Few things in fishing are as basic as yellow perch. For the most part this seemingly always cooperative species can be caught in almost any lake with little more than some mainstream bottom fishing rigs and a bucket full of minnows. Thankfully, yellow perch are cooperative most of the time. Unfortunately, what perch offer in the willingness to bite department, they often lack when it comes to size.
Finding perch action isn't so hard, but finding action on big perch can be very difficult. Often, putting a few jumbos in the bucket boils down to some subtle refinements in tackle, tactics and even the baits used.
UNDERSTANDING PERCH
Yellow perch are widespread and one of the most popular panfish in North America. The fact these fish are both common and uncommonly delicious on the table are no doubt the primary reasons this species is sought after year around. Being relatively easy to catch and featuring a generous daily creel limit, is another plus of perch fishing.
Most commonly found in natural lakes with clear to stained water conditions, perch share some of the same habitat preferences and habits as their cousins the walleye and sauger. Perch unlike their cousin the walleye, are bottom orientated most of the time. The foods that perch favor are most commonly found on or near the bottom. Important perch forages include spottail shiners, gobies, sculpin, a host of aquatic insects, crayfish, snails and scuds. The benthic nature of these forage species no doubt is what keeps the yellow perch hanging out near bottom most of the time.
Yellow perch actually share more of the habits of the sauger, another relative of the yellow perch, than of the walleye. Both perch and sauger are primarily bottom feeders. Sauger and perch are commonly found in deeper water than walleye and these two species are more closely related in size.
A big yellow perch is 12 inches long and the average sauger is about the same size. Perch can grow to 15 inches or more, but perch of this size are rare. Sauger rarely top 18 inches in length and three pounds.
Like the walleye, perch are very adaptable and can survive in a wide variety of habitat types. Shallow, soft bottom lakes with lots of weed cover often produce copious amounts of perch. The same can be said for deeper lakes that are made up primarily of sand, gravel and rock bottom substrate.
Perch often spawn in still or moving water, usually over a sand, gravel or silt bottom littered with dead weeds or sunken brush. Perch stage near their spawning areas in early spring, but their eggs aren't normally deposited until the water temperature reaches about 50 degrees. In a typical year, about half of the eggs laid in jelly like clusters will hatch into tiny fry. A young perch grows quickly in lakes that have plenty of zooplankton and other food types. By the end of the first year the average perch is three or four inches long. In the second year they add another three inches, two more inches in the third season and about one additional inch thereafter.
This stated the typical eight inch "eater" sized perch is about three years old in most waters. Jumbo sized perch often require six or more years to reach 12 inches in length.
BEYOND THE BASIC BOTTOM RIG
Catching yellow perch often boils down to using common spreader rigs designed to present two hooks and two baits near the bottom. A typical "perch" rig is made of heavy monofilament line about 24 inches in length. On the bottom is a clip that accepts a bell sinker. A few inches above this weight a second clip holds a snelled hook. A few more inches up the rig a second snelled hook is position. A barrel swivel normally terminates the rig and provides a place to attach the main line.
Most commercially produced "perch" rigs come with two No. 8 or No. 6 snelled aberdeen style hooks. The small hooks on a perch rig pose a number of problems.
First, these small hooks are often swallowed by aggressive perch as they feed, making it difficult to unhook caught fish quickly. Also, deep hooked fish must be kept regardless of size.
Secondly, small hooks do a poor job of hooking the majority of the perch that bite. A larger No. 4 or even No. 2 sized hook is a better choice for both hooking and easily releasing unwanted perch.
The typical snelled hook features a monofilament leader about eight inches long. This is just enough line to allow the snelled hook to tangle frequently with the main line or the body of the rig. Shortening up the snelled hook leader to about three or four inches, reduces tangling problems substantially.
Another trick for getting the most from spreader rigs is to select a bell sinker that's just large enough to maintain contact with bottom. Using too heavy a weight deadens the feel of the rig and makes detecting light bites more difficult.
Most perch anglers use the typical spreader rig, but a slightly different approach can add bonus fish to the bucket. Wire spreaders that feature a hoop shaped length of wire are designed to be fished near the bottom, but not touching the bottom.
The hoop style spreader accepts a snelled hook at each end of the wire and the main line attaches in the middle, just above a small weight connected to the hoop. The rig balances in the water and the slightest nibble enables the rig to tip and feed line to the fish. In effect, perch can bite without feeling any resistance.
Hoop style spreaders are very effective at catching perch when they are biting exceptionally light. The down side is that most of the fish hooked will have the bait and hook deep in their throat. Using larger sized snell hooks helps to reduce this problem.
THE BAIT DEBATE
Most perch anglers are fond of fishing with small minnows. In the Great Lakes region the common emerald shiner is without question the most popular choice among perch anglers who favor minnows. This small and silvery shiner is a top perch bait, but tough to keep on the hook. Most anglers hook their minnow through the lips and head. The slightest nibble tears the bait free.
Instead when using shiners hook the minnow behind the head with the hook point facing forward. The skin of the shiner is tough enough to prevent the minnow from being easily stripped from the hook. Also, with the hook in this position, most of the fish that bite will be hooked in the top of the mouth.
Another issue when fishing with small minnows is to always keep bait handy for everyone who is fishing. Perch are schooling fish and aggressive feeders. One way to keep them interested is to always keep lots of bait in the water. The moment there is no bait in the water, you run the risk of the school moving on to greener pastures.
Rather than using one centrally located bait bucket, use several smaller buckets in front of each angler. This speeds up the baiting process and keeps the perch interested longer.
Wigglers are another popular perch bait, especially early in the spring. A wiggler is the larva stage of an aquatic insect and perch love them.
