The information in this article will give you everything you need to know about perch and perch fishing. Listed below are the top 5 practical tips when perch fishing. It will not matter if you are just starting to try fishing or if you have been fishing for more than a decade. Everything you need to know is found here in this article to make you an effective perch catcher, from the behavior of the perch fishes down to practical tips when perch fishing.
WHAT IS A PERCH?
The perch is one of the most popular fishes to capture because they are outstandingly easy to catch, a great activity for family outings, and have an impressively delicious taste. Furthermore, the name perch is used as a generic name for different types of species such as the yellow perch (Perca flavescens), European perch (Perca fluviatilis), and Balkhash perch (Perca schrenkii).
The Perch is characterized to be yellowish, although sometimes it may vary depending on their age and clarity of the water. They are meat-eating freshwater fishes usually found in lakes, rivers, streams, and ponds.
They have two large dorsal fins; One fin is composed of a sharp spine-like structure that aligns. The other fin is shaped like a hill. Their body type is long and rounded. A proper perch can be identified by its distinct scales, which are rougher than other fish’s scales.
Perch can grow up to around 5 lb or even more! But, do not get your hopes up because a familiar perch usually weighs around 1 lb or less. Therefore, if you ever catch yourself a perch weighing around 2 lb or more, you got yourself a trophy fish.
Significance of Perch
Perch offers a great significant impact when it comes to our culinary, recreational, and ecological factors.
In a culinary aspect, perch are very popular in any restaurant you may dine in, anywhere across the globe. They are considered to be one of the most famous and finest flavored pan-fish dishes. With that given, some restaurants commonly call most of their fish menus by the name perch, even though it is of some other unrelated species.
Since perch are very common and well-found in any body of water, they become one of the most popular fishes to catch during fishing sports. Due to their overpopulating numbers, they are also great to fish for family outings and other recreational fishing activities.
Ecologically, perch fishes are essential in maintaining the balance in the aquatic food chain. They consume zooplankton and, afterward, macroinvertebrate organisms during their early stages. Later on, they feed on smaller fishes when they become a little bit larger. On that point, when they are meaty enough, they now become the prey of other larger fish predators and even various birds.
TOP 5 EFFECTIVE TIPS WHEN PERCH FISHING
1. Know WHERE to Go
Perch are meat-eaters. Thus, where ever insects are flying or small fishes are swimming, that is a green light that some perch fish are in the perimeters. They are commonly found in small ponds, lakes, streams, or rivers.
Small ponds and lakes are generally the perfect locations to be angling those perch. There are some cases wherein inconsistencies in their community placement are a huge issue. The best tip to keep in mind is to go for larger bodies of water. It gives you a higher chance to find larger numbers of the fish population.
Schools of perch are commonly found at or near drop-offs between the littoral zone and deeper water. They prefer a setting that blocks out sunlight and has plenty of places to hide.
2. Know WHEN to Go
Another tip that you should be mindful of is knowing when to catch those perch. They do not depend on seasons. After all, they are playfully active throughout the year, which makes them excellent and perfect targets for anglers because they never run out.
There are seasons wherein they become increasingly hyper and hungry, and one is during the winter. But then, because of the change in water temperature, they submerge themselves into deeper waters. The best time to catch them is between late afternoon and early evening when the light is halfway setting.
On other lakes, anglers tend to fish in waters that are 25 to 55 feet in depth. Better ready your deep-catching equipment. Make sure to have short jig poles and some specialized spools to have a wonderful perch-catching experience.
Another of which is they commonly pop up during springtime. And when I say pop up, I meant pop more. They have a high production rate, especially during the spring season. Female perch lay more than a handful of eggs in covered areas such as seaweeds or underwater plants. The best time to fish for perch is during the early morning and early evening.
3. Use the Perfect Bait
This type of fish feed on smaller fishes such as shellfish and larvae of insects. The brighter side is, they are picky about what they eat, but, ironically, they can still be caught while using any bait.
Two types of bait can be used on your perch escapade, and those are live baits and artificial baits.
Live Bait
Fishing for perch, its ways, and tactics, have changed over the past years or even decades, but their passion for food has not. One of the tops most used bait is the soft shells or crayfish. This type of bait can be used anytime and anywhere.
