Perch fishing truth

[Skywatcher]

Great post. Thanks!

[pimplepounder]

I agree with West Basin's method as described 100%. It is an art one will develop over time. This means a bunch of trips out!

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.

[West Basin]

Another thing people typically don't know is after you've been at the spot for awhile, the visibility on the bottom is at or near zero. Your and other's rig lead weights have stirred up the bottom (which is usually mud or silty mud or silty sand) from constantly hitting it. The perch aren't feeding by sight, they are feeding primarily by smell and vibration or movement. That's why you need to give them that second or two of slack line time to locate the minnow. Even if there is some bottom visibility (poor vis). I have a theory that fishing on one side of the boat is sometimes better because the bottom water current is moving the stirred-up poor visibility water. When the boat swings one direction, it moves that side of the boat to the clearer water up current. Or maybe the opposite.

[badboards]

I'm looking at a 2 hook drop shot rig. Where the hook ties directly to the line with the weight at bottom. Seems like if you can get rid of any lose line floating around the better for feeling the bite. What would your thoughts be on that.

[SWOHRIDER]

I use a home made crappie rig with about 6 inch leads coming from my vertical line. One hook is right near the bottom. The other is about 15 inches up. Best way I've found to feel those light bites is to use a good sensitive UL rod and 10 lb power pro braid. The sensitivity difference compared to mono is huge. And personally I try to keep my sinker on the bottom and just pull it up and let it back down as the boat moves around to keep it straight up and down. I keep that rod in my hand and hang a spreader just off the bottom in a rod holder and keep a close eye on it. And when I do get a school of perch going crazy under the boat, I do my best to always have a bait in the water. Helps keep them around and interested. Back out to try it in the morning. Prob be my last day up here this year.

[Retired]

I went perch fishing yesterday, launched at Catawba, and started out to the west of the huge pack that was west and north of the Catawba can. I had Goldie’s, some of which were pretty large, so I was cutting most in half. I use a 2 hook drop rig with weight at the bottom, and tried leaving it on bottom, suspending it, “thumping” the bottom, engine running etc. After 3 hours, and 6 moves including to the range cans, I gave up. I never even had a nibble, and never saw a fish landed from any of the several dozen nearby boats over the course of the morning. I guess I should have run east of Kellies and fished for walleye.

[LEfriend]

We did same. Started 830 at green can. Six plus moves later - G can,F, D Green Island, Rattlesnake- it was 2:30 and we had all of 16. Ran back to pack where we started. Dropped down north of green can nearer shore. From 3 to 530 we filled our limit of 60 nice perch. Go figure.

Don’t know what had changed other than a wind shift and time. We were in a spot where big boats were running by bouncing us like a washing machine. Swear every time one went by bite picked up

Also were cutting the minnows. Seemed they preferred those over a whole minnow and even the very small pieces worked best

[badboards]

I am planning another trip next week and gonna try to squeeze one in the week after that. Perch or walleye not sure what it will be. Nine perch don't seem like it's worth the 3 hour drive but the wife loves sitting anchored and holding her pole so hopefully we'll find them and they will be hungry this time. I love just being out on the water and my two dachshunds do to. But some action would be nice.

[captainshotgun]

I really struggled in the 30 mph winds Wednesday. Had to fish very very close to shore & only picked up 3

[Hudsons20]

“Crushed oyster shells” Yes, we call it magic dust or stones, been using for over 20 year. 2 of my neighbors went out Thursday and caught their limit in 3 hours. Will see what happens with the solunar peaking out.