White perch as "live bait"
 

Theres a lake near me that has white perch (along with other "panfish"). Has anyone ever used live freshwater white perch as live bait for bass ?
I'm thinking of catching a bunch and using as a substitute for the alewifes.
Comments ?

I don't see why it wouldn't work. Caught this monster the other day, felt over 2#'s. RI record is 2#'s, may have beat it but I threw it back without an official weight.:wall:

Going pan fishing tomorrow for some of those babies. Yum.

Whoa, thats a BIG white perch

I don't see why not. Stripers eat anything they can get down their throats.

And, white perch are anadromous, like stripers, so they will stay live in the salt.

yeah what Mike P said. theres a lot of white perch in the pawcatuck(sp) in the early spring. i would think that the bigger holdovers chow down on them...

*edit* i've been informed that there NOT a lot of white perch in the pawcutuck. sorry for the misinformation :huh:

White perch make a great fresh water bait, for many species, but yellow perch are even better.

there's no fish....anywhere:bgi:

Back in the Mid 60's My father and I tried to use lake caught white perch for striper bait during the late spring Herring runs. It seemed like a good idea. The problem was that the perch would live only a couple of minutes at most in the salt water.

Bernzy

thats what I thought...thanks

Surprised the white perch didn't live longer in the salt, I have caught many in tidal waters. Oh I know guys that use horse shiners for bait

Years ago, when they used to let you dip your own, I netted a few in the lower pools of the Bournedale run.

Lots of them in the tidal creeks of LI. In places where you couldn't even call the water "brackish"--pure salt.

we use em in Maine
 

They work great but they won't live in salt water unless they got there on they're own...I think that they're bodies need to adjust naturally to brakish conditions...sunfish also work great on river stripers!!!!!

Tried it once when I netted one by accident at the herring run. Hooked it in the top of the back. It swam around for a while, but didn't catch anything. However, don't see any reason why stripers wouldn't hit 'em, unless they're only hitting herring.

What you have to do with perch caught in fresh water. Is add saltwater to the tank over a couple of days until the water is all salt. They do work for Stripers. I found a spot this year on the Cape that the striper were actully wating for the white perch at night as they came out.