Thread: CK's question on White Perch

Crappiekid posed the question in Charles' post as to where are the White Perch since mostly Crappie were caught.
Good question.
From what I've read, the WP is a cousin of the Striped Bass and White Bass. I also read they spawn earlier than Crappie and pose a threat because they eat so many Crappie fry.
I can only assume the WP make spawning runs in the creeks and rivers like their two cousins.
If that is in fact true, why do you not hear of huge catches of WP in spawning runs?
Most of us that fished for White Bass have been in runs where you caught a fish on almost every cast as the big schools came through on their annual run. Same thing is true for Striped Bass.
There are zillions of WP in most of our reservoirs. I think they have pulled a fast one on us fishermen and are doing something different in the spawn.
We need to figure that out because I suspect there's a spot somewhere that you could wear your arm out on spawning perch.

I ran into a small school on Saturday. They were on a flat at the mouth of a secondary creek. The flat was about 15-17 FOW. The size that were in this school were all bigger females (at least the ones that made the trip home).

Did they still have eggs?

Originally Posted by Fullthrottle

I ran into a small school on Saturday. They were on a flat at the mouth of a secondary creek. The flat was about 15-17 FOW. The size that were in this school were all bigger females (at least the ones that made the trip home).

Sent from my SM-G965U using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

They were full of them.

I keep thinking someone will hit the mother load and put 40-50 big females in the boat, all bursting with eggs. We need to crack that pattern if we ever hope to level the population.

There's a perch run up catawba creek, if you post up on the other side of the bridge 50 yards or so(going towards the back of the creek) and anchor on the edge of the channel, you can generally find lots of jumbos on every drop. Red worms dyed chartreuse with worm glo will get you more bites than you can handle from some big fish. I don't live there anymore and don't mind burning up my honey hole. And quite frankly those perch need heavy harvest from everyone.

I agree that white perch are an invasive species that negatively impact fisheries all over the Eastern United States. Now that I have my boat, I plan on putting a hurt on the white perch population at Shearon Harris Lake here in Central North Carolina.
I have harped and harped for everyone to stop turning white perch loose... but it seems I am constantly hearing about people releasing these critters along with the rest of their catch.
It seems like they just don't get it. But, I will guarantee you that they will be the first ones complaining the loudest when their fisheries are ruined by white perch overpopulation.

and they also a good table fare !!! they eat good !!!

Originally Posted by strmwalker

and they also a good table fare !!! they eat good !!!

I forgot to mention that... but they are indeed excellent table fare for sure.

Originally Posted by SeaRay

Crappiekid posed the question in Charles' post as to where are the White Perch since mostly Crappie were caught.
Good question.
From what I've read, the WP is a cousin of the Striped Bass and White Bass. I also read they spawn earlier than Crappie and pose a threat because they eat so many Crappie fry.
I can only assume the WP make spawning runs in the creeks and rivers like their two cousins.
If that is in fact true, why do you not hear of huge catches of WP in spawning runs?
Most of us that fished for White Bass have been in runs where you caught a fish on almost every cast as the big schools came through on their annual run. Same thing is true for Striped Bass.
There are zillions of WP in most of our reservoirs. I think they have pulled a fast one on us fishermen and are doing something different in the spawn.
We need to figure that out because I suspect there's a spot somewhere that you could wear your arm out on spawning perch.

Hi Searay I hope you are doing well. I thought my ears were ringing my name. lol I brought that up be cause I was talking to Charles and he said he usually catches perch with crappie this time of year. Last week with Wylie Guy we were long lining for crappie. After we had enough I wanted to show Ron how to search for Perch because he wanted to take Grandson out to catch perch. So we talked about when the schools were running and fun times for sure. But there are times when the perch are tough to find especially when they are spread out.
So we went to a point and I was showing you see nothing on 2d sonar. I had split screen 2d sonar and down imaging. But with down imaging you can see small dots separated from bottom barely. I said I see now 4 dots drop down rigs. He used minnows and I used redworms. We caught some perch. Moved a little around point and saw some more on down image just off of bottom. Drop rigs and we caught some more. Did this about five times on point and decided to leave.

So even on 2d sonar you don't see anything go to down image and you will see the separation from bottom.