Perch fishing truth

[rickerd]

People who don't have a great day, don't usually post it. I was out Saturday morning driving through the armada of 150 boats north of CIC can and east to mouse. I spent half an hour driving around looking for good marks of fish. NADA. I also looked at every boat we went by with my 2 crew. Only saw 1 perch raised. I then bounced over to Round reef to look for walleye on the rocks. caught a few just unders and other fish plus two 11 inch yellow perch drifting and casting. We couldn't get emeralds, only goldies and also had redworms, nightcrawlers, frozen mix of shiners. We stopped at 6 places for 15-20 minutes each and couldn't get any perch going. Even the 4 headboats we fished by and went by didn't have any perch lifted that we saw. Its not the bonanza everyone makes it out to be. The best reports might show up but you are never going to get a true sampling of everyone.

Its the opposite of the Mass Media. They only report the gloom and horror about anything. Or like the Independent voters, you never know who they are going to vote for until the ballots are counted.

Fishing persons are the eternal optimists. We need more people learning to fish and enjoy their friends and family on the water.
Rickerd

[rkfet]

People who don't have a great day, don't usually post it. I was out Saturday morning driving through the armada of 150 boats north of CIC can and east to mouse. I spent half an hour driving around looking for good marks of fish. NADA. I also looked at every boat we went by with my 2 crew. Only saw 1 perch raised. I then bounced over to Round reef to look for walleye on the rocks. caught a few just unders and other fish plus two 11 inch yellow perch drifting and casting. We couldn't get emeralds, only goldies and also had redworms, nightcrawlers, frozen mix of shiners. We stopped at 6 places for 15-20 minutes each and couldn't get any perch going. Even the 4 headboats we fished by and went by didn't have any perch lifted that we saw. Its not the bonanza everyone makes it out to be. The best reports might show up but you are never going to get a true sampling of everyone.

Its the opposite of the Mass Media. They only report the gloom and horror about anything. Or like the Independent voters, you never know who they are going to vote for until the ballots are counted.

Fishing persons are the eternal optimists. We need more people learning to fish and enjoy their friends and family on the water.
Rickerd

I had the same day. Started in the pack north of Catawba, scouted the whole way west of the green can and marked a whole lot of nothing for the most part. Saw not one fish go overboard in all the boats we passed. Found one spot with a few marks and stopped there for 20 minutes or so. Got nothing, so I made the big move to G can. Couldn't figure out why all the boats were there when I was still marking nothing and seeing no catching. Finally found a few marks and setup there for about an hour with no luck. Headed back towards Catawba and was going to try Starve when I saw a headboat in the general vicinity of Clinton Reef. Had a few marks there and picked up a whopping 1 fish. Called it at about 1 since the wind was starting to kick up.

[Hudsons20]

This years perch catching is better than last year, but not like a "normal" year. Went to A&J's for bait and stood in line from about 6;30 to 7:40, was quite busy!! At least 30 buckets in front of me waiting for minnows and more when I left. Went with a neighbor Saturday who limited on Wednesday with 90, had 19 for 3 people the same spot and 3 areas on Thursday, he did not go out Friday, we caught 29 South and SE of G with 4 people on Saturday. Another Neighbor on Thursday caught 9 with a crew of 2, Limited Friday crew of 2 South of Green. and caught 30 something Saturday with a crew of 3. Both Captains said the sonar looked the same all days fished, bait was the same, weather was close to the same, so maybe the Perch gods needed something else?

Beautiful day on the lake, but the perching could have been better! (The cake was good but the icing was lacking!)

[BillyW]

Went out a bit late Sat the 26th family trip was off Camp perry at "H" can picked up 10 perch, went back out the 27th same spot we picked up 32, 1 baby wally, 2 small White Perch, 4 gobies. A bit choppy in the morning but it tamed down we were in the 23' Proline just a bit south of the two head boats that were close together.
Was wondering if anyone has heard of using crushed oyster shell as a form of attractant while perch a jerking?

[West Basin]

I like many others on this site have been fishing the Lake for at least 30 years. When it comes to yellow perch fishing, by far the most important thing, other than having perch under the boat, is learning
the catching technique.

I can't count how many times I've been out with others on the boat and out caught them 5-1 even 10 -1. It's just as much an art as it is a science. Learning / developing the "feel" takes a lot of experience for most anglers. Like any activity some people pick it up a lot quicker than others. Perch don't usually "strike" the bait, like a largemouth bass or northern pike. They typically "suck" it in, and often very lightly. The rigs used (spreaders, crappie rigs) also often leave slack line, they don't keep a tight line to the bait like walleye fishing. It is real easy to miss yellow perch bites.

