Finding perch requires patience, persistence, and now and then asking if you’re doing the right thing. Eliminating water where they’re not is simple: If they’re not where you thought they’d be, try somewhere else. Perch may be staging or roaming, deep or shallow. Depending on lake type, they may migrate up rivers, creek arms, or lake inlets. They sometimes stay shallow for months, roaming the flats if there’s adequate food. And they’ve been known to take refuge in back bays or river oxbows. You just never know.
Perch prefer gravel bottoms and weeds for spawning. In weedlines, flooded brush, and timber, they often stick around after the spawn to feed on small aquatic life—plankton, nymphs, minnows, freshwater shrimp (scuds), bloodworms, and other aquatics. Hard bottoms such as rock, gravel, or sand attract freshwater shrimp and minnows, which in turn attract perch. Shallow mud- and sandflats may also support enough aquatic life to keep perch in the area.
Clear water can also be a key variable, though I’ve found and caught perch in murky water, too. Dirty water absorbs more sunlight than clear water. All pre-spawners seek the warmest water possible—so it makes sense why they’d be hanging out in shallow dingy water. Again, take all that you know about their possible locations and keep looking for them, focusing on the perch jackpot.
Thin Water Patterns
In shallow water, few methods work better than placing a visually acute angler in the bow of the boat to spot schools of perch. Equipped with polarized sunglasses, one angler takes position in the bow while the other eases the boat near potential shallow perch haunts. In clear water, schools of the barred bandits are easy to spot from a distance.
When you find them, it’s time to try being the perch-jerkers you’ve waited to be. Stay far enough away to prevent spooking the entire school. The next most important consideration is selecting the best presentation.
Casting a jig-and-minnow works, though you’ll have to rebait every time you catch a fish, and minnows tend to fly off the hook when you attempt long casts. It’s a hassle, honestly. A better option is a jig-and-softbait combo. Cast after cast and fish after fish, you can use exactly the same bait. I like Berkley Gulp! for perch, and their PowerBait formula, as in their 2-inch grubs and tubes, continues to produce.
With a few modifications, the castable drop-shot rig can be productive in the shallows, too. This rig consists of a sinker at the end of the line with a lure or plain hook (sometimes two hooks) and livebait or lure positioned somewhere above. A drop-shot rig allows you to cast the farthest, keeps line taught to detect bites and, most importantly, keeps your bait off bottom in shallow water.
Tie the hook to the mainline with a Palomar knot. The hook shank should be perpendicular to the mainline with the hook point up. The longer shank on Aberdeen-style hooks allows baits to be presented a greater distance from the mainline, making it easier for the taking.
The hook’s placement above the sinker enables you to tease the fish into biting better than on any other rig. Popular perch baits include livebait like minnows, maggots, and grubs, or plastic worms or any other panfish-sized plastic creatures, some of the most popular being Berkley’s Gulp! and PowerBait.
