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Someone told me last year on this site about letting your motor run to get the perch to start biting. So I decided to take this seriously this year. I read a article about perch fishing and they talk about perch callers. I'm gonna make one of these and try it out this year. It will be sort of a wind chime for the water by tying some pipe to a rope and sending it down. Has anyone ever given this a try and does it work.
I fish the headboats out of Port Clinton over the years and the captains on those boats always leave the motor running when they're purch fishing. They swear it attacks the fish.
Ditto on perch head boats.Have seen captains running engine for a while after we anchor.Wind/water chimes not.
The old timers claim they work. I saw a couple at The Happy Hooker they were selling for @29+ and I decided to make one today and just getting ready to paint it.
I don't do a lot of perch fishing but when I do I will see if it works.
I've seen guys leaving their engines running once they set anchor. It's another way of "chumming". Think of it as a way of saying "we're here, come get some tasty shiners"
I will have an advantage this year. My minn kota ipilot has made fishing a game changer trolling for walleye it should come in handy moving around looking for perch mark's on the Lowrance. Haven't used spot lock yet either that will be a bonus.
I always leaving my motor running when I first anchor until the bite starts. If the bite slows or stops I will start it again. Sometimes the bite restarts immediately.
I don't know about the perch caller but once we hit a slow period on a charter so we asked the captain to turn on the radio started getting a station out of Detroit and a song came on and we all started singing "my girl" and exchanged girl for
"fish" the fish bite resumed immediately.:cool:
Perch love some Motown. They would grow feet and run if I broke out the singing. Don't think I'll try that one. But that is a crazy story.
That's great! 😂Quote:
Originally Posted by MBLMIKE
but on the serious side the motor running while anchored does work not sure why. I also heard of dropping a large 1 gallon glass mason jar filled with water and a few shinners the perch see the shiners but cant get them it drives them crazy then when you drop your line down they hit it with a furry. I am going to try it next time Im perching and it gets slow and cant get a good song on the radio
I have used mine for years, I think it helps sometimes.Attachment 7324
How does yours work 5285. Does it have something tied inside the pipe so that it makes noise.
Sets on the bottom, wave action lifts and drops the plunger, makes a banging sound.Attachment 7325
I don't know if the motor running actually attracts perch, it certainly doesn't adversely effect them. What it does do is keep the walleye from swimming through and shutting down the bite.
I believe the motor running does trigger the bite. I say that because I've pulled up to spots to anchor and fish and have watched people reeling in a catch and then nothing.
We have video of us pounding on side of our aluminum boat and immediately catching perch. Have observed it many times.
Much the same effect as running the motor, I found music doing the same thing. Found over the last 20 years perch like the Rolling Stones.
If you see a guy yanking on a perch Caller banging on the side of a boat and playing Beast of Burden with his motor running. That will be me.😂
😂🤣😂Quote:
Originally Posted by badboards
A cheap can of tuna fish or cat food packed in oil with a few holes in and it tied to a stout line, bouncing off the bottom works too.Quote:
Originally Posted by buckeyezip
I've seen ppl use white rice tossed over, ground up shells, my papa used to just a minnows in a jar with lid tied over the side.
Guess it's time already for my 'annual' post about perch fishing and what the perch can "see" down there.
When you anchor and perch fish, you stay in the same spot. Every time your rig weight hits the bottom it stirs up the mud and silt (even in the sandy areas). After 10-15 minutes it's zero visibility down there. How do I know? Because I scuba dove once while perch fishing with some folks. There was a little current on the bottom. I swan around the boat, making sure I didn't get too close and get hung up in a perch rig. On the down current side the visibility was poor (about 18"). The farther I swam into the current, into the "cloud", closer to the boat, the less the visibility until it got to nearly zero (1 inch or less). When I went around to the other side, the up current side of the boat, the visibility was 2-3 feet, the normal for that day without and bottom disturbance. When I swam back towards the boat it didn't take long to see the "cloud" of stirred up bottom again and visibility went back to nearly zero. So the idea that "I also heard of dropping a large 1 gallon glass mason jar filled with water and a few shinners the perch see the shiners but cant get them it drives them crazy then when you drop your line down they hit it with a furry" works is probably not so here in Lake Erie the way we perch fish. The perch can't see the jar or the mimmows in it.
Bottom conditions are not always the same. There are probably times when the water is real clear with a decent to good bottom current and the visibility at your rig could be clear enough for perch to see your bait from a foot or two away. But this is most likley pretty rare. Most of the time they probably can't see the bait until they are right on top of it.
Amother thing that happens is as the boat swings on the anchor line, the boat will come out of the "cloud" into clearer water. Then as the boat swings back the other way you get back into the "cloud".
A "perch caller" pounding on the bottom, up and down, is going to create one huge plume of sediment. Probaly zero visibility.
My educated guess is most of the time the perch find the minnow or bait by using senses other than sight. Smell and vibration (lateral line). That may be why "bling" and other noise / vibration methods could bring them close to the bait.
It could also be the perch school is "curious" about the cloud and goes into it to look for food. Bottom disturbances create feeding opportunities as well as protection from predators.
Keep all this in mind when you talk perch fishing.
When I get some underwater cameras out while perch fishing I hope to discover a few things about what the perch are actually doing.
Guess it's time already for my 'annual' post about perch fishing and what the perch can "see" down there.