The basic technique is as follows: Drop your bait down to the bottom at a moderate pace until you get within a few feet of the bottom. Then slow down so you can feel the weight just touch the bottom. Then reel up about a foot of line, an amount to keep your bait just off the bottom (depending on what rig you are using). As the boat rocks, the bait will move from on the bottom to above it. Slack line at the bait when the rock is going down, tight line at the bait when going up. The perch typically "hit" the bait when the bait isn't moving, when there is slack line at the bait. You have to learn to time this. Just when you think the slack line period is starting or just after, very slowly raise your pole about 8-10 inches and "feel" for any kind of additional weight or resistance on the line. If you feel any, do a quick very short hook set snap on your pole (use your wrist, not your whole arm). Only about 6-8 inches up. If you then feel the perch (a little more weight) on the line, real up. If not, slowly let the bait back down and repeat. If the bite that day is real light, sometimes I will very slowly raise the pole during the slack line period and feel for that tiny bit of extra weight.

What you are really doing is controlling how hard the rig lead weight is hitting the bottom on the up and down movement. You don't want it slamming the bottom, just touch it. The lighter you can make the lead weight hit the bottom, the better. With experience you can even learn to keep the weight just off the bottom on the down motion, not actually touching it. It's all about setting up the slack line period of a second or two and then feeling for the soft bite.

Over time you will learn the difference between the feel weight of no perch on the bait and the feel weight of a perch bringing the bait into it's mouth. Sometimes it is so... so... subtle and light. There are times I really don't feel anything, I just "know" there is one there.

If you have decent waves, you need to balance out the up / down motion by moving the pole to absorb most of the wave action on the bait. You need to establish that same short time difference of slack line and tight line while keeping the bait on or near the bottom. You don't want the bait going up and down with the waves, that produces too much movement. The idea is to present the minnow for a second or two with slack line so the perch will "inhale" it. Then get some tighter line so you can feel it.

All this will take time to learn. You need to really pay attention all the time if you want to learn. Experiment. Eventually you'll get the "knack" and will continue to improve and master it.

[badboards]

That makes a lot of sense. I've been out there on days when the water is rough and the perch are very aggressive and hit and swallow the bait before it hits bottom and then there are a lot of days that the bite is light and the few fish I catch are barely hooked. I've been trying on those days to be more aware of staying in contact with the bait. I see the marks on my sonar but can't buy a fish and neither can anybody around me. I'm on a mission to catch a limit of perch someday. I said to myself I should just stick to walleye while it's good. It just seems like the perch numbers are not there anymore. Maybe the walleye are eating them or they are busy eating something else. I even wonder if the commercial fishing is over harvesting. But my wife and granddaughter love perching but it's very humbling. Thanks for the help.

[rickerd]

I will say the marks I saw last weekend on Sunday the 20 were better than I saw all of Saturday and Sunday 26 and 27. I knew the NE blow had them dizzy, but once the weather steadied, game on. And it helped that live emeralds were available all last week Monday through Friday. At least now I know and others too that not everybody was killing it. Maybe next time, hopefully this weekend. I'm only trying to get another limit before the winter.
Rickerd

[labrat]

I will say the marks I saw last weekend on Sunday the 20 were better than I saw all of Saturday and Sunday 26 and 27. I knew the NE blow had them dizzy, but once the weather steadied, game on. And it helped that live emeralds were available all last week Monday through Friday. At least now I know and others too that not everybody was killing it. Maybe next time, hopefully this weekend. I'm only trying to get another limit before the winter.
Rickerd

i fish the Canadian side which has been slow so far,one technique i learned by accident was to bait up and drop line down ,leave bail open for a minute or so then crank reel to close bail and slowly lift and feel for weight.Different days the fish seem to like different action,sometimes a little drag across the bottom,sometimes a slight lift of the rod will do it.I use a "skipper 9" rig that works very well for me,if we have 3 people in the boat we all try something diferent til we pick up a pattern that works that day,hope this helps.

[LEfriend]

i fish the Canadian side which has been slow so far,one technique i learned by accident was to bait up and drop line down ,leave bail open for a minute or so then crank reel to close bail and slowly lift and feel for weight.Different days the fish seem to like different action,sometimes a little drag across the bottom,sometimes a slight lift of the rod will do it.I use a "skipper 9" rig that works very well for me,if we have 3 people in the boat we all try something diferent til we pick up a pattern that works that day,hope this helps.

That is probably most important advice...figure out what is the bite for that day! It sure changes.

[Lucky Duck]

West Basin, thank you for those instructions! Those were very, very good and helpful!