Perch Technique's

[Muskeg]

I was curious if anyone has any special tactics for catching these delicious panfish? I normally take dew worms, maggots and small minnows for bait and also some small spoons and a couple of those lead fish looking hooks with the treble and small j hooks coming out of the front and back.. I don't get out for ice fishing to often but when i do I usually catch a few and sometimes I get skunked. so if anyone can help up my limits with some advice I may just be tickled pink tomorrow.
Also I'm going to Snipe where I have some luck on the south side out from the farm.. If anyone has a better idea roughly on this lake that would help also.
Thanks everyone, happy fishing!

[The Fish King]

small copper kastmaster tipped with a maggot on each hook. A true perch slayer

[Sundancefisher]

This works for me...in our lake...information is transferable elsewhere.


Successfully Catching Perch

About 10 years ago Lake Sundance was vandalized by the illegal introduction of yellow perch to our trout fishing lake. Yellow perch have been seen to breed so successfully that they most likely numbering in the millions now. They are very efficient predators and as such out compete our stocked trout for food and space. Perch have been studied extensively and shown that in a lake environment such as ours that they very soon over populate the lake. When this happens the perch have evolved to stop growing at about 6 inches and effectively “stunt” so as to allow more individuals to inhabit the same space. As such the Lake Sundance Residents Association Board of Directors have initiated the drive to promote the active targeted fishing of perch along with an intensive netting program. You can do your part by volunteering to net and also by actively fishing for these perch! Also the removal of any long egg strings seen around the lake in the Spring will be a huge assistance. Therefore remember the motto…REMOVE A PERCH AND HELP FEED A TROUT!

So you want to catch perch and as many as possible! Well you are in luck as it is tricky but not difficult once you key in on a few “secrets”. Please note that while these are my personal recommendations they are not set in stone or intended to endorse any particular store or product. Experimenting with your technique will generally improve your skill and ability to catch fish.

EQUIPMENT:

Rod: Any ultra light action fishing rod will do. Strong preference should be given to ultra light action rods. Some rods come with a built in spring or ultra sensitive tip which provides excellent visual confirmation of even a super light bite. The Frabill pan fish popper with the tiny spring at the end works great to see the tiny bites. Usually the little spring hardly moves and the rod rarely moves at all.
Reel: Any fishing reel will do. (hand lining with just a spool would work as well unless a larger perch or trout is hooked. The reel drag must be set appropriately should you hook either a large perch or trout.
Line: Nothing heavier than 6 lb. test. I have a preference on brands but for the most part they all should work. 4 pound is best but difficult for some to use and easier to break. The most important aspect of line selection is ensuring there is as close to no line curl as possible. Line curl or kinks in the line may prevent you from telling if there is a light bite. A 14 inch perch bites just as light as a 4 inch perch therefore a straight line from your rod tip to your hook is critical.
Hooks: Use small glow in the dark chartreuse or similar ice fishing jigs recommended for perch by your local store. The hook should sit horizontally on the line and not hang straight down. I prefer small weighted jigs but feather jigs or weighted jigs in either, yellow, white, black or glowing green work. The better they are weighted (not to heavy but not to light) the easier it is to feel the weight of the hook underwater and any subsequent subtle bites. Slip bobber rigs can be deadly during the summer also. Smaller size Genz worms, Lindy Fat boys, Hali Jigs and similar hooks will all work. Using a small weighted jig on the bottom and one or two plain red hooks with bait have also proved very effective. Minimize the weight on the line so that subtle bites are not masked by the weight of the rig. It has also been found that a trailer or dropper fly in a scud, chironomid, mayfly, leech or similar lake bug makes for some additional hooking opportunities. When using multiple hooks be careful retrieving the line as to not snagging the bottom of the ice in winter or hands and boat and dock in the summer.
Bait: To successfully catch perch most effectively, you must have bait on the hook at all times. I prefer in order of preference either a perch eyeball, 2-3 maggots (black fly larvae), a piece of worm (garden worm), 1-2 mealworms (beetle larvae) or 1 small minnow (store bought frozen spottailed shiner or minnow caught in Lake Sundance). Minnows are easier to loose to perch but tend to attract bigger fish. The 16 perch was caught on maggots however.
Bobbers etc: Some people use bobbers. In the summer they can be very effective if they are almost neutrally buoyant. A bobber that is too large will tug back at the perch and that resistance makes the perch spit the hook out faster making hook sets more difficult. In winter a bobber can be handy for kids but if it is too cold out the bobber quickly freezes into the ice and makes it harder to catch perch. Pencil bobbers are my favorite due to less surface resistance.

