My father-in law wants to catch some perch next weekend. When do they start to school up? I’ve caught a few trolling umbrella rigs. Anyone have any suggestions where to target them? Are spoons still the best way to get a bunch of them? Thank you!
The perch will bite almost anything. I’ve caught them with minnows, cutbait, worms and of course spoons. I prefer to use small, 1/2 or 3/4 ounce spoons for them. The ones we caught last Friday and Saturday ranged between 18’ and 32’ deep and were schooled up. Just watch your depthfinder and look for fish that are usually on or very near the bottom. Some folks call what you’re looking for a “double bottom”. We saw “clouds” of fish that ranged from the bottom to about 10’ off of the bottom on Saturday. They were constantly moving chasing suspended schools of small shad. Caught them near the elbow and my cousin caught them near Beards creek. They’re pretty much all over the lake.
Take whatever you like to throw in schooling stripers too. We saw large schools of stripers Friday. Some might have been keepers. Did’nt see any schooling on top Saturday. Guess the cool weather pushed the baitfish down deeper. Good luck.
Thank you for the information. I’m still learning how to use my depth finder. The next time you see the “clouds” on your screen, would you mind snapping a picture and posting it so I have an idea what to look for?
The “clouds” I’m referring to are bunches of baitfish. If you’ve seen schools of shad on the top of the water, the clouds of baitfish look about like that on a depthfinder screen. Hopefully you’ll see some fish in and around the clouds of baitfish.
If you zoom in 2x toward the bottom, the perch readings will appear similar to striper arches, only less thick, around the bait. Perch are smaller cousins in the morone genus to stripers and behave in a similar fashion.
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There is a massive amount of perch in beards crk that I seen today in about 30’ of water…
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