Whenever I go back home in the warmer seasons, one fishing opportunity I never miss, is to head to the dams of the Nestos river to target mainly perch. These dams haven't got a great variety of fish and a distinct lack of the main large European freshwater predators. Although this doesn't sound promising to the lure-angler, in fact it has lead to good numbers of quite large perch thriving in the artificial lakes and becoming the apex predator there. More over there are many (also predatory) chub along with the introduced pumpkinseed and occasionally rainbow trout.
Usually September-October is considered the best time of the year to target the perch and after organising the details, I loaded the car and set off. I was planning to fish two spots of the lake that have served me well in the past with good catches. On reaching the larger Thisavros dam I was slightly worried about the low water levels as from previous knowledge, this means that my first mark probably wouldn't produce... Despite this, i decided to head down for a couple casts and see whats there.
I was fishing right under the main bridge of the dam and after some casts it was obvious that there were no fish as expected. Changing tactics, I rigged a small silver spoon and started retrieving near the surface hoping that a chub might go for my lure.. i got the first small one from a very shallow area and released it straight away. Moving further, I was walking along the bank that now stands much higher than the waters edge and I saw a nice chub wandering near the shore without noticing me.. I made a cast a few meters towards its direction and saw the fish change course and attack the lure! After a short fight I got the fish up, and released it after the photo. Soon after I decided to move to my second mark as the sun was going down and I didn't have much time left.
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| Under the bridge... |
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| ..and looking to the right. |
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| First one. |
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| Second chub. |
The second spot is a mini-dam of a small river, connected to the main dam by massive underwater pipes. The main factor for perch fishing in this lake is the existence of rocks and boulders, that the perch seem to prefer over other habitats. The small dam is made completely out of big boulders, thus creating a good place for the perch.
I started fishing with dropshotted small minnow imitations and after a few small perch I felt the slight 'touch' that bigger fish tend to do, and connected to a better fish. After a lively fight I hand-landed it and released it back straight after the photo as these fish need to be put back fast in order to get to the bottom (sensitive to pressure changes).
Although I persisted with the dropshot and jigging shads, i only managed some smaller ones and headed back to the car as it was already dark.
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| The small dam. |
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| What I wanted.. |
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| it coughed up this! |
After a rather comfortable sleep in the car, I woke up early and headed down the dam as sunrise and early morning is the best time for big perch. I decided to start with a small shad on a jighead, in order to cover the area more a\efficiently and was planning to use the dropshot once i found the fish. I got a bite on the second cast and after a very good fight I landed a beautiful plumb perch that filled my with anticipation for what was coming next.. Disappointingly it wasn't meant to be and I could only get smaller perch and even they were few and far between. I even swapped my lead for a pilker but could not find any bigger specimens.
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| The only decent fish of the morning. |
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| This usually works... |
The sun was already high on the sky and was getting very hot, so I decided to fish on the opposite side of the dam and experiment with different lures and presentations for the small fish. I got my new LRF rod (my friend stepped on my previous one in Mytilini!) the Majorcraft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g). and my old Tica Libra 2500 reel that was filled with 3.9lbs Toray Bawo Upgrade fluorocarbon. I started by using some small cicada lures (metal vibration) that i had previously used in the sea but with limited success. Whilst retrieving I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of bites I was getting and then fish.. Both perch and chub seemed to go mad about them while ignoring the small spinners that is the main lure used here for them. I then tried some spinner-tails that were clearly more effective on perch. The fish were attacking the fry that was shoaling up on the bay formed by the dam and near the rocks. Thus i decided to use small straight soft lures as in saltwater LRF to mimic them. Although perch love straight soft plastic lures, i had never before caught any chub on them but today the seemed to tear them up with fish coming in a steady stream. They were not of a great size but superb fun on the LRF gear.
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| Power Isome is good in freshwater too.. |
As I was fishing, I heard a splash a couple meters away and saw an otter looking at me and clearly surprised as much as me by this encounter! After the otter the fish moved further away from the shore and as it was already very hot, i decided to head back home. Although I didn't manage to get more of the bigger specimens, I'm planning to visit the dam soon and hopefully I'll have better luck next time. I thoroughly enjoyed the fishing and got very positive feedback from the new rod even though it was purchased in haste.
Thanks for reading!
Gear used.
Rod: Major Craft KG Evolution KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g and Major craft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g)
Reel: Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500f and Tica Libra 2500fd
Mainline: Spiderwire Ultracast Fluorobraid 10lbs, YGK nitlon DFC fluoro leader 10lb and Toray Bawo Upgrade Fluorocarbon, 3.9lbs
rigs: mainly dropshot and jigheads for the softplastics.
Lures: various
As I was fishing, I heard a splash a couple meters away and saw an otter looking at me and clearly surprised as much as me by this encounter! After the otter the fish moved further away from the shore and as it was already very hot, i decided to head back home. Although I didn't manage to get more of the bigger specimens, I'm planning to visit the dam soon and hopefully I'll have better luck next time. I thoroughly enjoyed the fishing and got very positive feedback from the new rod even though it was purchased in haste.
