The Twins by James Aris
One of the hottest rivers for big perch has got to be the Great Ouse, in this feature James goes hunting for them with a simple lure set up and has some amazing results. Can not wait to get on there myself after reading this.
3lb twins from the Twins stretch at Buckingham.
Towards the end of 2011 I spent two days in a boat on Grafham Water hoping to catch my first zander. I didn’t catch the zander I was after but mate Adam had a nice fish of 7lb and lost a couple more. We fished in exactly the same way, using the same soft baits, the only difference being was Adam used a long fluorocarbon trace were as I used a wire infused braid called Iron Claw.
When I got back to my local river, the Gt. Ouse at Buckingham, I decided to see if fluorocarbon would make a difference to my perch catches. You all know the significance of the Gt. Ouse at Buckingham and the Twins especially. I live only a few casts from the river and have fished it for years but have never really been satisfied with my results when targeting the biggest perch.
A couple of seasons ago I was told that the BDAA was soon to lose the fishing rights on the Twins and recently learned that the 2011/12 season was to be the last of 60 odd years fishing there. I decided I had better make the most of the time left to try for some big perch. There are big perch all around Buckingham but nowhere quite gives me the same confidence of catching something huge as at the Twins.
Twin Point.
I jammily caught my pb perch of 4lb 4oz at the Twins a few years back on a small spinner from a swim famous local Ouse specialist Sean Geary had recommended and now I had decided to use lures again, but this time with modern soft baits in mind.
My jammy 4lb 4oz pb from The Twins in 2008. Cheers Sean!
I have made my perch kit as light as possible so I can move swims quickly and so it can be stashed in the car. I use a small Aqua bag containing a clamshell box of end tackle,a small box with jig heads, a pouch with hooks and swivels, camera, scales and a sturdy carrier bag for weighing my catch. The lure rod is a Greys Prowla medium dropshot rod matched with a tiny Okuma Octana front drag reel. The 10lb yellow power pro is tipped with 12lb Suffix Zippy fluorocarbon. The rod is always made up but folded and strapped to a Drennan specialist landing net pole, a bankstick for self take photos and a Drennan 1lb 1/4oz Avon specialist with matching Drennan reel loaded with 6lb Pro Gold line. I only take the quiver tip rod and chair if I am planning to stay on into dark, but when jigging I just rove around with the bag on my back with rod and net in hand. I still strap a bank stick with camera adapter to the landing net pole, just in case.
I tried several different soft baits from Savage Gear and Fox but the lure that caught the perch was the Berkley Powerbait 4in minnow. You get a dozen or so in a packet and they do last a few sessions. These lures are soaked in some attractant which smells a bit like washing up liquid to me. Maybe it is!?. I prefer the savage gear jig heads in 5gm with a 1/0 hook. They are quite expensive for 3 but they are top quality and I find that if you do get snagged up the 10lb braid is strong enough to bend the hook and get your jig back. I then bend the hook back in to shape with some forceps and carry on fishing. A 1/0 sounds like a big hook but isn’t really and suits the 4inch jig perfectly. Attach about a metre of Zippy leader to the braid with back to back five turn grinner knots and trim the tag ends to about 0.5cm. Tie the jig head to the leader with a palomaar and carefully moisten and tighten. If you damage the leader at all when tying this knot then just do it again. Obviously if your river is full of pike then something like Iron Claw braid or Tuff Leader would be swapped for the fluorocarbon.
I did start off with fan casting to cover the whole swim but found that most fish came to a long chuck down stream, although a few came to a cast straight across to the other bank, but never from an upstream cast.
When you have made your cast don’t be in a hurry to retrieve the jig, let it sit there on the bottom for a few second as you gently take in the slack line formed on the cast. Then slowly lift the rod tip, its all in the wrist so no need to lift the whole arm up, raising the rod tip from flat to 45 degrees or so and the jig off bottom a foot or so. I usually do this twice then pause, twice then pause whilst slowly turning the handle on the little reel. I do some times speed this process up with success but the pattern of retrieval remains pretty constant, jig, jig, pause, jig , jig pause, BANG! Fish on !
