Dinks, dink’s, dinks

[perchnut]

So what do you do when it seems that the dink perch have invaded?  Normally do really well with the bigger perch, but it seems that the little ones have taken over.  Have tried dif depths, dif areas, etc.   any thoughts?

[river_scum]

move or go way bigger on lure or bait.  hate dink perch invasions.  I grab a bunch for tip up bait and move on.

[krispcritter]

my brother always said it's because your not holding your lips right. Have to make fish lips.

[hardwater diehard]

Pound the bottom ..but fish higher in the water column ..those dinks tend to stay on the bottom..the larger/more aggressive fish will come up some ..larger bait offering can work as well.

[Sylvanboat]

This is where a camera can make the difference.  We were catching only dinks but camera showed big perch were there but would not compete for our baits. We needed to move to the edge of the group where there were less dinks.  Good luck.

[FishingFredrik]

Pound the bottom ..but fish higher in the water column ..those dinks tend to stay on the bottom..the larger/more aggressive fish will come up some ..larger bait offering can work as well.

I echo what Hardwater Diehard advised (quoted above). In terms of larger jigs / bait, larger balance jigs, such as Rapala "Flat Jig" or "Jigging Shad Rap" will separate the wheat from the chaff for me. I change the treble hook that comes on the Rapala or NilsMasters for a longer shaft, dressed treble hook. That's not necessary, but I like it.

[tj_cubin]

We set tipups with larger minnows, then jig a second hole right next to it. The perch come and stare at the big minnow and will grab your more reasonable bait. You can still get dinks, but it seems to draw the attention of the bigger ones.

Using a triple hook rig can help too. Drop three baited hooks per line with a heavy weight and don't set the hook on the first nibble. Wait for the bigger thump. You can often catch a dink and biggun. Sometimes you still get 1, 2, or 3 dinks, but thats fishing. This also helps because you can cover more water from the bottom up to 1.5-2' off bottom. You can also go through a lot of bait getting stripped this way, but mixing perch eyes and minnows helps in that regard.

We also fish a real shallow bay sometimes where you can look down the hole and see the fish. You pull it away from the little ones until the big one takes it. Call it "TV fishing".