Pamlico Perch

Long time lurker here. I have gotten so much help here that I have decided to start contributing.
My Dad and I had never been to the coast for the Yellow Perch bite so decided to book a trip. That is no easy undertaking since most people fish for stripers out there this time of year. I called captain Gary from Spec Fever and he was kind enough to refer me to Captain Mitchell from FishIBX. Captain Mitchell was up to the task and after some scouting found some perch for us.
Our trip was 1/25 and it was a beatiful day with strong sun and nearly zero wind. We caught three perch over a pound and lost several really good bites. We ended up with 10 yellows, 1 white, 3 speckled, 2 LM (1/2 released), 3 dogfish (released), and 1 Stripe (released). Not bad for a post front day. The scenery was beautiful, I was absolutely amazed at the quality of yellow perch to be had, and they did not disappoint at the dinner table.
I'm already planning my next trip down there.
I'd like to thank Captain Mitchell for the work he put in finding the fish for us. He is a stand up guy and a real people person. I have had multiple bad encounters with charter operators, but he totally redeemed the lot.
Attachment 188143Attachment 188144Attachment 188145

Sha Zam!

Welcome to the site from Liberty

Mitch is a really good fisherman good at guiding folks and a really nice guy

He can put you on some awesome striper fishing as well as big trophy red drum.

Very nice! I don't expect an exact answer of where you were, but did you have to go a fair distance up a side creek to find perch or were they not far away from the open water?

That's a great report! Thanks for sharing and welcome to the board!

Welcome aboard YPRob!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My wife and I are moving to the Charlotte area in a few years from Arkansas and I cannot wait to experience some of those huge perch. NC has such a wide variety of fish species. I am counting the days till we move. Awesome!!!

We have 3 or 4 distinct land regions - mountains, Piedmont, sand hills (sometimes counted as part of Piedmont; hence "3 or 4") and coastal plain plus the coast itself so we had a wide variety even before they started trying some various gamefish like walleye and muskie from other places. Yeah, there's a bunch. And if you venture offshore, a few grander (1000+ #) marlin have been caught off our coast, plus plenty of wahoo, tuna, mahi and mackerel. Inshore specs, redfish and flounder.

Nice catch.

Looks like a great day on the water. Those were some jumbos for sure. Weather permitting I'm getting some next weekend.

Forecast I just saw says highs around 40 next weekend but no big system or anything.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OptiMystic

We have 3 or 4 distinct land regions - mountains, Piedmont, sand hills (sometimes counted as part of Piedmont; hence "3 or 4") and coastal plain plus the coast itself so we had a wide variety even before they started trying some various gamefish like walleye and muskie from other places. Yeah, there's a bunch. And if you venture offshore, a few grander (1000+ #) marlin have been caught off our coast, plus plenty of wahoo, tuna, mahi and mackerel. Inshore specs, redfish and flounder.

---

That is awesome. My wife was an Army brat and she grew up in Fayetteville, NC but she is definitely not a fisherman. YET!!! My mother-in-law, on the other hand, was a hardcore angler. However, I never got the opportunity for her to show me any of her NC hotspots before she passed away. Therefore, I look forward to finding several of my own. The number of creeks, rivers, ponds and lakes you guys have is amazing. I love to bass and crappie fish. However, my secret passion is flyfishing for big bream. Do you guys do any of that in NC?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bigbass12

That is awesome. My wife was an Army brat and she grew up in Fayetteville, NC but she is definitely not a fisherman. YET!!! My mother-in-law, on the other hand, was a hardcore angler. However, I never got the opportunity for her to show me any of her NC hotspots before she passed away. Therefore, I look forward to finding several of my own. The number of creeks, rivers, ponds and lakes you guys have is amazing. I love to bass and crappie fish. However, my secret passion is flyfishing for big bream. Do you guys do any of that in NC?

---

Oh yeah! I will PM you; I don't want to upset admins with a link elsewhere...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OptiMystic

Oh yeah! I will PM you; I don't want to upset admins with a link elsewhere...

---

OptiMystic:
I’m the same as BigBass12 in that I am a true fan for Breamand Bluegill.
Could you PM me alsowith good areas for them. I am planningto purchase a 2-man plastic (Bass Buddy, etc.) just to get into smaller pondsto go after the sunfish a few times a year.
Appreciate

Thanks for the PM OptiMystic. I look forward to testing out all the fish your state has to offer.