I Thought I Was Fishing for Perch?!?

I had a very nice day on an island in St Anna Skärgård recently. This particular island is very rocky and the shoreline steep. Since i saw lots of fry I thought it might be a good opportunity to catch some perch for dinner. Watching the sun set with a some fried perch on knäckebröd and a cold beer has got to be one of the best ways to enjoy a warm summer evening. With my mouth already watering i tied a yellow dog nobbler to the leader and got started.

I waited a while for the heavy fly to sink and as soon as i started to retrieve it I felt a violent jerk. For a few second I thought it was a huge perch because I didn't expect to catch a pike on such a small fly (#8 hook and about 6 cm long). At this point I didn't use a steel leader so I tried to bring the pike in without pushing it to much and thereby risking to lose it. The fight lasted for about 5-10 minutes before the leader snapped. At this point I pulled out the steel leader.

Note to self: always use a steel leader when fishing with streamers.

A while later it was time again. This strike wasn't as violent as the first one, but humbled by the previous experience I half expected to see a pike again. I was right.

It was about 40 centimeters and way too small to take home with a clean consciousness so I let it go immediately.

The day progressed and while fishing my way around the island I proved unable to find any perch. I did however enjoy the scenery and caught one more beautiful pike.

More yarn experiments

These are some variations of the Boa Yarn Leech, with which my brother has had great success fishing for perch. Although not depicted above my preferred colors for perch are yellow, red and white. I also make a heavier version with barbell eyes.