Perch Help

[Newt]

A lake I regularly fish holds perch. Almost certainly the yellow perch (Perca flavescens) while I think your usual one is Perca fluviatilis but the two are very similar in appearance and hopefully in living/eating habits.

 

The water down here is almost too warm for them with surface temps reaching the mid 80s in summer (so to near 30ºC) but the lake is deep and fed from the bottom of an even deeper one so cool water is available.

 

My wife fishes usually for sunfish and we troll along while she tosses a piece of lobworm near the shore and normally with the float set at 1-3 feet. We catch an occasional perch by accident. The vast majority of them are small - look like a short cigar with stripes and probably in the 1-3oz range. Until yesterday I hadn't seen any that were larger but for some reason the perch were hungry and of the 6 she caught, one was somewhat larger and had started to assume more of a 'normal' body shape.

 

We've been fishing this lake often for the past 4 years now and some small perch every year. They look to be the current year group unless growth is very slow but even then, no older than last year so I know there is a population in here.

 

My question is how to go about trying for larger ones. Depth, location, bait, and all that sort of thing.

 

The lake is around 10-12 miles long. Very shallow at the upper end and over 60 feet deep at the lower end. All sorts of bottom from soft mud to rock. Areas of weed, of underwater stumps, of clear bottom and very firm mud or rock. Usually mostly a still water but current flow at times but rarely faster than about 3-4 mph except in the area just below the dam.

 

Suggestions are most welcome since I know there are folks on here who do well with perch. Bait can be whatever natural things are around (although maggots are impossible to get unless you grow your own and I ain't gonna do that). Lures would be fine as well.

[Ed Matysiak]

I have never caught a gold perch (although they look very nice) but i have had my share of big UK perch (and Sweedish ones). The buggers have very big mouths (massive infact) so a larger bait does not always mean larger fish. I found lobworm to be the best bait closely followed by a live gudgeon (or other small fish). I have also caught a fair few on lures. I found either a red/silver mepps spinner or a rubber grub (& jig hook) was best. Them diving plugs caught more pike and Zander . I would also fish deep and as near to cover as possible. Perch like to hide in cover and ambush their prey.

[Newt]

Thanks Koi Carp.

 

How deep is deep? The Mepps style lures will certainly reach 50 feet if you wait long enough but ....

 

I have located objects (no idea if logs, rock piles or what) in deeper water but don't think I've really worked them with lures to any extent.

 

Maybe a popped up lobworm down there? If so, how far up? Foot, 5 feet, or just try different ones?

 

Also, do you have better luck if the worm is stationary or twitching around a little with small rod movements?

 

At this point I'm really not sure there are any large ones in this area but I certainly want to find out.

 

Current state records for North Carolina

 

White perch 2-15 Falls of the Neuse Reservoir 12/16/01 Strata Spoon

 

Yellow perch 2-9 Indiantown Creek 2/8/90 Minnow

[peter mccue]

It might be worthwhile Newt, to try depths of up to 40feet for these Yellow Perch if you feel they have a similar lifestyle to our Perch.

 

30 or 40 years ago Richard Walker took a stunning series of Perch catches from a place called Arlesey lake. During the winter season the Perch settled in very deep areas of the lake. He caught these fish by legering on the bottom at depths up to 40feet with the only bait he found successful, which was a lobworm. He tried spinners, but though the Perch showed lots of interest, the Lobby outfished them all.

 

Thats a very brief outline - unfortunately work calls - of Dick Walkers Arlesey lake exploits Newt, but I'm sure a quick search would provide you with more detailed info.

[Steve Burke]

From what I've read the lifestyle of US perch is very similar to our's and so I suspect that the same tactics will work in both countries. However, we don't have such extremes of water temperature as you do, Newt, so what follows may not apply in such conditions.

 

In similar waters over here most perch tend to be in shallow water in summer and deep water in winter. There's a gradual migration to the shallows in the spring and the deep water in autumn (fall).

 

In fact, I find depth to be the most critical factor of all in locating perch on such waters. Whether the perch will be feeding there is another matter altogether! They seem to feed when the light is at optimum for them. Almost invariably this is in dim light, for then their superior eyesight to their prey gives them an advantage. Only zander in the UK have better vision in poor light.

 

For instance, one foggy November morning we were catching perch regularly in 18ft of water until the sun burnt through. Then the fish suddenly stopped feeding. However, friends who were anchored over 25ft of water, who had remained biteless all morning, just as suddenly started catching.

 

Bear in mind that, because of their swim bladder arrangement, perch can't change depth rapidly without returning to the original level. So I suspect that the perch in each area fed only when the light was to their advantage.

 

I find that the quickest way to find feeding perch on this sort of water is by trolling crankbaits. As Newt well knows different crankbaits will dive to a different maximum depth so depth control is relatively easy. The lure will then stay at that depth rather than coming to the surface when cast and retrieved. With the latter your lure is at the taking depth for a much shorter time than when trolling. Once the taking depth is found you'll usually find more feeding perch at similar depths elsewhere unless the light conditions change.

