Story and photography by Jonathan Boulton
This story is a continuation of Lake Nasser from Issue 21 of This is Fly

Techniques for catching Nile perch on fly are a little thin on the ground, and although I did a lot of research and fished hard throughout my investigatory trip in May of this year, I am by no means an authority. I arrived on Lake Nasser in Southern Egypt with many preconceived ideas, some originating from other anglers some formulated in my own mind. Perch are deep dwelling predators and I thought my approach would be simple – unceremoniously chucking flies the size of a Yorkshire Terrier on a fast sinking line and hoping the guides would be putting us in the right spot! Well it turned out to be a little more complex and a lot more intriguing than that.

Nile perch is a structure orientate ambush predator. Stocky and powerfully built with huge paddle like fins made for short bursts of acceleration and a dustbin like mouth for inhaling its unsuspecting prey before it has any idea of what is going on. However things were not as simple as identifying likely looking structure and covering it.

SHORE FISHING:
At different times of the day and night the perch’s behaviour varied considerably. Although we did not fish at night I am positive they are nocturnally active, cruising the edges and drop offs and chasing down prey. Sunrise saw the fish retiring to their bolt holes and overhangs, these could be quite predictably covered in the blistering mid morning heat. By early afternoon the fish would start cruising and holding in open water again. This was an excellent time to get up on a bit if higher ground and walk the steep points and ledges looking for fish. Best done as a team, the man who is ‘rod up’ should be a little lower so that he can see the fish coming yet clamber down to a casting position and ready himself in time. Rocky points were very effective; especially those on the windward side that received a battering form the waves. This I believe is because the stirred up water attract small bream and baitfish, but more importantly the chop provides cover for the ambushing perch.

This theory was confirmed one still day when the water was like glass and I observed small to medium sized perch (5 -15 pounds ) holding in and amongst shoals of basking bream. I threw well presented flies and they received little response except for maybe the odd flaring of fins. It was reminiscent of seeing a well fed lion in the heat of the day lying up while grazing impala saunter only feet away but clearly aware things could change at the flick of a switch. We returned later that afternoon to the same spot, the wind had got up the shoals of bream had dissipated and the holding and cruising fish we saw asked no questions when they were shown the fly!

BOAT FISHING:
This was the guides preferred modus operandi, but I feel this was mostly due to the fact that most of the conventional fishing is done from the boat and this was their comfort zone. There is no doubt that a boat drifting parallel to the shore or over submerged islands and structure showing on the fish finder was a good way to cover water. However no really good sized fish, ( anything over 16 pounds ) were landed form the boat. I can’t help but feel because Nile perch are an apex predator, they have very little else to fear except mankind, hence motors and someone banging around in a boat, sound alarm bells to fish in the shallows.

TEASING:
Throwing hookless rapalas was looked upon sceptically by our Arab guides on arrival but their effectiveness for showing fish soon had them convinced. Although I do not advocate the regular teasing of fish from the shore as I believe in the long run it affects their susceptibility to the fly. However I felt teasing from the shore could be justified due to the experimental nature of our trip and the need to learn. As the sun got up I found the fish holding deeper and deeper, casting blind to cover this amount of water with heavy rods and flies would have been exhausting and a well worked teaser could effectively be used to make the fish rush from its ambush point and ‘flash’ at the lure. As long as the fish was not allowed to touch the lure ( this would send it sulking into the darkness ) one could mark where the fish was and carefully line up a well presented cast, allowing the fly to sink sufficiently and cover the spot from where the fish emerged.

We cast diving rapalas on a shock section of 60 pound maxima mono, stiff 5 ft ‘ugly sticks’ and shimano baitrunners loaded with 200m of 35 pound braid. An effort was made to try and match the size colour and profile of the flies with the teasing rapalas as closely as possible, but as the ‘switch’ was not so much the issue as the fish just showing itself where it was holding, we ended up opting for bright orange and chartreuse rapalas which could be seen easier at depth and distance so one could follow the path of the lure and react early to a showing fish.

TACKLE:
On our exploratory trip there were a couple of American anglers, one of whom had fished the lake on fly the year before. They mostly opted for 9 and 10 weight rods and did very well with fish up to 35 pounds. The South African delegates chose heavier 12 weight rods, primarily because we are more accustomed to throwing heavier rods, but also because of the niggling feeling that although a 9 weight was easier on the shoulder and could handle most of the fish caught, every now and then a fish of over 60 pounds would cruise past and a one would feel very under-gunned with a 9wt!

Lines provided a bit of a quandary, fish were always fairly deep, whether cruising or holding, they would be in around 10 feet of water. So, one had to make fairly accurate, well presented casts, while getting the fly down as quickly as possible. I used a variety of shooting heads, and full sink lines, my favourite and most productive was a Lee Wulff type 3 sink line, it loaded quickly, presented well and sank at a good rate. As far as reels are concerned any rugged saltwater reel will do the job, not once were we stripped into our backing as Perch are dogged fighters remaining at close quarters the whole time. However once hooked they need to be stopped from getting back into structure and nothing short of an excellent drag system will suffice.

Leaders also were an area of debate. Our American counterparts used intricate leaders with butt sections, thinner class sections with thick abrasion resistant shock sections. I found this not only unnecessarily complicated but too many weak spots in the system. Emulating the simplicity of the leaders we use for GT’s in the Seychelles I found a level length of 80 pound maxima perfect, especially when a hooked fish would turn tail and try and head back under a sharp overhang.

Flies could given two approaches, big and bright, not really looking like much and relying on pure aggression on the fishes behalf, much like a hot orange rapala would. The other approach was more imitative flies. Big profile bream imitations with large eyes and drab beige and olive flanks, there is no doubt that both worked, but it must be said I felt more confident and kept on the imitative flies longer and caught more fish with them.

Other gear essential for this trip include a boga grip, quality light weight flats clothing and above all the best pair of flats boots you can get your hands on. I had a new pair of a very well known flats boots and after 10 days of rock hopping and scrambling around hot, sharp sandstone they looked how I felt!

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