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A brace of massive perch tops haul for the history books

by Aidan Bordiuk |

Published on4th October 2025 at 9.00am

Grafham Water is well known as one of the best venues to target specimen perch, producing huge fish season after season. However, when you read reports of these captures, you might be forgiven for thinking the water is easy and the perch simply give themselves up, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Very often, anglers visit Grafham and blank, with multiple unsuccessful sessions not uncommon, this was not the case, however, for Rikki Cooper and his good friend Kevin. On their most recent outing, the duo managed to catch a brace of 5lb fish, along with multiple fish exceeding the 4lb barrier, marking one of the most impressive hauls of big perch we have seen.

HEAD TO ONE OF THESE VENUES TO CATCH YOURSELF SOME PERCH ON LURES.

One of the brace of 5lb perch for Rikki

"I had been having lots of success on Grafham reservoir since the season started, catching a few 4lb fish and one at 5lb on a previous trip," Rikki told us.

"Keeping an eye on the weather last week, I decided on a last-minute trip to this huge reservoir, inviting my pal Kevin along, who is relatively new to reservoir dropshot perch fishing," he added.

"We set out to fish the opposite side of the reservoir in around 50ft of water, thoroughly scanning the area with our high tech fish finders. As the boat drifted into slightly shallower water of around 40ft, we started to see fish appearing."

What may surprise some is the size of the lures the duo opted to use on the session were very small, especially when compared to the size of the perch. Rikki favours lures around 5cm long, which he mounts on a size 5 dropshot hook, weight with a 20gm bullet. This allows him to drag the lure slowly along the bottom as the boat drifts, helping him to cover as much water as possible, essential on a big reservoir.

HAVE A LOOK AT SOME OF THESE EXCELLENT LURES TO USE FOR PERCH FISHING.

A selection of the lure Rikki likes to use

"Just as we began to drift into a bay, the rod hooped over with the first fish of the day. What ensued was an epic fight, and for a second I thought it was one of the resident pike, until I saw it through the crystal clear water," He recalled.

"IT WAS A HUGE PERCH! "Get the net!" I shouted to Kev, after a few more diving runs he slipped the net under it and at 5lb 4oz, my personal best for Grafham."

"Back on the drift and I'm in again with another monster perch! Unbelievably, this one even bigger than last at 5lb 5oz. Two five pounders in two drifts and two PB'S, I was in dreamland," Rikki said.

After the exceptional start, the action slowed, and despite a few more drifts through the area, no more bites came in the next hour. Undeterred, the pair continued to fish hard and were soon rewarded with another bite, resulting in a 4lb 14oz perch, bringing their total to an incredible 16lb of perch from just three fish!

IF YOU HAVE NEVER TRIED LURE FISHING, HERE IS A GREAT BEGINNERS GUIDE TO LOOK THROUGH.

Change of spot, change of fortune

"Although I had already landed three great fish, my friend Kev hadn’t had a bite. I convinced him to switch to a lighter setup, similar to what I was using, before we headed over to a new area near the tower. It worked a treat, and it wasn’t long before Kev started catching, with his biggest fish weighing 3lb 15oz."

"Just missing the magic 4lb mark, Kev finished the day with three fish over 3lb, while I had another three fish over 4lb along with some big Zander which was an added bonus. It was a red letter day indeed, one neither of us will ever forget," he concluded.

Kevin coming through strong at the end

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