Perch fishing: coloured water lure tips

It’s January, and it’s rained constantly for over a week. Unfortunately, this isn’t unusual and it’s a problem that’s not going to go away! It seems to happen every year! We love our lure fishing for perch and we’re desperate to get out there! We would usually wait for it to recover, but the end of the river season will arrive soon enough and time is not on our side. Here’s a few things we might try when perch fishing in coloured water with lures.

Flood water perch fishing — Every winter we’re faced with flood water

Lure colours – create a silhouette

The obvious thing to discuss here is the colour of your lures. Personally, I like to create a strong silhouette in the coloured water. Therefore, I’ll be reaching for a lure that is either very light in colour or very dark. I want to create a strong contrast to hopefully increase the chances of a perch seeing the lure.

Perch fishing in coloured water — A dark lure to create a silhouette
Alternatively, white to also create contrast

White perch lures in coloured water — A dark lure to create a silhouette
Alternatively, white to also create contrast

Create some noise!

Another tactic is to create some noise! A popular technique involves utilising glass beads on a Texas Rig. The movement in this rig will create a clicking sound as the bead hits the weight. If the perch can’t see the lure, then we maybe we need to focus in on their other senses to try and get a reaction.

Perch glass beads — Glass beads to add noise
Glass bead on a Texas Rig

Texas rig for perch fishing in coloured water — Glass beads to add noise
Glass bead on a Texas Rig

Clicker Clip-ons

These snap swivels that have built-in glass beads and can be used on the end of your fluorocarbon leader or trace. A very neat way to attract these predators using sound in coloured water, with a convenient lure clip.

Glass rattles in soft plastics

Adding rattles is an alternative way to create noise in your lures. Small glass rattles can be easily inserted into soft plastics. These can be added to Shads or Creaturebaits.

glass rattles lures — Glass rattles for soft plastics

Here, I’m insert the rattle into a creature bait, but they can be added to any soft lure that you wish to use.

noise lure fishing — A rattle inserted into a creature bait

Using scent

Applying some scent to your lures when perch fishing in flood conditions is a great idea. Again, if they are visually impaired by the coloured water then it feels logical to try and tune into their other senses.

mikes anchovy oil in coloured water — Anchovy oil to create scent

Just apply a small squirt into a packet of lures and this will boost them up nicely. Leave them sitting in the oil for a while before then giving them a go!

scenting lures for perch — Scent being added to a packet of lures

Hard baits

You could also try lures that have a natural rattle to them such as crackbaits or jerkbaits. These rattle quite aggressively and displace a lot of water. They’re hard to ignore in coloured flood water and they don’t necessarily need to be fished fast. I like to move them quite aggressively to create a bit of noise, but then inject plenty of pauses into my retrieve. Definitely worth a try, especially if it’s fairly mild and not freezing cold.

The video below covers how I like to fish the Strike King KVD 200 Jerkbait in winter. It’s a great way to get the fishes attention with a strong jerk, but then apply pauses because the water maybe cold and they often hit the lure when it’s static.

Move onto the canal

I have found that the canal with a slower flow sometimes copes better after loads of rain. The water doesn’t seem to colour up as much and moving onto the canals has resulted in some nice perch in the past.

lure fishing canals — Lure fishing on the canal
A nice perch caught after a move on the canal

Try stillwaters

Similarly, stillwaters are definitely not as affected by flood water through winter. It’s worth researching and exploring to have a few stillwaters to fall back on when the rivers look completely unfishable. Some of my biggest perch have come from stillwaters, so don’t ignore these and see flooded rivers as an opportunity to target those big stillwater tanks!

big stillwater perch — A nice lump for a stillwater

Switch species

Of course, you could switch species! Sometimes I see it as an opportunity to target other winter species like pike. After perching quite hard it’s quite nice to switch things up. I will often use larger lures and move onto the big lakes in search of a big croc or two!

pike fishing lea valley — Rivers were wrecked, so onto the lakes after pike!

Head to a chalkstream

If all else fails and you REALLY want to fish a river then maybe head to a chalkstream. I tend to head to either Hampshire or Dorset and have several spots that are very rarely affected by flood water. They don’t colour up anywhere near as much as my local rivers.

hampshire chalkstream fishing — Wandering a Hampshire chalkstream

You can’t beat wandering the banks of a chalkstream in search of a range of stunning river fish in winter.

grayling fishing hampshire — The grayling, a classic chalkstream species

So, that’s my thoughts on perch fishing in coloured water. I have actually created a video that covers the subject which can be seen below. Don’t punish yourself, keep your options open and good luck with your fishing!