 

Bait fishing is also productive, and here I'd choose to anchor up, perhaps having first found some perch by trolling. Indeed, perch seem to be fascinated by anchor ropes for some reason. Spicy groundbait seems to hold the perch, and worms have been an excellent bait. Sometimes they'll want them static, other times a moving bait is more successful. Either way throwing bits of chopped-up worm out always helps the catch rate. (Is such chumming allowed in your area, Newt?)

 

This has only scratched the surface, but is already too long! Hopefully, it's been of some help. However, bear in mind that with competition from other predators in the US, these methods may not work as well.

 

Finally, you may find some of my pieces in the articles section to be helpful. Go to http://anglers-net.co.uk/authors/introsteve.htm

[Newt]

Thanks Steve. Good things to try out this fall/winter.

 

Chumming certainly is allowed where I live. Other than electro-shock and explosives, most things are allowed here.

 

The trolling to scout for them is a great way to cover lots of water. Do they mostly relate to some sort of structure usually? If so, that would mean trolling where the bottom or a rock ledge or something was at or near the depth I was fishing. If they are ambush preds, I'm not sure they would hang around open water.

 

One exception I have found is in cold weather, most of our pred species will tend to swim slowly under a school of bait fish (shad, minnows, etc.) to wait for an easy meal as some of the bait fish get sick and start sinking. Even the fish like the largemouth bass that normally stay tight to or in structure follow the bait during cold weather as do at least one catfish species. I'm thinking they see the depth as being a sort of cover.

 

What would be your guess here?

[Steve Burke]

Yes, the perch do relate to structure. However they're often suspended above the structure rather than in it and so can often be caught in midwater.

 

One drought year water levels were very low and my boat partner took the opportunity to take some slides of the bottom of one of the reservoirs where we'd caught big perch. In each case they're was some structure in the areas where we'd done best. The best area was over a lot of tree stumps but other hotspots included sandbanks, a stream bed, and even an old road where the depth decreased by just a few inches.

 

Perch on our waters aren't always ambush predators. I go into this in more detail in this article: http://anglers-net.co.uk/authors/steve09.htm

 

Interesting point about predators tracking underneath bait shoals to intercept dead and dying fish. I must admit I hadn't thought about that one!

[Jeff S]

I've caught a fair few using only lures. I can't comment on lobworms, when I've used them I haven't caught. I tend to stick with the lures that work and rarely use new ones unless my favorites aren't producing.

 

I fish mainly for pike but the lures tend to attract anything. Chub, trout, and perch usually. What I tend to use and what seems to work only for perch are bright colored spinners and spoons. Chartruese (sp?) and blaze orange mostly but try metallic colors as well. I've even caught them on rubber worms fished Carolina style in February!

 

One thing that was consistant when I have caught perch is they seem to strike on the drop like 'sink and draw' and strike at the tail of the lure which foul hooks them. I haven't tried tying on a trailing hook as yet but I suspect it might result in more fish.

 

As I'm sure you know perch usually school so if you catch one there are bound to be others. I've found that I have to move quite often until I find them and once I do I can catch three or four from the same swim. I have a tendency to release them in the same place I caught them which more than likely spooks the rest of the fish.. Then of course time to move on.

 

These results were mainly from shallow lakes with little or no cover and slow rivers with a lot of cover and underwater features.

 

Hope this helps.

[Leon Roskilly]

Steve Burke:

Interesting point about predators tracking underneath bait shoals to intercept dead and dying fish. I must admit I hadn't thought about that one!

This came up at a Horton Kirby LAS meeting.

 

A couple of members had noticed, when fishing Johnson's lake, that the small jack pike tended to 'herd' the fry, and then rip into the close-packed fish, whilst the shape of much larger, slower pike could be seen below, intercepting shocked and damaged casualties drifting down from the carnage above.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Steve Burke]

Leon Roskilly:

This came up at a Horton Kirby LAS meeting.

 

A couple of members had noticed, when fishing Johnson's lake, that the small jack pike tended to 'herd' the fry, and then rip into the close-packed fish, whilst the shape of much larger, slower pike could be seen below, intercepting shocked and damaged casualties drifting down from the carnage above.

I've encountered this as well, both with pike and perch themselves. In fact with perch they seem to take it in turns to attack the prey fish.

 

One of my favourite ways of finding feeding predators when boat fishing is to look for compacted shoals of small fish. This often means the latter are closed up for protection. Having a fishfinder with greyline helps here as shoals showing greyline are often tightly balled. I suspect loose shoals either aren't being attacked or if they're under threat aren't aware of it.

 

What I hadn't considered was pike tracking under prey shoals to pick up dead or dying fish rather than just tracking them. All these obsevations just go to show the value of discussions like these, especially international ones.