Thread: Yellow Perch Help

Of course I fish a different lake for the yellow perch but lately we've been slaying them on live crawlers and minnows. Fishing around the banks and around cover as usual. My brother actually caught one in open water too.

Large flats (10-20 fow) near weed lines or steep drop offs, that's where I find them on my home water. A 1/8th oz jig tipped with a minnow head or crawler. If you catch one pop it's eye out and tip you jig with it....greatest perch bait around is a perch eye!

Right now here in Michigan the water has cooled down. The Perch start moving into the shallows. We use Perch rigs or a gold hook and slip bobber with minnows. Good Luck.

I am surprised to see some southern lakes have a yellow perch fishery. In the SC lakes we catch them occasionally, but always very small. It seems the further north you go the bigger they get. I would love to catch a mess of decent size ones, they are excellent table fare. Y'all got me wondering if there are some one pounders lurking around and I just don't know how to find them.

Thanks for all of the advice. SeaRay- I am still learning about the habits of Yellow Perch, but i also thought until recently that we didn't have many yellow perch here in alabama. I recently learned that Yellow Perch are also native to the mobile delta, and have been collected there since the mid 1800's. The delta is one of the most southern fisheries in our state, so I am a little baffled by that. But i've caught the Perch bug, and am itching to get me a Jumbo Perch.

As Crappie 1 Mentioned, here in Michigan, when water cools, the perch on our inland lakes move shallow. They put on the feeds bags before winter so they can fatten up for the spring spawn. Many of the fish we catch right now are loaded with eggs for the spring time.

As for catching them, I like a gold hook and a minnow under a bobber. If they get finicky, I clip them in half. Also, we use a fair amount of night crawlers over dead or dying weed beds and weed edges. Using a crawler harness with two hooks, we send them behind the boat (without a weight) and run the trolling motor on .3 or .4 mph. I usually set the motor and put the bait in the water next to the boat to ensure I have the right speed and the bait isn't sinking or porpoising to much. If need be, I run a small split shot. I alter my rigs and blades until I find the right combo.

Some lakes have big numbers but small fish, others have smaller numbers but bigger fish. Find one, you will find more. I caught 6 off from one tiny weed in 5 ft of water a couple weeks ago. All over 11 inches long!

Can't wait for my MI ice trip. PM lake then to the UP to LBD. Not many perch around me here, like searay stated...may catch one or two here and there.

When we were traveling in our RV we spent a week in the UP. That is a unique place. If you want to see what America looked like 150 years ago, visit the UP. It is a wild, remote, and beautiful place. Can't imagine being up there in the winter, snow about 4 ft. deep.
Ernest Hemingway's famous story, "Big Two Hearted River" was set up there.