LOCATION:

I have successfully caught perch all around the lake from just off the boat docks to the middle of the lake. I have caught perch Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall. Some days it appears the fish are most readily caught within 15 feet of most boat docks. Perch travel in loose schools and are sometimes separated loosely by size. I have caught a 7 inch perch followed by numerous 10-12 inch perch and then the big 16 inch perch. Smaller fish are generally faster to the hook and bait and more aggressive, so catching and removing them will general pay off in bigger and bigger fish. Perch tend to hold near the bottom of the lake and my experience show that they are most often found 6 inches to 1.5 feet off the top of the weeds. Occasionally perch can captured as much as 4 – 6 feet off bottom but this is not the norm. Aquatic weeds appear to be about 1-2 feet high in 14-20 feet of water. Therefore fish just above the weeds. If you catch Lake Chub (large minnows up to 7 inches long) you are probably in the weeds. These Lake Chub should be killed as they are also introduced pests that compete for trout food.

Perch are often seen to have a diurnal movement pattern. This means during the brightest part of the day they can often be found out in deeper water (twenty feet deep) while at dawn and dusk they can be seen moving just off the end of the docks and even chasing food into six inches or a foot of water.

Currently there are so many perch in the lake that they can be seen everywhere. There is not one place this winter that a view on an underwater camera does not show upwards of 100 to 500 perch.

TECHNIQUE:

Summer:

In the summer you can use a boat, fish from shore, or off a dock (if you have authorized access).

A boat is the easiest method as you can put yourself directly over the fish. The key is move around often until you find a loose school but generally the perch are everywhere. The perch this past winter where caught quite often while anchored and fishing right along the drop offs. Fishing method is to select a location about the distance of a dock plus 10 to 15 extra feet from shore, anchor the front of the boat, drift downwind ~ 20 feet, drop a stern anchor and then tighten up such that the boat is in the middle of the two anchors. This is desired in order to allow fishing right under the boat and prevent boat sway and movement with the wind. Constant feel of the line is needed to catch the perch effectively. I have caught more than 100 perch from the same location. When fishing from shore use a bobber set up and adjust the bobber starting at 9 feet and increase six inches until bites occur. Effectively the intent is to find the optimum distance above the weeds where the perch are holding and feeding. Hold the rod in your hands at all times as bites can be numerous but also very quick. Move around often to cover more water when fishing slows. Take care to use the ultra sensitive bobbers sold by most fishing stores and perch can sense the resistance and drop the hook quickly. Using an ultra light 5 foot long spinning rod/reel combo and casting out to a dock and slowly reeling back can be highly effective. Practice may be required to ensure you are not dragging through the weeds and careful selection of the right size and weight hook is critical as well.

Winter

In the winter you only need an ice auger or find an open hole and fish in the allowed fishing area.

Remember to fish just above the weed line. I like to try either a slow, short up and down jig or else a little wiggle motion on the hook. Sometimes I even alternate between the two. Lately a very slow wiggle while slowly raising the hook followed by a 5 second pause and then repeat up to 3-4 feet off bottom can be very successful. Some perch fishermen like to jig a couple of hard 1 to 2 foot jigs then let the hook settle back down, pause 5-10 seconds and repeat while altering the waiting period between jigs and the height of the jig. Remember, perch are methodical predators that are not darting around like trout. They sneak up on the prey and they suck the food in and then usually not dart away after. Therefore you must be in constant feel of the hook and set the hook with any change in feel such as extra weight on the line, slight tap, jerk or even reduced tension. When you wiggle the hook, it should be just heavy enough that you can “feel” it moving. Sometime the line will go slack because the perch has picked up the bait and is now supporting the hook. SET THE HOOK! All of these bites are almost imperceptible to someone use to catching trout. A bite by a perch can be so very, very, gentle and often fast meaning you must set the hook quick and be on your toes at all times.

It is not recommended to use a ice fishing rod holder. Perch bite to quickly and you need to have the rod or line in your hands at all times.

Since perch are generally quite small…under 12 inches and are not the best fighters you can increase your catch rates by hand lining them in. By not reeling up you in effect keep the same depth each and every time. When hand lining in be sure to toss the upcoming line beside you in order to prevent tangles. Practice can also help to this regard. Upon removing the hook you can then get back down quickly and confidently that you will stop at the right depth. Sometimes bumping the reel will inadvertently cause a little reeling up of line. If the perch stop biting, lower the line back to the bottom and start fishing again. Chances are you will attract fish back again to the area.

