I grew up fishing Lake Michigan for perch and we fished using small inline spinners dragged across the bottom. We would fish with minnows and soft claws. The spinners always caught the jumbo's. I have tried it here on Erie and same results. I was averaging 9 in. on spreaders and 12 in. with the spinners. Now I have only made it out twice for perch so far this year but plan on fishing much more next month. I'm having relatives sending me a supply of soft claws and plan on letting everyone know if they work here like the did back home in Chitown.