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What is the best bait for catching perch?
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Perch fishing with worms tends to produce the best results, but maggots, prawns and lobworms are also amongst the best bait for catching perch. You can also try feeding the perch, spreading some maggots over the area you intend to fish. But don’t go overboard as perch are small and can fill themselves up quickly.
In spring, once the water reaches about 50 degrees, you’ll find the fish in the shallows, around 3 feet deep, close to shore. Look for structure like docks and downed trees, as well as weeds. As the water warms up to 60 degrees they will start moving out towards deeper water, about 5 feet deep.
What is the best time to fish for perch?
Perch fishing is usually best in the early morning or evening hours during late spring and early summer and late afternoon or evening in late summer. In autumn, both morning and late afternoon-evening provide excellent fishing. In the natural lakes, the best fishing is usually from late summer until late fall.
What is the best bait for catching perch? – Related Questions
What color lures do perch like?
As far as color goes for lure selection its really going to depend on the body of water you are fishing, but generally I like starting out with UV green, UV pink or orange and then a natural perch color.
Are perch top or bottom feeders?
They are mainly bottom feeders and their diets differ depending on their size. The natural diet of small perch (3-4 inches in length) is made up of crustaceans as well as insects. Larger perch prefer worms, other small fish and fish fry. Effective baits include lob worms, earthworms, maggots and casters.
What is perch favorite food?
Insect larvae, midges, mosquitos, scuds, smaller mayflies, and bloodworms are the primary food source for young yellow perch. And even when fully grown, yellow perch will continue to feed on aquatic insects in many water bodies.
Are perch deep or shallow in winter?
At first ice, perch can be scattered anywhere, but by mid-winter most will be on mid- to deep flats. They’ll stay there until the last weeks of the season, before moving close to their spawning sites. Shallow flats, weedy bays and reedy shorelines will produce some of the year’s best perch fishing during ice out.
What depth do perch like?
Perch prefer to spawn in shallower water of between 3 and 10 feet with an optimal water depth of 6 feet.
What water temp are perch most active?
White perch are schooling fish, and when the bite is on, the fish often come two at a time. In the winter, perch are most active when the water is between 40 and 48 degrees, though they have been known to feed aggressively even when there is ice on back-bay ponds and brackish back coves.
Match the hook size to the type of bait used but generally you’ll be looking at size 4 to 10, with a wide gape and medium gauge wire. A lot of commercial fisheries will only allow the use of a barbless hook but if not, go for a microbarb.
What size lures for perch?
Use lures in the 6cm-9cm range, as these are ideal for perch, and pay attention to the diving depth of the lure. The bigger the vane on the front of the lure, the deeper it will dive. By far the best shape of crankbait for perch is a short, stumpy body that produces a really fast wiggle action.
Where can I find big perch?
Perch school by size, so big perch swim together in deeper water and small perch hang together in shallower water. Catching one perch means there are more in the area. If you fish from shore, you’ll generally land smaller fish. Cast your line toward weeds, lily pads, piles of rocks, pier pilings and brush.
Are perch hard to catch?
Abundant, hard-fighting and quick to bite, these feisty little panfish are common throughout much of the northern United States and Canada, where they provide easy fishing for novice and experienced anglers alike. Yellow perch are fun to catch, but they are also prized as some of the tastiest fish in fresh water.
What size perch is a keeper?
Re: What is a keeper size perch? Keepers start at 8″, Smaller ones have been in the pail before. I prefer them in the 8 – 10 inch range for eating, but will gladly keep some of the slabs.
The ones that are 9″ long and about as round as a cigar are just perch. Some people go by length over 12″ is a jumbo.
How old is a 15 inch perch?
There were some perch that were 15 inches that were 5-7 years old and then there were some that were that size that were 12 years old. My guess would be that the 12 inchers that you were catching were 3-4 years old with a good food source and maybe 5 years old with a poor food source.
Are perch good eating?
Taste. The perch boasts white flesh that has an excellent flavor with a sweet taste and firm crumbly texture. It has a flavor that is mostly likened to that of the walleye but with more appeal. The perch fish boasts white flesh that has an excellent mildly sweet taste and firm crumbly texture.
What does perch taste like?
Ocean perch is mild tasting yet a bit sweet, with a moderately firm texture. The meat is lean, moist and flaky. Large ocean perch develop a coarse texture. Deep-skinned ocean perch with the fat line removed has the most delicate flavor.
What size perch should I eat?
I find that 9-11 are the best keepers. 12+ the rib cage gets a lot more rugged and they’re hard to clean, and you don’t get that much more meat from a 13 than from an 11. Big ones are great for a picture, but 9-11 is ideal for eating.