When you anchor and perch fish, you stay in the same spot. Every time your rig weight hits the bottom it stirs up the mud and silt (even in the sandy areas). After 10-15 minutes it's zero visibility down there. How do I know? Because I scuba dove once while perch fishing with some folks. There was a little current on the bottom. I swan around the boat, making sure I didn't get too close and get hung up in a perch rig. On the down current side the visibility was poor (about 18"). The farther I swam into the current, into the "cloud", closer to the boat, the less the visibility until it got to nearly zero (1 inch or less). When I went around to the other side, the up current side of the boat, the visibility was 2-3 feet, the normal for that day without and bottom disturbance. When I swam back towards the boat it didn't take long to see the "cloud" of stirred up bottom again and visibility went back to nearly zero. So the idea that "I also heard of dropping a large 1 gallon glass mason jar filled with water and a few shinners the perch see the shiners but cant get them it drives them crazy then when you drop your line down they hit it with a furry" works is probably not so here in Lake Erie the way we perch fish. The perch can't see the jar or the mimmows in it.
Bottom conditions are not always the same. There are probably times when the water is real clear with a decent to good bottom current and the visibility at your rig could be clear enough for perch to see your bait from a foot or two away. But this is most likley pretty rare. Most of the time they probably can't see the bait until they are right on top of it.
Amother thing that happens is as the boat swings on the anchor line, the boat will come out of the "cloud" into clearer water. Then as the boat swings back the other way you get back into the "cloud".
A "perch caller" pounding on the bottom, up and down, is going to create one huge plume of sediment. Probaly zero visibility.
My educated guess is most of the time the perch find the minnow or bait by using senses other than sight. Smell and vibration (lateral line). That may be why "bling" and other noise / vibration methods could bring them close to the bait.
It could also be the perch school is "curious" about the cloud and goes into it to look for food. Bottom disturbances create feeding opportunities as well as protection from predators.
Keep all this in mind when you talk perch fishing.
When I get some underwater cameras out while perch fishing I hope to discover a few things about what the perch are actually doing.
Thanks again West Basin for that informative post on perch fishing.We rarely perch fish,but seams most of the posts on the recent perch fishing has been good size fish in 9-10" size and few smaller perch.I remember about 5yrs ago,the same thing was happening with few small perch.The following year,the perch fishing very poor.The consensus was lack of newer year class perch to catch.Hopefully will not happen again next season.
Thanks also for some logic to regain my sanity so I dont go out and buy that "Ronco fish caller with the money back guarantee I found on Amazon last night" the curiosity point you raised seems right on , after watching several go pro videos of fish in lake erie it appears that they are attracted to unusual things in the water that do not look or act like predators as well as possibly sounds dust clouds etc .Quote:
Originally Posted by West Basin
So then we should not use anchor and drift? I don't have spot lock.
Also, don't touch bottom with sinkers right? Keep it clean and let them find your bait.
Guys seem to be cutting minnows into 1 inch pieces too. Do I keep one alive and one piece for easy eating, or just use the cut pieces?
When the Central Basin had perch, we would always bang bottom with sinkers to bring them over. It usually worked if they were near.
Thanks for the info. We only had 1 good day out of 5 last year for perch. It was a 5-7mph wind out of south. I had drift socks out and we were drifting slow like .2--.3 mph.
Rickerd
At times over the years of perch fishing when the bite gets tough I have put a few live minnows and some cut up pieces in a minnow bucket and loaded it with a rock and sunk it to the bottom. Sometimes hanging a foot or so off the bottom, other times letting it bounce off the bottom. It seemed to be hit or miss as to effect. Sometimes I think it helps to draw them in, other times not so much.
As I understand it fish don't have our color acuity, but have a much, much better view in murky water than we do. That's not to say that they can necessarily see when we are clouding up the water, I don't know. I only know that our inability to see doesn't directly relate to a fish's ability. I wouldn't be surprised about noise or murky water attracting him, it seems to with other fish.
No reason to not anchor. It's worked for 70+ years. You can try some things like not letting your rig weight hid the bottom so much or not at all. Remember also that perch school, so a large school creates compitition for your bait. If there are a lot of perch around you boat they will find your bait, good vis or poor. Smaller school means less compitition and less fish to find your bait. So many factors. The biggest remains first finding them then having the talent / ability to hook them. Get those two down well and the rest is probably 20% of the equation.
We have used shallot bags which is like a fine onion bag with frozen minnows. Put a rock in it and tie it off. I don't think it helps a lot. Not like it's automatic. Not worth the hassle. I understand the sediment concept. I like to bounce off the bottom at times thinking just that, stir up the bottom and get some attention. I have heard of the perch call. The guy I knew called it a perch bong. Never bought the concept. I agree with west basin find them and learn to feel the bite.
Running the motor for a few minutes works. It attracted 3 of the 8 fish. The rolling stones worked 2 of 3 songs. Tuesday I only caught 8 yellow perch 3 sheep and 1 white perch in 2 hours. I fished 1 mile west of Catawba state park ramp in 20 feet of water using 1 inch emeralds from Jenettes bait. None stayed alive trying to hook them. Out fished a boat from Green island area and the other 100 yards from me. So I owe those who replied to my post. My boat wouldn't run so had to stay close. Piece's of my fuel pump gasket was breaking down and clogging my fuel jet. Carbs are being rebuilt tomorrow. Hopefully the new pump isn't made in China. Wasn't very productive be back at it in a couple of weeks.
Way back in the 1980's I fished a few times with Captain Lee Wenger "The Saucey Tomato" Out of Sandusky Bay. He kept a bleach bottle on board that was covered with 3/8 holes I'd say they were, and it was weighted. He called it his chum bottle. Lee would stop at the fish cleaners and fill his gallon bottle with fish goop then he tied a rope to it and let it out just off the bottom. He would give it a shake now than then. We always did well on the perch. Lee was older back then so I am not sure what is up with him now. Very nice man. I am convinced his method works.