To summarize what a bite could feel like include the following examples; 1) TUGGING - sudden tug on the line or repeated tugs (often the rare aggressive bite in which the perch hook sets itself), 2) GENTLE TAP - very gentle tap, tap, tap (perch biting at the bait or trying to suck it into it’s mouth), 3) EXTRA WEIGHT - extra weight on retrieve similar in feel to snagging a weed (perch often just grab the hook without swimming away. When lifting the hook the fisherman should be constantly aware of any extra weight on the hook and set it quickly. This can quite occur when the hook is first lowered as often perch swim over to the falling hook.) 4. NO WEIGHT – Sometime the perch will lift the hook up and therefore there is no “feel” of the weighted hook at the end of the line. In all of these instances YOU MUST SET THE HOOK VERY QUICKLY! If you feel any subtle changes whatsoever it pays to set the hook!

If you find other methods work, write them down and let us know, we can never over fish perch in this lake. Each spawning female perch will be dropping ~ 30,000 eggs each spring. With hundreds of thousands upon thousands and even millions of perch in the lake, the more perch all of us catch the bigger the perch become and the better chance trout have of growing due to reduced competition for food.

PERCH BEHAVOIR:

The three main perch feeding behaviors I see are:

1. Panic Feeder - Every 5 minutes or so a perch comes screaming through the field of view and hammers the hook like a trout. Generally hook sets itself. Very aggressive feeding behavior. I think this has something to do with competition and seeing other perch around and a handy meal staring the perch in the face. Eat before you lose it kind of idea. Hooks held still works best.

2. Home Feeding - Resident perch (perch that just hang around and really never leave the field of view) basically stay hunkered down in the weeds at the bottom of the lake. When a hook falls to the bottom they tend to come out and move towards the falling hook. Before the hook hits bottom a perch has often struck the hook without any indication thereof at surface. Then as the hook sits there the perch slowly move over to survey the new arrival. They tend to pick at any bait and in general occasionally try to "suck in" the hook. If a weighted jig this fails. I started using a dropper fly and the perch tend to suck in the fly easier if lighter like a scud or chironomid pattern. Sometimes the perch just stare at the hook and swim away. They also seem to like jigging less and shy away. They do however get excited and can be induced to strike with a slow rising ultra short wiggle (similar to a natural chironomid rising (Youtube has some videos of this for reference). Then often some perch will rise from the weeds and chase the hook up as high as 4 or 5 feet and can strike at any time. Otherwise holding hook motionless seems to work often. Sometimes the hogs seem to be loners just circling around. They get turned off my jigging and the hordes of little fish. They go ballistic seeing a live minnow (illegal in public waters). A live leech should work really well also for larger Home Feeders.

3. Feeding School - This is most interesting and often overlaps Home Feeding. This is where a loose school of perch will swim partially suspended about 1-2 feet off bottom. They are very aggressive and will chase other fish away in a rush to get to the hook. You can often keep a school around longer the quicker you get your hook back to the bottom or if multiple people are fishing in the same tight area. A light jigging behavior lures them in but still or relatively still with minor short jigging actions work best. While perch tend to school in somewhat similar class range, a school of 6-8 inchers will often have some hogs with it.

TIMING:

Perch are spring spawners and just before and after ice out may be difficult to catch. Also immediately after the Spring and Fall lake turnovers the fishing often slows down. I have caught perch at all times of the day and throughout the winter and summer. In late winter you may find they are gearing up for spawning and are harder (but not impossible) to catch. Early winter is typically awesome perch fishing.

CLEANING:

Perch can be easily cleaned with a narrow sharp knife and can be made boneless with minimal effort. Check on Youtube.com for some advice on cleaning including a very unique 10 second method. Very handy and quick for smaller perch.

General filleting method…

Firstly, make an incision on the side just behind the pectoral fin from the top of the body to the belly. Do not go through the backbone. Then while the knife is resting on top of the backbone, twist the blade such that the edge is facing towards the tail. Then slide the blade along the top of the backbone down to the tail and remove this fillet. Repeat on the other side. Practice makes perfect here!

While firmly holding the narrow end of the fillet, skin down, slide the knife down from the narrow end (but not through the skin). Twist the blade so it faces towards the big end of the fillet and slide the blade along the top of the skin down to the tail separating the meat and the skin and remove this skinless fillet. Flip the fillet over and remove the ribcage. On small fish just cut down around the ribcage and remove. On large fish, slide the knife edge under the bones to save some meat and then just notch the area at the top of the ribcage to remove the remaining bones. You can feel these bones with your fingers as tiny bumps. Now the perch is boneless.