If softshells can not be found on the market yet, you can use minnows, although they work best in calm waters primarily. And another effective perch bait is the nightcrawlers, yet, they are more popularly used in warmer waters.
Perch are fast swimmers, so another tip to follow is to make sure your bait does not move too much. For you to keep a close eye on any action happening.
Artificial Bait
Artificial Lures such as plugs, jigs, and spinners are good ways to draw in perch. Lures in the color yellow or light-yellow are found to attract a perch more. But, some also react to a variant of colors. So, color is not a big factor.
4. Plan your Tactics
The availability of perch anywhere and anytime is not enough to acquire enough confidence to catch yourself a ton of perch. You still have to have an effective game plan or approach to have a sure catch of this aquatic species.
Perch can be caught using several methods in different varieties. These include float fishing, lure fishing, and lingering. But the two mainly used methods are Float Fishing and Lure Fishing.
Float Fishing
Float Fishing has been the most popular means of fishing ever since. Even professional anglers prefer this method, may it be using live bait or just for fishing alone. What happens is you cast the float in the waters and wait for the perch to bite. This works best using a light tackle.
This method uses angling equipment called afloat, commonly known as a bobber. It serves several purposes: suspending the bait to an unreachable depth if using the bait alone, and it also serves as a visual attraction to the fish.
Afloat comes in different sizes and shapes, depending on your fishing situation. An angler will choose a float that is best for the situation, taking into account the size of the bait s/he is using, wind speed, and other factors.
When choosing your float, always consider whether you will be using a big or small bait and the current flow of the lake or body of water you will be fishing at. You can make your float, and some regularly used materials are corks, plastics, balsa wood, or even quills.
Lure Fishing
This method of fishing uses an artificial bait called a Lure. The lure is designed to show off vibrant colors, movement, and vibration that attract the fish. Most lures are equipped with a number of hooks that give you a huge advantage when fishing.
There are several factors to consider when using this type of fishing method. Some fish responds to a steady motion, while others are attracted to erratic movements. When catching your perch, you should opt to use a type of lure that does not give off many movements since they are fast swimmers.
Try to use natural colored lures when fishing in clear waters as a number one rule. Switch to more vibrant colored lures when fishing in thick, misty waters.
Make sure to sharpen your hooks before taking them out for fishing. You want to catch a lot of perch and make sure your time wasted is not wasted at all.
Ledgering
This one method of fishing is preferably used for deeper castings. You attach a weight on the line to help get your bait to the lake or river bed. It is not as simple as it sounds, though. There are a lot of things to consider when using this method of fishing.
There are suitable tackles used in different types of locations, required equipment for specific fishing scenarios, and many more factors to cover to achieve successful ledgering.
They are Notorious Fish
Perch are known to be notorious bait thieves, so you have to make sure that it will be a particular lock when that fish comes your way. Use a small hook to prevent the perch from swimming away. As well as, when you attach your bait, keep it on the tip of your hook to increase your chances of a stable and steady hook whenever a perch tries to strike it. When a perch bites, reel it in slowly because you don’t want to pull the hook out of its mouth.
Most anglers will want to have a disgorger with them when fishing for perch using live bait. The typical battle with a perch is that they tend to let loose off the hook without getting caught or even swallowing it.
A lot of anglers agree to the fact that perch are indeed a well-founded catch. Not to mention that there is a fishing hack to catch larger perch regularly. This species of fish is typically found at different levels of deepness. Half of the population tends to find food near the bottom.
So, a successful angler should be patient enough to move along with their flow. Take the time to search for them in the deeper parts regularly. You should position your bait starting at the bottom first and move slowly toward the surface to cover various depths.
5. Don’t Waste Time
One good thing about catching the perch is that catching one means catching a lot more. They swim in schools, so there are still more of them whenever you catch one. Hence, do not waste your time removing the fish and adding another bait.
Instead, save a lot time as you can and reel one in again. You may need a cooler or stringer to hold your fish still, especially if you have more than one. This is to continue fishing after a catch. This is where your rigs come into the picture.
In addition, they do not stay in one place for a long period. They change location swiftly. That being said, you have to double up your speed as well.
Given all these tips and incorporating your fishing skills with it, there will be no doubt that you can catch a lot of perch that might be enough for a month of consumption. Keep all these practical tips when perch fishing in mind to be one successful perch angler.
