yellow perch are native to north american freshwater bodies and their ages, growth rate and size can vary by latitude, likely due to differences in daylight and annual water temperature. Perch often live to be 9-10 years old, and generally range from 4-10 inches, but some fisheries contain exceptional genetics, ideal conditions, and plenty of forage to produce trophys over 14″. Lakes like pelican lake, in southwestern manitoba.
Perch aren’t a large species, nor do they put up a drag peeling fight, yet they are highly sought after primarily due to their taste.
I’ve found that perch school up by size, so if you’re just catching dinks, try a new spot. Unless catching dinks is what you’re into.
Perch are in the middle of the food chain, so nature needs lots of them to keep the big fish fed. So if you catch one, don’t be surprised if you catch a dozen as you’ve likely located a tightly packed school.
What i think is an ideal setup is an ultralight rod rigged up with 4lb monofilament line, or if you insist on spooling up with braid, include a fluorocarbon leader so the fish have a harder time seeing the line if the bite is tough. Next I tie on the smallest jig possible, perferably in tungston so it sinks faster. Then I use soft plastic as bait if the bite is fast so im not wasting time constantly baiting my hook. If the bite slows down or requires more finesse, I use natural bait like worms, perch eyes or live minnows like the ones from E & J live bait in Ninette. If you want bigger fish, upsize your bait/lure. If nothing is biting, I always downsize my lure.
When looking for perch, I first seek out deep water. Then I start looking for structure like weeds, islands, rocks,submerged objects, or sharp changes in depth. Perch and other fish often feed at the base of these structural features.
Perch are easier to find than black crappie as they don’t typically spread out throughout the water column. Histoically, I’ve found them belly to bottom. Therefore it’s less essential to use electronics when targeting them.
I won’t tell you what to do, but I do myself a favour and release trophy size fish so they can pass on their exceptional genetics; which in turn will lead to hauling more trophys out of the water for years to come since this is a part of sustaining a trophy class fishery.
Thanks for watching! Please subscribe, like and comment. Until next time, i’m your Outdoorsman Al