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Hey folks. I am going to Inland Lake and then Lake Guntersville in the next couple weeks, and would love to catch a few yeller perch with my crappie. I have only ever accidentally caught one on a road runner jig, never targeted them. What techniques do you guys use to find the fish? What kind of rigs?
Where do the yellow perch tend to go as the water cools down in fall? Any advice would be much appreciated. Aaron
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. White Flag Icon
Ernest Hemingway's famous story, "Big Two Hearted River" was set up there.
It was fun to say the least. Here is a few shots from up that way.
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Looks like fun. Ever since I saw Grumpy Old Men (my favorite movie) I have wanted to try ice fishing..............but in one of those heated shacks, preferably with Rachel Welch in there with me.
I did have a chance to spend a week camping on a remote Canadian lake just after ice out. Love the Walleye and SM Bass, but if I never catch another Northern Pike, it will be too soon.
Perch are a blast! Here's a few piles from this summer and last winter.
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Man that looks like fun!
Two excellent lures for yellow perch are kastmaster and swedish pimple spoons. I prefer the 1/4 oz and smaller. Can use as they come but I prefer to remove treble hook and replace with size 6 gold hook. Some attach dropper hook with dropper line of 3 inches. I just use the split ring that the treble hook used.
Yellow perch feed right at bottom or very close to it. Very very rarely do they suspend like crappie. They will on occasion but it is rare. So the lure I just described tip the hook with small minnow . head of minnow or a bit of worm. Let lure contact bottom and stir up a cloud of debris . Then lift lure up about a foot or less. The cloud of debris draw perch in. I think it signals other perch feeding. If perch are in area they will bite this rig. Up north here in Yankee land they refer to them as search lures. I call them perch killers. But have caught many other species on them also.
1/4 oz. Silver Buddies. :)
Small Husky Jerks over weed beds.
Attachment 181679one thing nice about living near chicago-lake michigan lake perch.these are technically yellow perch but have a more muted color than the inland perch and behave a little differently.we catch these on crappie rigs with chunks of raw shrimp fished off the seawalls.they come in around thanksgiving and move in and out depending on the wind and water clarity.when a school moves in you can catch your limit of 15 in a hurry.they are about the best eating fish there is.