JUMBO PERCH TACTICS

What fascinates me about yellow perch is just how adaptive these fish can be. There is no universal code or strategy for perch fishing because these fish act different depending on the dynamics of a particular ecosystem. On some bodies of water, perch are stunted and small… serving nothing more than the lower end of the food chain. Some water is capable however of producing larger perch of twelve inches or more. Perch longer than ten inches are very desirable and perch over twelve inches are considered jumbo. We spend time on some fisheries that produces perch over fifteen inches.

Why do so many ice anglers fascinate over jumbo perch? Perch are great on the table. Perch fight hard for their relative size. In my mind, a fourteeninch perch feels like a twenty-inch walleye. When perch are aggressive, the bite can be intense. Some of the most intense moments of ice fishing I have ever had in my life have been over a hot perch hole. When fish are hitting a lure dropping down before you can close the bail on the reel and flying up off the bottom to hit a lure, that is a good day. Big perch can be stunning with bright orange fins and tiger stripes.

What I cannot stress enough however is just how different these fish can behave from one fishery to the other. Perch fishing on Lake Winnibigoshish in northern Minnesota is completely different than Gogebic Lake in the U.P. of Michigan. Cascade Lake in Idaho fishes differently than Devils Lake in North Dakota or Wisconsin’s Green Bay. Perch are chameleon like in how they can adapt and change to survive. I believe the big factors that drive these changes is abundance of other predator fish, forage and topography of the lake. reputation as being reckless and aggressive. Reckless and aggressive perch can be a lot of fun, but perch can also be extremely temperamental and difficult to catch as well. There are some factors like invertebrate driven forage bases and lower population densities of fish that create some bites that demand more finesse and patience.

On one extreme, we sometimes deal with aggressive fish where catching fish is all about finding them. We might drill a hundred holes with nothing. On the one hundred and first hole, we catch twenty perch in fifteen minutes. These aggressive fish often move a lot and are looking aggressively for something to eat. If I could line up a handful of conditions where we really see this type of bite consistently, it would be a lake that has high enough densities of fish where the fish are slightly stressed for something to eat with a forage base of shiners,

crayfish and other larger profile forage. You would have stable weather and the aggressiveness of these fish only seems to pick up after you get later towards late ice. Shallow water also creates more aggressive bites but not always.

The mentality to fish aggressive perch has to match the fish. You have to be aggressive.

You drill holes and move. You fish through locations fast and simply cover water because when you find these fish, you can catch them however you want. The presentation however can make you more efficient. We often use larger flutter spoons and lures that fish can see from further distances. We will often lift up higher off the bottom to call fish in from further away. A few other tricks we will do with aggressive fish is to lift the school as high off the bottom as possible with your presentation. When you hook a fish, let the fish dig for a little while to fire up the school and attract more fish into the area.

On crazy good bites, I will lean towards single hook spoons so I can unhook and get back down to the fish faster. I might pinch the barb down and bend the hook out slightly, so this unhooking process is as fast as possible. I want the bait that is tipped onto the spoon to be durable like a piece of fish belly or a perch eye where legal and on the craziest bites, we often use a spoon with no bait.

A state away on a different body of water however, the strategy and attitude outlined above might

seldom work because the ecosystem is so different. What are the factors that can create tougher bites? Lower densities of fish combined with rich forage bases. Invertebrate driven forage bases often create tougher bites because fish are conditioned not to exert themselves to catch a freshwater shrimp or a dragon fly larva. Unstable weather can also be a factor. Deep water is often a factor as fish have to push the lure so much further ahead to load a spring bobber or give you any bite indication in water deeper than thirty feet. These fish often won’t rise much higher in the water column and don’t accelerate fast towards the presentation. These situations can create tougher pull your hair out type of bites but guess what type of ecosystems often produce some of the biggest perch? Lake Gogebic comes to mind. Devils Lake is another fishery that often requires a finesse touch.

The toughest bites often demand a dead stick approach with wigglers or small minnows anchored next to the bottom. On Devils Lake, we often combat some of our toughest fishing with a plain hook, small fathead minnow and a single split shot. That works when nothing else will. When finesse is needed, we often gravitate towards small profile tungsten jigs or small profile spoons. Spoons with treble hooks are often preferred. My favorite tungsten jigs are the Drop XL jigs that feature an oversize hook with a wider gap. The toughest bites often demand tipping with live bait in conjunction with light spring bobbers or at least a glass noodle tip rod like our JM Meat Stick series.

Between the two extremes lie most of the perch fisheries in North America. Tungsten jigs with soft plastics work extremely well on many natural lakes in Minnesota and eastern South Dakota. Perch fishing on Idaho’s Cascade Lake more resembles walleye fishing where anglers are using rattle baits, glide baits and spoons. The tackle you use for walleye on Lake of the Woods or Red Lake is very similar to what you would need on Cascade.

More than anything else in my own travels, here is an observation that has served me well when trying to dial in perch patterns and presentations. The body condition of the fish tells the story. If you catch a perch or see pictures of fish with oversize bodies and very small heads and mouths in proportion to the body, think finesse and think invertebrates. If you see fish with large heads and large mouths, think aggressive presentations and ecosystems that are driven by shiners or some type of baitfish. If you are traveling to a new lake, learn as much about the forage base as possible before fishing. On the Mendota Chain in Wisconsin, perch might be over deep-water foraging on water fleas and the program is dropper chains below spoons or hanger rigs. The same fish on Saginaw Bay might be relating to massive five-foot sand flats feeding on shiners where the program is aggressively lifting one hook bead spoons with no bait.

This diversity is fascinating to me and why I love traveling to different fisheries. Wherever I drive, I drive by fish to get to fish but I enjoy exploring the differences between ecosystems and learning as much as possible. The adapatibility of yellow perch create some diverse presentational requirements and strategies.