Aquatic insects make up a significant percentage of the annual diet for yellow perch. Without this unique link in the food chain, perch find it difficult to grow large enough to eventually target minnow and other larger prey species.
Even as adults, yellow perch readily gorge themselves on wigglers. Unfortunately the wiggler body is soft and easily slurped from a fishing hook. Hooking two wigglers at a time helps to slow down the inevitable bait stealing perch are so well known for.
Crayfish are yet another perch bait that is popular in many areas. Crayfish are almost always expensive and sometimes hard to find at bait shops. Most anglers use just the tail of the crayfish. This prevents the live crayfish from crawling into rocks or other debris and snagging the line.
Just as effective as crayfish, anglers can substitute fresh frozen, raw shrimp as perch bait. Buy shrimp at the grocery store in one pound frozen packages. Using a sharp knife, cut the shrimp into pieces about 1/2 inch long and store them in plastic butter containers. Keep the shrimp frozen until it's time to fish and after fishing, refreeze any left over shrimp.
A butter tub full of shrimp pieces will supply enough bait for several anglers to fish all day. Because the shrimp stays on the hook very well, numerous fish can be caught without having to rebait. This in turn also keeps the perch hanging around and increases the catch rate.
Of course shrimp are expensive by the pound, but when you take into consideration how long this bait lasts an argument could be made that shrimp actually costs less than using wigglers or minnows.
Regardless of the cost, shrimp works great at targeting perch bites. No doubt the perch are mistaking the shrimp for crayfish, one of their favorite foods.
THE HUNT
Any good perch fishermen will tell you the secret to success is to hunt for those large roaming schools of adult fish. The best way to find perch is with a color sonar unit that makes it easy to separate fish from the bottom signal.
Big screen, high resolution color sonar units do such a fine job of isolating perch, it's hard to imagine using anything else. Because perch are so often found in relatively deep water, cruising slowly while monitoring the sonar is the only practical way to locate fish.
Schools of perch near the bottom don't mark as individual fish hooks, but rather as clouds coming up off the bottom several feet. When a solid school of fish has been located, drop a marker float on the spot, idol up wind a little and prepare to drop the anchor.
ANCHORING TIPS
The science of anchoring is something every perch angler must master. Using too light an anchor and not enough anchor line are the primary reasons that perch anglers struggle with this straight forward means of boat control.
A navy or dan forth style anchor holds well in almost all bottom types. To insure these anchors bite quickly, add about three or four feet of plastic coated chain in front of the anchor.
Regardless of anchor type, heavy anchors hold better and with less line out than lighter anchors. A typical 18 foot fishing boat will require at least a 15 pound anchor and a 20 pound model does a better job.
Anchor rope is another issue. Plan on having at least 100-150 foot of quality 1/2 inch diameter anchor line available. A good rule of thumb is to use a factor of five when determining how much line to play out. To anchor effectively in 20 feet of water can take up to 100 feet of line in windy conditions.
Unless the weather is calm, anchor off the bow of the boat. Once the anchor hits bottom, play out line and watch the sonar unit for signs the boat is drifting over top of the fish. Once you start marking fish, tie off the line and start fishing. If necessary, play out more line occasionally to relocate the school or to target a different part of the school.
BOAT NOISE
Most anglers are careful not to generate any unnatural noise when fishing. The sound of a tackle box hitting the hull carries in the water like a rifle shot.
Ironically, a little quality noise in the water isn't a bad thing when perch fishing. Perch are curious fish that can actually be attracted with a variety of low frequency sounds.
After anchoring, most anglers turn off the boat engine and start fishing. The next time you're targeting perch, try leaving the boat engine running at idol. The low frequency sound waves produced can actually improve fishing success.
The low rumble of an I/O style engine produces the best perch attracting sound, but even an outboard motor can be attractive to schooling perch. Keeping the engine idling, staying on fish and making sure there is lots of bait in the water are the critical aspects of perch fishing success.
If the action dies off, don't be afraid to pull the anchor and resume the hunt until another cloud of perch is located near bottom. Perch will bite readily all day long. One thing about perch fishing never seems to change. Catching them is usually not nearly as difficult as finding them.
MARK'S FAVORITE PERCH RECIPE:
Perch have a delicate flavor and they cry out for a subtle, slightly crunchy batter and deep frying. Start out by mixing equal parts of corn meal and white flour. Add some pepper, garlic powder and a little Lowry's seasoning salt to the mix.
Put three or four inches of vegetable oil in a deep fryer or dutch oven and bring to 375 degrees. Perch taste best when scaled and filleted with the skin on. Pat each fillet dry with a paper towel and dredge in the corn meal/flour mixture.
Drop the dredged fillets into the hot grease and cook until they float on the surface. Pop the fillets out of the grease and drain them on some paper towel. Keep the fish hot in a warm oven until every batch is cooked.
Let the grease return to temperature before putting in the next batch.
Perch taste best when served with creamy cole slaw, fresh bread rolls and your favorite beverage. Left over perch (this rarely happens) are great the next day heated up on a bun with a slice of cheese.
little more than some mainstream bottom fishing rigs and a bucket full of minnows. Thankfully, yellow perch are cooperative most of the time. Unfortunately, what perch offer in the willingness to bite department, they often lack when it comes to size.
Most perch anglers are fond of fishing with small minnows. In the Great Lakes region the common emerald shiner is without question the most popular choice among perch anglers who favor minnows. This small and silvery shiner is a top perch bait, but tough to keep on the hook. Most anglers hook their minnow through the lips and head. The slightest nibble tears the bait free.
Perch have a delicate flavor and they cry out for a subtle, slightly crunchy batter and deep frying. Start out by mixing equal parts of corn meal and white flour. Add some pepper, garlic powder and a little Lowry's seasoning salt to the mix.
