Wintertime White Perch...HELP!

After concentrating my efforts on fly fishing for many years, I felt the urge to get my boat out on Falls Lake and try to catch some fish for a “food challenged” family. From what I was able to find on the internet, I thought white perch would be the best target…good eating, easy to catch a bunch when you get into them AND helping reduce the population of a problem species. I searched the web for everything I could find on wintertime white perch fishing, especially on the lakes around Raleigh. I went out last week on Falls Lake; found bait balls with larger fish suspended in 25’+; used the vertical jigging techniques shown in this video Showing Rig Used To Catch White Perch - YouTube AND CAUGHT NOTHING! Surface water temp around 47 degrees. A humbling experience!

I’d like to try again tomorrow since the weather/temps look good. I need your help, please! I’m not asking for your honey hole, just your input on how to catch keeper-size white perch this time of year in Falls, Kerr, Jordan or Harris Lakes.

My best lake for white perch has been Harris. The three I caught below were in warm weather and the massive amount caught in one throw of a cast net was also warm weather. Not sure how to target them this time of year.

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The ones I caught couple weeks back were in the channel near bottom in 30+ foot water. Massive school of fish there.

Cold water fish are a little slower. Try night crawlers cut into 1" pieces.

I caught a bunch at Ferrington bridge on the bottom with night crawlers cut in pieces.
That was about 2 to 3 weeks ago.

JordanLimit
That's a slab perch for sure. You could stick two thumbs in his mouth. Gaston has given me some jumbo perch this year but mostly around 11".

Lowball check your PM box. Got a little info for you. :highfive

Floating K9--if you don't mind me asking, did you get any bluegill or shellcracker with those perch? A year ago with the LiveScope I saw the channel near Farrington like a beehive it was so active with fish. Never had a chance to go back, but there sure was a lot of activity in the bottom of the channel. I always thought they were probably gizzard shad, but maybe it is panfish in there.

Jordon limit Caught 1 bluegill.
I was also on live scope . The bottom lit up like a Xmas tree. Saw fish heading to the bottom. Used night crawlers and hit the bottom with it and slowly brought it up and they chased after it.

We fished for about an hour or less and ran out of worms. It was also time to leave.

We caught about 15 or 20 and 1 was a bluegill.

Thanks to all you who provided suggestions! I only managed to get out for about 2 hours yesterday and had to fish Falls Lake because of my time limitations. I did try tight lining minnows on the bottom but had no luck. I really want to get to Jordan and Harris Lakes which I think have better populations of crappie and white perch. Apparently it is going to take awhile to get the hang of it! My next trip will be to Farrington and I will have some night crawlers!

My two favorite baits for white perch are just a simple 1/4 oz Hopkins spoon and a 1/16oz jighead with a 2.5" Gulp minnow. I also like a double hook rig with a 1/8 oz drop shot weight and Gulp minnows on the two hooks. Yesterday I had three dozen minnows and caught all my fish on the Gulps. They wouldn't eat the minnows. On Gaston this time of year perch are in the deeper main lake basin and deep creek channels. Yesterday I was catching them in 50 plus feet of water. But wherever the shad schools go the perch will follow.

Mustfish, what color Gulp minnow do you use, if I may ask?

The gulps i use are in the bag at Wal-Mart. They're dark grayish on top with a white belly. Supposed to look like a regular minnow i guess.

Lowball, if you need fish to donate to a challenged family, I have striper filets I’d be willing to donate. PM me if interested.

Chris


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Often they are there, they just don't want to eat. Winter is can be more hit or miss than other times of the year. Harris can be especially frustrating, it seems Harris is a bit of a drive for you, you could very well get to Harris and experience the exact same problem. If you do go to Harris, look around for where the majority of other boats are set up and find a similar spot (similar depth, verify bait and fish on your electronics). I'm not saying go fish on top of anyone but the other boats tend to hint at the right depth and locations to start looking.

Also, minnows are more fail safe than lures. If they are biting, lures work great, but if they aren't in a great mood, minnows will get you more bites especially in winter. If conditions are calm, I like to fish a double hook rig with as light of a split shot as I can get a way with. It takes forever to drop the bait to the bottom but it's worth the effort, they will bite on this rig when all else fails. I think the minnows just float around near the bottom, look natural, and also look stunned which attracts the bite.

ppowell

Yep, Harris would be a bit of drive, but I am determined to continue trying catch some white perch! Having been frustrated at Falls, Harris is a possibility. I have been using minnows. Thanks for the suggestion to use a light weight...minnows floating around more naturally makes some sense.

I troll with 4 rods and 1 1/2 oz. bottom bouncing weight and 2 hooks spaced about a foot apart above. Once I find a school I spot lock on them. Sometimes you can sit there and load boat others you have to keep moving around in the area. I troll between .7 to 1 mph.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Super7

I troll with 4 rods and 1 1/2 oz. bottom bouncing weight and 2 hooks spaced about a foot apart above. Once I find a school I spot lock on them. Sometimes you can sit there and load boat others you have to keep moving around in the area. I troll between .7 to 1 mph.

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You are spot on for Lake Wylie technique. We move at around .5 mostly! Usually, we use 3/4 to a 1 once to keep lines down. I use circle hooks size 1/0 for bests hook ups and not much swallowing of the hooks. :highfive