"Rule of Thumb"
 

Was on Gull today with my little guy. We had probably 20 pearch at the bottom of our holes today at any givem time. They were about 3" to 6" long - caught lots and through them all back ( a good lesson to learn ). I was wondering if there was a rule of thumb - We found the school - where would the bigger ones be shallower or deeper.

they would be on the bottom

hey bpallen...

good question...i have caught 12-14" perch in 6' of water or 30'...

the key to the big ones is to move around...cut a dozen holes or so 50-80 yards around you shallow to deeper water...you should pick up a perch here & there....those little perch don't hang out with the big girls,but if you see the little ones it does not say that a school of big perch are not going to come through...

as for the perch are on the bottom comment the other guy made,here's my take on that....when you you live alone in the forest you will never run into a donkey.but if you live in the big city,it full of them....
good luck....

my feelings are that the larger fish in any school tend to ride a little higher in the water column. as JJ pointed out the small fish tend not to school around their bigger sisters. we have had some luck useing a camera to find structure that on occasion holds larger fish a stump,a large boulder and on one occasion a 6" depression 3'across.we now spend the time trying to find these localized sweet spots.hope this helps.