Perch window

This project has been on the back burner since 16th June, when Nick (the gamekeeper) showed me photos of some huge perch that he had taken, the previous season, in another drain system out on the flatlands. Events, recently, have made it very clear that if I'm to emulate Nick's results, then I had better get cracking. The autumn is upon us and the fish are feeding up in readiness for the colder months that lay ahead. My mate, Gareth, has already got his own campaign underway, landing a couple of two pounders for his troubles.
I made my first visit to the section, on Thursday, just to have a recce in preparation for a Saturday morning visit with the rods. I have to say that, in my very limited experience, the system absolutely screams perch. There are deep holes and huge weed beds, mainly cabbages, which offer superb habitat in which this species can lie in wait for the approach of its' prey. A couple of submerged concrete structures offer more scope for me to exploit as I chase my target of a "three". This is not wishful thinking, Nick took fish to 3 lbs 14 oz last season - that'd do nicely.
Not too sure what to expect with my first attempt, although I have to admit that I feel confident that my tactics will work if the perch are in residence. Once again the pursuit of an angling target all comes down to that very basic requirement - location. You can't catch what isn't there; simple! However, given my track record over the summer, I have to say that I can't even catch what is there!
This short campaign will be all the more pleasurable because Gareth and I are pooling information, although not necessarily fishing together, to try to get the best return on our efforts. Our approaches are very different, Gareth being very mobile whilst I prefer to sit and wait, having set my traps in spots which I have identified using past experience and/or watercraft.

I'm hoping for much better than this anaemic-looking specimen from a local club venue.

I think that the best bit will be when we both write our summaries of the project on our blogs, Gareth being a master wordsmith, his blog entitled Postcards from the English Outback. Please click the link - we really are like chalk and cheese, yet brought together via our fascination for the outdoors and the wonders of angling, in wild places, with tackle from a bygone era. Let's see where this takes me and how I end up? Whatever the outcome, it should be good fun.