A good picture of the running ledger rig. 

 

Welcome to the forum ,when you went up to Lake Ototoa last time,

 What methods were you using (flyfishing or spinning)?

 What type of lures or flys were you using?

 What time of year was it?

Some of the best spots in Ototoa are really only reachable by Boat.

 Perch are are quite an aggressive feeder and I have caught them on most of the patterns you would use for Trout in Ototoa the main food for predators up there would be Inanga,s or small fry from other fish(Perch and Rudd) so a good start would be a lure or streamer fished on a sinking line.

As far as lures go I would be looking at some of these fancy new Rubber inventions that are everywhere now.

  

If I was a retailer I would recomend Rapala lures as well considering their so expensive and its possible to lose a few lures in a few casts if your fishing the right spots near snags or under trees.

 In my opinion for spinning off the bank around the margins and multitudes of snags which Perch seem to love to hang out in so they can ambush their prey you get a lot more action out of rubber(unscented versions) or even your Veltic type lures , remember to take the trebles off and replace them with a single good quality hook then sweeten that hook up a bit by sliding on a few Worm sections. 

You can buy good Quality sinking dull coloured braid now not sure what you are using but if its your Flouresent floating braid that the boys use to fish washes with softbaits that could cause you problems.

A boat will open up so much more water for you in a multitude of lakes around New Zealand and is a great investment and a little electric motor is also handy if your keen to troll lures a lot of lakes have a ban on any other type of outboard .

 

Summer time seems to be best probaly because of all the small fry around if you start getting strikes there are always more there as they like to shoal up.

Good luck let us know how you get on Lake Pupuke is also a good Perch spot and a bit closer to home.

Live baits produce the most big fish including big eels, spinning and plug baits are sucessful in clearer water, fly fishing with large sparkle nymphs works well as do mini marabou jigs. By far the most successful is paternostering with large worms in the holes in the weed jungle or under the old man willows. Look for water with steady flow, a clean bottom and with a depth of 5 to 6 ft. Drop the rig in and wait no more than 5 minutes before moving on. Sometimes a couple of feet is enough to find a fish. Don't forget the big boys are usually loners having out lived their shoal members or eaten them. The best paternoster rig I find is a long link running ledger, aim to get the bait an inch or two above the bottom and on feeling the bite slacken off by dropping the rod tip, when the fish is felt lift into it. Big perch take their time on a sure meal like a static worm so do not hurry the strike!

Good luck, specimen perch are well worth while and big baits help to target the big boys.