Guys,
Wasn't trying to stir things up, if salted/frozen minnows work great for you, then by all means, use them. I did fish alongside a friend once who had salted minnows and ended up with 6 fish to my boat limit of 60 during the same time frame in the same place. I had bait left over from the previous day when no else could get minnows. Pieces of fresh bait work as well as whole for me and I do just as well with goldies as emeralds. I generally fish after 3:30 PM and after you pull a school of fish to the boat, the bite is almost always up & down. I don't know how many times 2-3 fish come up with the hooked fish. Perch are like schoolie dolphin (maui-maui, 3-6 lbs), hooked ones keep the school around. I talked once with Gary Parsons at the Cleveland Sport Show after one of his seminars & he said his father used to bang an anchor on the bottom to draw a school of perch. I think they are a very aggresive fish when schooled up. I have seen underwater video of them just swimming around constantly opening & closing their mouths.