Thread: White perch

I will be out in the kayak next weekend testing my new fish finder looking for bait balls to try jigging a blade deep (someone I know has been cleaning up the last few weeks doing that). If that goes well, I suspect a large number of hookups to be perch. I would whine a lot less about them if I could consistently catch pounders. Nice work!

Originally Posted by hockey86

What are you guys doing with the white perch you catch at Jordan and Harris? I've been told numerous times to never throw them back because there are so many. I typically keep the bigger ones because they are good to eat plus I keep a few small ones to use for catfish bait. People probably thought I was keeping a bunch of under-sized crappie this weekend but they were all white perch. Have any of the wildlife studies shown a high population? Just curious.

Hi Hockey86,
Banjo Mo and I spoke to you late Sunday afternoon. We kept 14 crappie and 14 white perch all nice fish. Banjo thinks he doesn't like white perch so I kept the perch and gave him the crappie. I ended up with a gallon bag of filets from the 14 fish. we ate half of them last night and they were as good as any fried fish I've ever eaten. I kill the real small ones and throw them back in the water and eat the larger ones. They remind of salt water whiting. Easy to clean, not a lot of waste and taste great.

I kill the real small ones and throw them back in the water

Are you sure that is legal? I am not questioning whether or not it makes sense; I actually think it does as long as they aren't washing up all over the place. Plenty of catfish and turtles appreciate it. But it might be a ticketable offense. I am kind of torn about what to do with the little ones.

It was good to talk to you guys too. I ended up catching a few decent crappie right at dark. You can send Banjo some crappie fillets and have him send you striper fillets from Tennessee.

Not sure about the legal thing or not but as soon as they hit the water the Herons are right there to snatch them up. Usually they are flying to the boat before you even get them off the hook. I've filleted some pretty small ones and still get decent meat from them.

They never go to waste or pollute the water when you throw dead ones back. The birds and catfish are waiting in line for them. I even had an eagle get one I threw back at Harriss few years ago

It is legal and is recommended by the Biologist working for Duke Energy. Kill all that you catch. I don't but then again, I have an interest in catching them often and help fill coolers with the bigger ones all year. I figure if I turn the little ones loose, they will get a cooler ride the next year anyway from someone.

For some reason, the White Perch in Harris only bite lures every now and then. I always catch the biggest ones - 1.5 - 2.5 pounds on cut bait. Shad is the best, but cut perch works too.

I think white perch will eat just about anything. I do know this, if I buy 10-12 dozen minnows and I'm trolling 8 to 12 rods, through a school of white perch I move on, because they will clean out a minnow bucket real quick!!! But like Greg is saying, the big ones at Harris are fun to catch!!

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In late summer to early fall I had a couple of trips where I would get one on every cast more than 5 casts in a row with a small lipless crank. I also catch a lot on curly tailed grubs.

The next time I troll thru some perch I'm gonna throw a jig or 2 out and see what happens. They can put up a good fight.

I really thought I had a monster crappie this weekend. Maybe one of those 3 pounders you guys encounter often. I had a hard time identifying this crappie though. No scales, whiskers and kept grunting at me.

Hey wait a minute did you say whiskers? ������