Thread: perch

Catching perch is no different than catching any species of pan fish; finding them is a different story.

First off find a panfish lure that is light or heavy enough to fish slow enough so that the lure stays within fish eye sight longer. The lure should have a finesse action, especially when used on a slow, gliding retrieve or when vertical jigged. Jig heads rigged with soft plastics are my usual choice Examples are small 2" tubes and curl tail grubs (though I pour three plastic designs that catch many species and usually over thirty fish 100 % of the time I go out).

Line size is important and figure on using 4-6# test leaders or main line for the purpose of making sure the lure action is not impeded by a too large a diameter line.

Your rod should be sensitive to slight taps and light action is usually best because even large perch may hit very light. Of course, always look for line bows or tightening. Once a strike it detected, I usually raise the rod tip high while at the same time reeling fast. This is not a hook setting method because the fish panics and sets the hook for you (as long as the hook is super sharp).

Fish can be shallow or deep - finding where is just a matter of fishing both depths after locating some fish on your sonar. If you can fish a shallow lake known for it's decent variety of pan fish to include perch, fish it. Hopefully the bottom is varied meaning that it contains small areas of vegetation, flats that are shallow and of medium depth, hard and soft bottoms, mid lake humps, shoals around islands, points, etc.

For perch, I like open water more than hitting shore lines. Once I find a depth pattern (shallow or a bit deeper), I stay with it fishing parallel to shore. I live close to an incredible perch lake that has some 15' depths, but many productive depths of 4-8'. I've fished mostly flats in that depth range all summer and caught well over 200 perch, many 10" or better. Once perch are found, fish the same spot over and over - perch (and crappie) many times are in tight groups or in decent size schools. Once one fish is caught, most likely others in that small area will turn on and account for three fish per minute. Perch may school by size of be of a certain size range in one 100 yard area, but usually smaller fish will also be caught.

Don't hesitate to fish completely around the boat to locate other fish, especially once perch are the predominant species being caught in an area. My search presentation in 4' is to swim the lure with slight rod twitches until I get hit. If the sonar shows fish in 8' or more, I'll vertical jig, holding the boat stationary with the trolling motor if there is a wind. I try not to use the anchor when vertical jigging and only anchor when swimming a lure on long casts to cover a lot of water. Don't be surprised when perch hit the lure at the boat and if so, vertical jig with hops and pauses until it strikes again. My lure of choice matched with the proper hook size (2,4 or 6) and weight (1/8, 1/16, 1/32).



and modified curl tail grub



And a few fish caught recently:





white perch in the same lake:


crappie on the same outing:



sonar indicator of fish never to be ignored:



Didn't mean to write a book, but pan fish are my favorite fish to target even more that bass. Ignore what you already know and use anything else of value.

Frank