Fog it’s interesting that you mention that area of the lake. My wife wanted me to look at the dock situation at a lake house for sale up that way and I marked a huge ball of what I really think were perch in that christmas tree pattern off the bottom. I tried to find them coming back out from looking at that house and couldn’t find them. I never have found perch suspended like you mention, I’ve always assumed they were bottom huggers. Learned something new there.
It seems like in December and early January the perch come out of the woodwork for me on Clarks Hiill and Greenwood and I never do find them the rest of the year.
Yep. Most people view perch the same way, but they will even school on top at times. They are of the morone genus and therefore behave in a similar way at times to their larger cousins-- stripers, hybrids, and whites. Early in my teen years, I cut my teeth as an angler with perch. They are my father’s favorite fish. We would periodically hook nice stripers while perch fishing year round, and that sparked me into becoming a striper man. I still enjoy perch fishing once in a while though.
I’ve only seen and caught perch schooling on top a few times. I’ve caught them fairly shallow on small crankbaits while bass fishing, usually very early in the morning or late in the evening. I’ve also seen schools that would be scattered from the bottom to within 15’ of the surface in fairly deep water. No matter where they are in the water column they sure are fun to catch. My most successful days of fishing for them with spoons are when they are very closely relating to the bottom.
Upstate Pirate, there is no doubt that Clarks Hill is my first love. I fish it just about every weekend and drive further than it would take for me to get to Hartwell, Murray, Russell, Greenwood and Wateree. But every now and then trying out another pretty girl seems like a good idea at the time. You forget that pretty girl has been ridden hard every weekend by pleasure boaters and NC fisherman. Seriously, they are both great lakes but I was hoping to find more schooling action and some better perch jigging if the schooling isn’t happening. I can’t seem to find the perch consistently on Clarks Hill like Spoon and Fog can on Murray.
I do change up from time to time. I'm pretty fortunate to be with-in an hour of Clark Hill, Hartwell, and Murray and 15 minutes from Greenwood. I fished Murray a good bit last year just trying to learn the lake a little more. I like catching them hybrid on Clark Hill though. That is one fighting fish!
I still enjoy perch fishing once in a while though.