Perch

[5285]

10/18-19-20
2 of us went south of A can Fri afternoon, marked some fish and dropped our lines at 2:15, had our 60 in the box and headed in at 5pm. Bite went exactly as it has all month. threw back a bunch of 5 t 7 inch yellow perch, fed 50+ white perch and gobys to the gulls. Fish weighed 14 lbs at Shato's fish cleaning and were caught on A and J baits emerald shiners. Sat. my brother came up and 3 of us started at Little Pickerel with goldies and left over shiners. Caught 4 in an hour moved to Crib got 3 more in an hour. Headed west about 3 miles, slowed down in 18' f water and found some good marks. Caught 32 decent 8 to 10" then they quit. Went to B can for a few hours, then came in with 48 yellow perch. Sunday had 2 more friends join us so we took the 30 footer, they had stopped in Sandusky and found some emerald shiners . Went to A can caught 5 in 1 hour, went over to the gravel pit caught 8 in an hour and a half, noticed they were full of fleas again. Moved 2 miles south of A can and started catching a few, noticed the fleas were huge almost an inch. My buddy picked one off the floor put it on a hook and immediately caught a 9 incher. We went through the box and found 5 more fleas in fish we had caught. 3 minutes later we had 5 more nice perch. For the next 3 hours we would catch a perch, pull the fleas out of it and catch some more. Ended up with 97 yellow perch, and fed the gulls a bucket full of white perch. All fish were caught on crappie rigs fished on the bottom. If anyone knows where I can buy a pint of fleas for next week please let me know.

[PatSea]

5285, thanks for the report. Nice job! I'm struggling to picture in my mind the fleas you were finding in the perch. I thought spiny water fleas were very small, maybe 1/32" long. The things that accumulate on the line when you troll. Sounds like you're describing something much larger.

[itsbob]

I was thinking about same thing Pat on the size of those water flees.How would you put something that size on a hook.Unless you downsize the hook to the size of a trout fly.

[pimplepounder]

I have some tiny tungsten jigs I made designed to replicate daphnia aka water fleas. Although they are still much larger than a water flea they do seem to work very well through the ice. I tip them with a single spike. The hard part would be getting this tiny jig to the bottom and be able to feel or detect the bite. You could get it down there with a weight, but with the lake always seeming to cause bouncing around, them light bite are very hard to detect. It is pretty easy to detect when on the ice though. I think I have a pic of one of the jigs I make in my picture gallery sitting on a dime.

[5285]

7\23\20
Been a while since I've had any perch news to report, but that changed today. 2 man limit a mile south of B can. 2 of us started fishing at noon and finished 2 hours later with 60 perch. Shiners from A and J, on 3 hook crappy rigs. Very light hits but steady consistent bite. 19 lbs at Shatto's. Can't wait to get back out in the morning after the wind lays down.

[5285]

7\23
Even though the walleye fishing has been nothing short of spectacular since March I was really ready for some perch fishing. This was the 3rd try. Went to the Lighthouse Saturday and caught a few, Then G can Monday and got a few more, nothing worth mentioning. I remember last July I had a few good outings then they disappeared till October. Sure hope they hang around this year. Sorry about the double picture, I couldn't figure out how to delete it.

[wally diver]

Lots of good reports thanks

[Randall]

Anyone having any luck in Michgan Waters???

[fishhawk2700]

Run straight out of Bolles Harbor, look for the pack, and fish somewhere else in the area. There are fish all over. You will have to sort through some junk. Fished 3hrs caught 65 keepers 17.5 lbs at the cleaners.

[5285]

7/24-25-26
After the way the perch bite went last July I expected Thursday to be a one and out. Really glad I was wrong. Friday 3 of us got started at 9am at the same spot as Thursday. A mile south of B can right on the north side of the pack of boats drifting and trolling over Big Pickerel for walleye. It took a little longer but we had our 90 in just over 3 hours, 28 lbs at Shatto's. I attribute the slower bite to the 50\50 mix of shiners and goldies that was available at A and Js. I got to do some experimenting rotating 2 goldies and 1 shiner up and down the 3 hook crappie rig. 90% of the bites came on the shiners. I hear the arguments that one is just as good as the other, but I ain't buying it. That's not to say you can't catch limits of perch on goldies (keep reading) I am just saying for my 5 dollars a scoop I'll take shiners any time their available. Saturday 4 of us went to the same spot and it took 5 hours to catch a limit, 38 lbs at Shatto's, on 100% goldies. Again the marks looked exactly the same as the 2 days before. Since there was hardly any wind I did cut the spot lock on the trolling motor and drift a little when the action stopped 5 or 6 times. They were short drifts, at the end of the day we were only a hundred yards from the starting point. Today I was by myself. Same spot, goldies from A and Js, 3 hour limit. The fish were bigger 12 lbs at Shatto's. Several observations; I had 4 days of great fishing within a 100 yards of the way point I started on. I found that spot on my way to B can on Thursday because a spark plug wire fell off and when i started up after putting it back on the screen was lit up with perch on the bottom, so I tried there and found a nice school. I am talking to guys fishing the Toledo Light House, Ward's, the intake, B, D and G Can, and the perch are hitting well at all of them. Fingers crossed they don't all disappear again.