New Perch Lure Testing results in a nice Stripey and an opportunistic Pike

   I received my new Perch lures yesterday and couldn't wait to get on the water and try them out. The lures in question were the Quantum Joker and Fiiish Black Minnow 70 seen below. They each appealed to me for different reasons, the Quantum Joker was a very new concept of lure to me with a new technique of fishing to me and i was interested to try it out. The Fiiish Black Minnow has always worked for me in my Bass fishing so when the Fiiish guys brought out some fluorescent colours in a 70mm size i just had to have them for my Perch fishing.

   I started off fishing the Quantum Joker, in various colours, chucking it to the edge of far bank barges on the canal i had chosen to fish. The great thing about this lure is that when it hits the water, it planes away from you until it reaches the bottom so this meant my lure was falling right underneath the barge.
   I gave the lure some water time but was unsure which technique to retrieve it with; slow lifts and falls, fast lifts and slow falls or a couple of jigs and then fall so this made my confidence in the lure diminish a little and i believe confidence is key to success in lure fishing. I will however continue to give the Quantum Joker a good go in hopes of some success on a certain retrieve.
   After this i moved down the canal a 100 yards or so to another place i'd caught Perch before. I clipped on the Fiiish Black Minnow 70 in Fluoro Green with a 3g Fiiish Head. I started to retrieve the lure with the technique i know best of hopping the lure back with short twitches and withing a couple of casts i had a slam on the rod, missed it. I thought that would be my only chance but a few more casts and irregular rod taps that all anglers wait for suddenly started on the tip. I stopped retrieving and just held the rod up to feel for the bite, BANG!! i set the hook and after a short fight i landed a lovely Perch just shy of 2lb.

   I decided to head back to the first spot i tried to give it a go with the Fiiish Black Minnow but no takers. Whilst i was fishing though i kept seeing fry fly from the water and large splashes and boils on the surface of the water. My first thought was Perch, so i continued to fish with my array of soft plastics and jigheads chopping and changing every few casts or so to see if i could tempt whatever was making these fry jump. I had nothing on the jigs so after another large boil on the surface i thought to myself  'this fish is obviously actively hunting near the surface and i'm using soft plastics on the bottom, time for a change' i rifled through my Perch box which contains a select few hard lures. I decided to clip on the Megabass X80 Trick Darter in a silver pattern. Second cast in the rings of a another surface commotion and the lure smashed! a short fight later and the culprit was little 4lb Pike.

    All in all a very nice morning on the water, No success with the Quantum Joker but the Fiiish Black Minnow 70 fast becoming a favourate and a nice opportunistic Pike.

Thanks for Reading, Sam