Rattles, Color, Hooks

In theory, rattling makes sense as an attracting maneuver. We have, however, done no conclusive testing to verify which spoons actually do the best job of rattling underwater, though some of our favorite spoons in this ­category have already been mentioned in this article.

Color also makes a difference, with the best perch patterns remaining those that include either gold or silver, along with chartreuse, orange, and perhaps the brighter reds. Glow works well for many fish and at times for perch, especially in deep water during midsummer. We treat glow as another color choice. It’s not magic, just something to experiment with among the other color choices.

Red hooks are a recent fad and, like gold, silver, or plain bronze hooks, seem to help at times. It’s just about impossible to verify the improved-catch connection to red hooks to make us fish with them all the time. I consider them another color option that’s worth tinkering with. But if all you fish with is red, you’re missing the chance to fish gold or silver, and plain bronze.

Lastly, most perch spoons are initially outfitted with small trebles, although many also are marketed with a single hook that can be used to replace the treble. Singles certainly work best when the bite’s good and you want to quickly remove the hook from the fish to get down and catch another. Small, super-sharp trebles can be hard to remove.

What we need is the option to sometimes add a longer single hook. The short singles aren’t much of a change-up from the short treble versions already on most spoons. For perch, longer sometimes makes a difference—longer spoon, addition of a dropper, longer hook hanging from the spoon. A longer hook pivots better and farther than a shorter hook, when a perch sucks in. The Aberdeen-style hook would be perfect, except that it isn’t made with a hook-eye big enough to slide onto a split ring. The only longer hook that works is the Eagle Claw 218, in sizes ranging from #6 to #10.

One additional note here is that many 1/16-ounce and smaller spoons are not enhanced when they include a dual split ring—one to attach the hook on the bottom end and another to tie your line to. The line-tie split ring is just a little too much hardware. Instead, remove it and use a loop knot to connect to the lure.

Jigging Actions

A lot of jigging (lift-falling) often attracts fish, but tentative fish become disinclined to bite when they get there. It’s too much. Too little jigging, on the other hand, won’t attract enough fish overall.

So the process becomes one of attempting to find just what fish respond to over exactly what time frame, and with what jigging sequence and motion. On the extreme end of the scale, we might lift-fall once every minute and then hold for 30 seconds, adding a jiggle or shake occasionally. A more typical scenario would be a lift-fall every 20 seconds or so, followed by a 20-second hold.

A factor that enters the discussion anytime fish are picky is line and spoon twist. Spoons like the Kastmaster don’t twist much on the lift-fall if the lift is done gently. Aggressive fish hit a twisting spoon, but tentative fish often won’t. The twist that results from too much jigging is why you shouldn’t jig so much when fish are tentative.

Lure Lifting

All predatory fish respond to a lure being taken away from them—when you raise the lure. This is done when a fish comes in but won’t immediately take, after you’ve tried nodding (you have to be watching on your sonar). If you lift-fall at this point you’re almost certain to spook the fish. Occasionally what works is to raise the lure, stop, and totally pause once again.

How high above bottom should we begin jigging? Most perch are caught in the zone from 1 to 11⁄2 feet above bottom. They also bite baits presented right on bottom, but they usually don’t take spoons offered that way.

In clear waters, try jigging higher than you might normally do, at times—say, at least 11⁄2 feet above bottom. Here again, even when perch are swimming along the bottom, the presence of a high-hanging lure often intrigues them enough to rise up. If you can get them to come up, you have a good chance of getting them to bite.

If you haven’t already tried fishing with 4-pound Berkley FireLine or another exceptionally thin, no-stretch line, it is one of the single biggest steps you can take this season. Just tie direct with a smoke-colored line, on most waters. In clearer water you should learn to tie in a fluorocarbon leader at the end of the braid using back-to-back uni-knots. Double the end of the braided line with a spiderhitch before tying in the fluorocarbon. (Our website ­in-fisherman. com offers visual instructions for these knots.)

Few panfish are so beautiful as a jumbo perch, a blocky buster of a fish, a perfect handful, with a pair of fillets that make a meal—and, we would add, one of the most exceptional meals on the face of this earth. Harvest selectively and have fun working with a lure category that’s almost entirely overlooked in open water.