Get Hooked on Fishing’s James Thornhill has been getting to know the perch population on the canals to the west of London and certainly appears to have cracked it lately.

Fishing short sessions he’s landed stripeys to over 3lb, fishing simply with a 8/10gr jig heads and plasticperch patterns.

Said James, who runs the GHOF project at Ealing: “I’ve recently decided to target a new stretch of canal I know to hold a good head of big perch, but as well as being large they seem to be particularly striking fish. I whittle the body of the lures down to slim them out and am finding that the key is to cover the canal as quickly as possible.

“If there are fish in front of you and you’ve got the lure right, takes are within a few casts. Interestingly the largest fish from both sessions have come from the same peg – they were clearly different fish but an inflow of water seems to draw the predators in at this particular location.”