Yellow Perch
 

My girlfriend's parents live on a private lake. It's loaded with every species of fish, most of them big. I've never seen so many big yellow perch in my life. Her brother and I were out in the canoe today fishing shiners and artificials and we were bailing them (and some nice bass).

Has anyone ever targeted BIG yellow perch? Just wondering what you've found works for the trophies. They seem to love dead shiners. We were joking around and wanted to see what the state record is because we want to break it. The record is only 2lbs, 12oz. I know that's a huge perch, but we think we could beat that in this lake if we put in some serious effort. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

On another note, saw a monster bass smash a small perch we released. I know bass eat them, but it was an awesome sight to see. Will definitely keep that in the old brain bank for the future.

Also, I've been trying to get a good good fish on top early in the season so before we went in I threw on a small yellow perch patterned popper and got slammed by a fish after the second pop in some warm water, but of course I dropped it. Would've loved to have seen that fish as it would've been my first fish on top this season.

Thanks for reading these ramblings. Any help catching monster yellow perch would be appreciated. Let the ridiculing begin...

Ice fishing, late in year, when they're pre spawn is the time for trophies from what I remember. I caught the nh record white perch through ice on squam as a kid but didn't know it and we ate it.
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perch can't resist worms (real ones)

I catch a lot of them on the Yozuri Pin minnows....but bait is best.

Hit that lake during ice fishing season and drop down some small jigs...you'll probably crush'em

One day i was fishing out in the flatbottom boat on the res
and i was casting away with one rod while another rod just layed on the
edge not really meant to be actively fishing because i was only catching
kivers or perch and there was just a tiny piece of nightcrawler on the hook
not even a half inch long as it dangled very still in 3 feet of water.

i was after Largemouth and concentrating on my retrieves but i kept catching
fish on that same tiny piece of worm ONE after another.
The Perch kept getting bigger and finally i caught a large brown trout too. it was amazing....

5" shiners or big night crawlers. Can get then on other stuff too, they're pigs, just have to weed through the small ones as you already know where the bigger ones are. Let us know how you do!

Caught an awful lot of big perch years ago in Lake Champlain on spinners like the old Abu Reflex, try a yellow Roostertail. They definitely fall for shiny stuff.

Yeah they've been whacking a small(er) spinnerbait that I've been throwing for LM. They are persistent little bastids, I will say that.

Not much of an ice fisherman so I didn't think of that, but thanks for the tip(up). Clogston, that's a funny story too...

Thanks all. I will keep you all posted on our pursuit for the record yellow perch( I can't say that with a straight face). tight lines...

I like the 1/4 oz Acme Thunderbolt or Thomas Bouyant spoon ( love the gold ones), its a crusher, nice slow retrieve or jig it(pop it ).

1/16 oz lead head / with a twin or triple tail ..:fishin:

I agree with Clammer. I use he same set up most of the summer for bass and pull up some monster perch on them.

Jigging is jigging, whether it's from the ice or from a boat!
Jig with as small a minnow as you want, but keep in mind that large persh are gluttons and will eat whatever they can fit in their mouths.

Worms are great too, but they tend to get ripped by the smaller perch in the process.

rubber worms will work too, but you have to put in your time with them.

Thanks all :kewl:

2ND That !
yellow black poka dot spinner they can't resist
nor can the calico's

cALICO,S mummies

I fish yellow perch late April into early May pre spawn and spawn on Lake Simcoe Ont. Canada.

The best is FIN "S" 2.5 I like the smelt color but have had success withal there colors.

Fin "S" also has a jig flat on top and round to the bottom, same as their Swimbait hook. It's very important to get the perch size hooks 1/8 for under 10 ft. and up to 3/16 for 30-40 ft.

Get eagle claw 214 bait hooks I like the gold ones. I bought a bunch at BPS Mass last time I was there. That's your high hook (standard dropshot setup) and the jig on bottom.

Again I like the smelt and will have both hook and jig with FIN "S" Smelt.

We do have tournaments for perch and I will not have the dropshot hook because most on the big girls will come on the jig on the bottom.

We fish perch late fall Oct -Nov in that 25-40 ft lots of fun and eating. Same setup just heavier jig.

Another live bait option is maggots get them at pet food store. I don't use them.

Thank you all for the thoughtful responses, advice, and insight. I guess we missed the window for a giant, but we're still going to give it hell. Will report back! tight lines...

I target most of mine late winter through the ice... perch are roamers, but shoal water surrounded by deep is a favorite hunting ground for hump backs..

in winter we jig with a sweedish pimple and half of a dilly... open water, a lindy, or little joes double spinner with a night crawler tail reeled slowly or trolled will ring the dinner bell...

Thanks, RF9!