationers and fishermen, who love to fish in comfort on a clean shore without dense thickets, occupy the shores of large reservoirs, and for this reason, small lakes unsuitable for these tasks are usually deserted - in any case, in the early morning. And actually at dawn you need to start catching perch with a spinning rod.

Of course, bodies of water vary. Where you won’t get a perch bite before ten in the morning, but I know one good pond where all summer long perch can be caught only from dawn until about 10 o’clock, and the hotter the sun gets, the more the number of bites drops. As soon as it begins to get light, the perch begins to drive the fry en masse into the grass in shallow water, which can be seen with the naked eye.

You should approach the place where perch is hunted as quietly as possible. In waders, you should approach the edge of the grass and make casts along it or at a slight angle (photo 1). In such conditions, 2-inch vibrating tails and twisters, often in natural colors, on a jig head weighing from 2 to 4 grams are very catchy (photo 2).

And in general, I noticed: where the perch actively chases the fry, there are no better baits than these. No matter how much my friends and I tried to throw various “creatures” into these “mini-cauldrons,” the result was always not so great—bites happened, but we always had to wait for them. But as soon as the bait was thrown “under the fry” at the same point, the perch greedily attacked it, sometimes immediately after splashdown. Various “crawfish” are also effective baits, but for some reason they work better for me in large deep-sea reservoirs.

Now about fishing when fishing for actively feeding perch. The bait should run away from the striped robber, and not dance in front of his face, which, of course, arouses his suspicion. It often simply does not respond to slow wiring. You increase the speed of the retrieve, slow it down just a little - and you immediately get a bite. The wiring is, naturally, pelagic. So you need to experiment not only with baits, but also with their presentation.

Of course, it’s good when the perch chases the fry. It’s immediately obvious that the striped fish is active, and this adds excitement to the fisherman, but what to do on a hot day, when even a light breeze won’t touch the water surface, and all around is the tedious buzzing of insects? On such seemingly hopeless days, slugs on light jig heads can quite help (photo 3). Wiring is “mormyshing”, and very intensive. First you need to select an animation for the “worm”, observing the behavior of the bait at different amplitudes of wiring.

Then choose the most efficient wiring (or several interesting ones) and focus on them. It is not necessary to constantly change baits, it is better to experiment with wiring - and the perch, despite the heat, will be tempted sooner or later (photo 4). It seems that the active “play” of the slug, and at a low retrieve speed, brings out of its stupor even a perch “sweating” from the heat.

Developing the theme of overgrown shallow waters, it makes sense to remember the popper. You must have at least one such bait in your perch arsenal - especially where a dense carpet of algae spreads just under the surface (photo 5). By the way, in such areas fishing with a microjig with a bombard is very effective, but this is not quite ultralight.

In addition to the typical reservoirs with shallow areas overgrown with algae, there are quite often ponds and quarries that are small in area but quite deep. In clear areas, looking for perch in them is a thankless task, but fishing among flooded snags and/or among the stems of water lilies can be very productive.

I remember ten years ago, having unsuccessfully missed a spinning rod before lunch, I decided to explore an area overgrown with water lilies with a small spinnerbait. Wavy wiring with swaying among the stems - and the bites were not long in coming. The joy, however, did not last long that day - the miniature spinnerbait was easily bitten off by the pike, but I drew conclusions. Such baits are very effective, and not only those equipped with a “skirt”. Here, for example, is an interesting model (photo 6).

In the original bait from the Lucky Craft company, the lead whitebait vibrates slightly when retrieving, but in the replica in my arsenal it behaves like a regular sinker. Praise be to the Japanese engineers who showed a technical approach even in such a small detail, but... in terms of catchability, I have not yet noticed the difference between the original and the fake. Maybe it was just a successful copy, or maybe for other fish, for example salmon, the original will be many times better - time will tell.

In the same conditions – snags or vertical stems of underwater plants – a “spinner” with a twister on an offset hook is quite catchy (photo 7). In general, I’ve somehow moved away from fishing with rotating spoons, I use them only on the rivers of the Arctic, but a tandem with a twister is such a bait!

Helped me out more than once on a variety of bodies of water. In our case (small lakes and ponds) there is no point in using spoons larger than No. 2, and perhaps a twister longer than two inches. But for reservoirs and deep rivers, where there is a chance to meet a trophy humpback whale, the size of the tandem components can be increased. Take note, it might come in handy.

Some quarries, despite the small surface area, can have decent depths, and the difference in depths can be significant. I was convinced of this in winter when fishing with a balance beam on a cascade of artificial reservoirs. The places are interesting: under one hole there are 7 m, under another – 3, and the holes are a few steps away from each other. If the perch is on the dump even in the summer, then how to get to it and how to tempt it?

I immediately discarded various leash rigs - this is not an ultralight theme, all aesthetics are lost. Jig? Too easy. A mini rattlin came to the rescue (photo 8). And it later came in handy not only in quarries, but also in those reservoirs where the depth allowed it to be pulled in a wavy line near the bottom.

By the way, in the mid-2000s I tried to catch perch in the quarries using a “cicada”. The result was, but not very impressive, and therefore I quickly abandoned the matter. But last year I met one angler who considers the “cicada” (photo 9) the best bait for perch. He lowers his bait to the bottom, and then leads it with a pelagic retrieve with pauses near it, i.e. does the same thing I did with rattlin. But the “cicada” is much more compact and long-range than the rattlin, which expands the search possibilities. Now I’m also a happy owner of 5-gram cicadas, I’ll check how much I can trust my new acquaintances...

Well, now about all-season gear for catching perch in the reservoirs indicated above. Solid tips, tubular... In my opinion, there is no need to focus on this - almost any rod is suitable for pelagic fishing, the main thing is that its structure does not resemble a stake.

One day, returning earlier than usual from a trout pond (I quickly reached the limit), I decided to stop at a familiar pond on the way home and dilute the experience with perch fishing. So: with the trout set I didn’t have a single catch, and I caught a decent amount that time. The perch simply hung on the bait, while the shock absorption of the spinning rod prevented any possibility of the lip tearing and coming off. We must pay tribute not only to the Black Hole Trout Mania S-632UL spinning rod, but also to the Stinger Innova Ultralight reel (photo 10), the friction of which is worthy of more expensive models with a less humane price tag (the same can be said about the quality of winding and the smoothness of operation , which is really rare in this price segment).

The set, which was purchased exclusively for catching pond trout, turned out to be in demand in perch fishing - and subsequently became tool No. 1. In fact, there is nothing special about it: trout are also caught in shallow water, where they search deeper along the horizons, using silicone jigs lures, tempt with pelagic postings of active baits.

Good spinning tackle, the right baits and the ability to present them knowingly are the main key to successful fishing for any fish and in any body of water. I don’t want to offend anyone, but on the shore you often come across fishermen who are still fishing the old fashioned way: thick leashes, bait that doesn’t suit the fish, fishing that means “throw it far away and pull.” As a rule, such fishermen bite occasionally, they catch very little, and when you try to help them with advice, you hear the same thing in response: “When a fish bites, it bites at everything.” This is self-deception. Even perch requires a very careful approach, let alone more cautious and timid fish.

Vladislav Salnikov