Perch Fishing 101: Top Tips for Catching Perch

Perches are extremely slow and lazy, making them an easy catch for muskies, walleyes, and also fishermen. In this brief post, we’re going to teach you exactly how you can catch perches, so stick around. 

Top Perch Fishing Tips

1. Get to Know Your Prey

A perch is an easy catch, making it an excellent prey to consider if you’re still a beginner. Perches are yellowish fish, and their color changes according to the clarity of the water.

They live in freshwater and feed on microorganisms. As they grow, their meal gets bigger, and they start feeding on relatively smaller fish.

2. Where to Find a Perch

Just like any other fish, a perch likes to keep away from the sun. During the day, they’d hide near any water structures like sunken trees and shaded areas.

The location of the fish changes as it grows. If you’re looking for trophy perches, you’ll have to go deeper because schools of trophy perches swim in deep waters, while small-sized perches tend to be closer to the surface to feed on green areas and smaller fish.

Perches are one of the schooling fish. So, if you found one, you’ll find another.

You can find your fish the easy way, which is through buying a fish finder, or you can cast your rod until you get a bite, and that’s where you should be directing your next cast.

3. When to Go Perch Fishing

It’s known that perches are best-caught in their spawning seasons. You know how women get fat when they’re pregnant. Well, it’s the same for perches. Their spawning seasons are in March and April, and that’s when their tendency to grow is very high.

If you’d like to get more specific, you should go perch fishing when there’s no sunlight. The best time of the day to go fishing is in the early mornings or evenings because that’s when perches think they’re not exposed to their predators, so they get out of their hiding spots and swim around more freely.

4. What to Feed a Perch

Fishers usually go for live bait because it’s easier to find. Small live minnows are a good pick when you fish in cold waters, but they don’t stay hooked for so long, which can be a downside.

When trying to hook a minnow, you should tie it to the hook from its tail as this will give the bait more mobility. Therefore, the perch will notice it faster.

Another option for live bait is nightcrawlers, which are best used in warm waters. They’re comparatively cheap and can stay hooked for a longer time.

If you like using artificial lures, then you can go for spinnerbaits, lead heads, or bobbers. 

Spinnerbaits are suitable for the times when you need to grab the fish’s attention. They can send forth the necessary vibrations to entice the perch.

Bobbers, on the other hand, are best used when you’re looking to adjust your line to a certain depth, where your catch lies.

Finally, lead heads should be bright and colorful. Their weight should be adapted to your fishing technique. If you’re standing still and just holding out your rod, then use a lightweight one. If you use trolling and drifting, then go for heavy lead heads.

5. Adopt a Fishing Technique

All you need for a successful perch trip is an ultra-light rod to feel the perch’s bite, in addition to a light monofilament line to make a perfect knot on a small hook of size 6 or 8.

Now that you’ve known when and where to find a perch. It’d help if you learned how to capture it. Otherwise, you’ll have canned tuna for dinner.

• Bobber Fishing

Bobber fishing is an easy technique that many anglers resort to because of its applicability. You need to pick a suitable bobber and adjust the weight of the trick to reach the required depths.

It’s preferred to use a lightweight lure to give you more leverage over the fish. This method is best used in seasons when perches are closer to the surface.

• Lure Fishing

In lure fishing, you use artificial bait. In clear waters, try using natural-colored lures with moderate mobility because the perch can effortlessly spot it.

In the case of rocky waters, it’d be best to use a vibrant, more colorful lure to grab the perch’s attention.

• Ledgerding

In the seasons when the fish are hiding in deep waters, you need to have your bait reach the river’s bed. To do that, you’ve to attach a weight to your line.

Keep your eyes open wide at all times as you must be ready to reel in the line whenever the perch grabs a bite. However, the reel-in must be done slowly to avoid cutting the perch’s mouth with your sharp hook.

6. Good Timing is Gold

Perches travel in schools. If you caught one, there is a huge possibility that there are more perches around the same area. But, it won’t be long till they move on to a new location.

So, keep your water bucket and your new bait ready for the next catch.

Final Thoughts

If you want to have a tasty warm meal on your dinner table, grab your ultra-light rod with an ultralight spinning reel, and go perch fishing.

The first thing to learn about fishing is to be patient. Perch fishing is the ideal sport for beginners and safe for bringing children along. We can all agree that patience is the perfect lesson to teach to your kids.