Large fish may be also treated like any other larger fish and baked or barbecued whole after cleaning out the body cavity of organs etc.

Clean all fish well under cold running water and freeze immediately if not to be cooked within a day. Use proper freezer bags to prevent freezer burn.

COOKING:

You can use your trusted, tried and true cooking methods, experiment on your own or consider the following.

1. Use an store bought fish coating and either bake or fry.
2. Use a lemon herb spice mix and butter and fry in pan
3. Use a pepper medley spice mix and either bake or fry.
4. Fry in butter and then put in a creamy mushroom and onion soup and serve on either rice or spaghetti
5. Various marinades like golden Italian Salad Dressing works as well as others.
6. If you discover other great cooking ideas, give it in writing to the front gate and we will get it out to the members in future “Perch Updates”!

Now you know the “secrets”. Fish and have fun!

Bon appetit!

[owlhoot]

That was a lot of writing Sundance, But a very good Read

[The Anvil]

small copper kastmaster tipped with a maggot on each hook. A true perch slayer

I agree!

[The Fish King]

only place i can find the damn things in the super small size is canadian tire. Go figure! haha

[jacob1202]

small white jig and a maggot...caught 15 perch on friday...all over 1 lb...my 3 freinds all got their limit to with the same hook....6 inches from the bottom...with a little jig every 30 seconds

[Badback]

small copper kastmaster tipped with a maggot on each hook. A true perch slayer

Does anyone have a pic of the small copper kastmaster that they can post?...I've never heard of them but with the replies on this thread, I've got to try them!!!!!!

David

[The Fish King]

http://www.acmetackle.com/scripts/kastmaster_colors.html

check this out. All the kastmaster colours. But the copper is deadly for perch and the silver is my rainbow slayer haha

[nicemustang]

Sorry not to hi-jack, what about summer time? Same deal or are they shallow?

[Badback]

http://www.acmetackle.com/scripts/kastmaster_colors.html

check this out. All the kastmaster colours. But the copper is deadly for perch and the silver is my rainbow slayer haha

Thanks for the post Fish King

[Sundancefisher]

Sorry not to hi-jack, what about summer time? Same deal or are they shallow?

They appear somewhat diurnal as the summer progresses. Early after ice out they move in shallower to spawn... Mid Summer they can frequently school in water less than 4 feet deep chasing minnows. Late summer they seem to prefer deeper water. In all instances dawn and dusk can see the most activity. At dusk for instance fishing tends to pick up within the last couple hours before dark.

My techniques mentioned above in the earlier post do work.

[ives1]

Thanks for taking the time to post all of that good information Sundance! Will have to try fishing for these nice fish again sometime.

/ives

[sourdough doug]

Hey Sundance, I'm not that fast a reader these days with one eye laid up so excuse me if I don't read it all. Should I attempt such a feat the season will be closed before I finish :lol:
Lottsa good info. Thx..

[Cal]

Just a couple little tricks I'd throw in with sundances post.

Every so often very slowly bringing the hook up towards the hole. Once you are six to eight feet off the bottom let your hook free fall back to the bottom and then lift it off the bottom a few inches. I find that most of my strikes will come soon after the lure has been dropped. On some days fish will hit it as it is being raised as well. Sometimes the distance you have your hook off the botom can be CRUCIAL. The difference between 8" and 3" off the bottom can be 10 pearch on some days.

Bounce your hook off the bottom and stir up some mud, I do this when I cant see any perch near my hook and it will often bring them in. Unfortunatly sometimes this can also bring in pike wich will scare away the perch.

Instead of jigging my hook I often hold the line in my hand and kind of flutter my fingers agains the line, this makes the hook vibrate and seems to work better. Holding the line between your thumb and forefinger and spinning it can work well too.

If you arent in a tent or the water is muddy watch your LINE like a hawk even holding the line in my hand like I described I cant feel the bite lots of times. More often I will notice my line doing something unusual or moving off to the side of the hole.

The hooks I prefer are small russia hooks, tear drops, and mitzi ditzi'z

[GummyMonster]

Nice to see a post full of helpfull tips instead of a lot of bickering like many threads trend too.
A tip from my own experience. Had excellent luck deadsticking small rubber tail jigs just off bottom. Recently tried spring bobbers and they are AWESOME for light biting fish.
I'll definately be putting your tips to use
Thanx
K:evilgrin::evilgrin:

[Muskeg]

great response guys.. thanks a lot, especially Sundance.. Great post!