Unusual Perch Techniques and a Unique Way to Prepare Them

Catching yellow perch can be loads of fun. What they may lack in fighting ability, they more than make up for it by the way they taste.  

Perch anglers all over North America usually score on good numbers of fish by one of two ways in open water. Fishing live bait and fishing with various small jigs represent the most popular ways. 

Unusual Tactics for Larger Perch

Depending on where you fish along with time of the year, you often must fish through loads of different sized perch to keep your limit of good eating-sized fish.  A school of good-sized perch will often migrate through an area, leave and return if sufficient forage is available. 

This perch angler will not keep a perch unless it's 9 inches or longer. To get an easy ruler to measure fish, calculate the length of your wide-open hand between the tip of your thumb and the end of your little finger.  That span on my hand is exactly 9 inches and I’ve used it countless times as a measuring device.

While pursuing bass and pike over the years, I have caught some of the largest yellow perch using different tactics. I lean towards the fact that perch anglers can catch larger fish out of the schools by using larger lures.

Post Spawn Period, Try Stick Baits Shallow

Yellow perch usually spawn in early spring when temps reach the mid-40s range. After the males fertilize the eggs, both male and female take off and leave the eggs to fend on their own. 

After the fish recuperate and head back to shallow warming waters, fish of all sizes are invading the superficial regions. 

Stick baits over the years have caught lots of larger perch. Sick baits like Lucky Craft’s Pointer series in 100, 78, and 65 excel for bigger perch. Make long casts in the shallows with light fluorocarbon lines in the 6- to 8-pound range.

Early Summer, Try Large Deep Diving Crankbaits

By the time early summer rolls around, yellow perch are stacking up in deeper water areas. Portions of the lake where grass beds are emerging in the littoral zones harbor bait such as minnows, crawfish, shrimp, and other food. 

Deep diving larger crankbaits that will dig down 12 to 16 feet off deep weed lines work great to trigger larger sized perch. Bright colors such as Citrus Shad or anything with chartreuse hues will catch larger perch out of the school. Crank them down deep and crawl them in deflecting off of the grass.  Crankbaits such as Bomber Fat Free Shads in the 3-inch and 1-ounce size have worked well. 

Early Fall, Slow Roll a Tandem Spinnerbait

During fall periods, a large tandem bladed spinnerbait reeled over thicker, deeper weed beds can trigger jumbo perch. While fishing for northern pike during these fall times, I used to be amazed at some of the perch I caught. 

You usually don’t catch several, but the technique can get you a handful of good eating sized perch usually in the 12-inch range or larger. I firmly feel these larger perch are not only in the thicker grass to feed, but to also position themselves away from the stalking northern pike and bass.

Late Fall, Go Deep with Football Jigs 

The largest perch this angler ever caught was pushing the 16-inch range. I have it mounted in our lake house.

The fish was caught while targeting smallmouth bass in deep water. It was caught out in 35 feet of water sliding a ¾-ounce spider jig along the bottom. Once waters start to cool past turnover, perch will migrate out to deeper depths where the majority of the bait is located. 

Cookin’ Perch, Try Making Perch/Shellfish Bowls 

While deep fried fish is good, there are other ways to prepare them. Many anglers get tired of cooking them the same old way. Panfish can be prepared in a variety of ways, such as used in casseroles, poor man’s shrimp, and other recipes.

A unique way to prepare panfish fillets is to use them in a seafood bread bowl. They are excellent when you combine the cut up fillets with a shellfish such as crawfish, crab meat, langostinos, or shrimp.

Serves: 2-4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbsp virgin olive oil divided
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped (can add 1 or more if you desire)
• 8 oz. panfish fillets cut in 1-inch chunks
• 8 oz. shelled crawfish or other shellfish meat
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup cream cheese softened
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (separate 1/4 cup out)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
• 2-4 Sourdough bread bowls
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions:

Recipe Preparation Tips

The recipe calls for 2-4 bowls. If you’re a big eater, dig the bowls out deeper and add more of the panfish/crawfish cooked mixture and you will only need 2 bowls. Dig them shallower and get 4 servings from the recipe above. The mixture works well for either a whole meal or an appetizer.

If your local seafood store does not carry crawfish, try checking out the frozen seafood section in your local Walmart. A frozen 8-ounce bag of crawfish meat can be purchased for around $9.

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