The importance of a light rod becomes apparent after a day spent roving the river. The Prowla dropshot rod is as light as a feather and tippy so you can feel the bait hitting bottom and the slightest touch from a fish. The yellow Power Pro helps you see when the bait hits bottom and the exact line of retrieval. The Zippy leader is a favourite of mine having used the 80lb version as a catfish hooklink and finding it very tough but soft enough to knot. The 12lb version proved to be ideal for the perch fishing.
21st of November was my Birthday and Iuckily it landed between shifts at work so I decided to head for the Twins. A mild, misty morning and no breeze instantly filled me with hope for a feeding perch or two.
I had my trusty Drennan 1lb 1/4oz Specialist Avon with a 1/2oz tip as well and put this out with a couple of lobs. Sitting there watching the tip I was able to continually cast my jigs around the swim from my chair and before long I had abandoned the tip rod as a string of Jacks were hooked and landed. Each one was hooked so nicely that the fluorocarbon stayed in perfect condition all day long.
3lb 10oz Birthday perch from Twin Point.
Finally I hooked something that felt a bit different, bomp bomp, as it shock it’s head, I knew it was a perch and at 3lb 10z I was well chuffed, whether the fluorocarbon had helped I don’t know but over the next couple of weeks I went on to catch a string of nice 3lb+ specimens from all along the stretch until just before Christmas I had a session to remember.
3lb2 stunner
Next cast and a 3lb4 stunner.
Adam had agreed to meet me that morning for a chub/perch session further up stream, but I couldn’t resist popping down to the Twins on my way!
Starting at the famous point swim I quickly landed 3 jacks but had a nagging feeling I should move a little to another hot spot I had recently found. Traveling light it wasn’t long before I was ready to cast out my soft minnow jig.
I put a long cast down stream in the center of the river and let the jig touch down. A couple of little twitches on the rod tip had the little jig dance just off bottom and then I felt the bang, bang as something attacked the lure and I was into what was obviously a decent perch. As it came to the net I knew it was the one I wanted, a big, beautiful, 4lb+ Ouse perch. I quickly transferred the fish to a pike tube in the margins and put my second cast out to the same spot hoping for a repeat of the first, bang, bang and I was again playing a perch. As it came to the net I could see it was another nice fish and quickly unhooked it and placed it along side its mate in the tube. Third cast and I couldn’t believe it as moments later another nice perch was heading over the rim of the landing net .
Three casts, three big perch, get in ! They weighed in at 4lb3oz, 3lb 8oz and 3lb 1oz.
I text Adam, who hadn’t yet left for our mornings chubbing and he soon joined me, snapping away some quality shots for the photo album.
Red letter day, a brace shot of a 3lb+ and a 4lb+ fish.
3lb 8oz and 4lb 3oz the biggest of 3 in 3 casts.
The following morning was Christmas Eve and as everything for Crimbo was sorted and I was still buzzing about the previous day’s success I thought I would have a walk down the river again. I left the quiver rod and the chair in the car and travelled ultra light. This time though I wasn’t so lucky as a frustrating twenty casts in the same spot produced nothing. A move 50m downstream produced a mint conditioned perch of a pound and a half which I left in the landing net in the margins. Two more, bigger perch quickly joined the first in the landing net and I weighed them both at bang on 3lb. Both fish were young and in perfect condition as the lovely photo of them on the net illustrates.
Since then I have upped my Stillwater perch pb to 2lb 10oz using exactly the same method of gently dancing the little jigs along the bottom on a Zippy hooklink.
Finally, I definitely feel that the fluorocarbon leader made all the difference. It is so soft and the jig moves so smoothly that it must be a factor.
Where as before I would carry a lure rod as a way of finding some fish or to fall back on if nothing came to the worms, it has now become my first line of attack. As the light fades I still find myself casting out a worm and trying to avoid the crayfish but I always have the jig rod to hand.
What a shame the fishing on the Twins is coming to an end. There may not be the massive head of 4lb+ fish of ten years ago but there are still big perch there and lots of young 2s and 3s coming through. A place I and many others have spent many a memorable day and that glimpse of red followed by a big perch as it comes to the net is unforgettable.
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