I have lived on the Chesapeake Bay all my life and have been blessed to fish all over the nation. I have done some ice fishing but rarely. I have been catching white and yellow perch and crappie all my life. The bay is a unique fishery as we catch all three in the same tidal creeks, in the winter we usually catch all three from the same area or school. Yellow perch are not as plentiful as they used to be, more due to habitat changes than being out competed by white perch. I think that all things being equal yp are the best tasting of the three with wp a close second and crappie a close third. Oh by the way we get both black and white crappie i do not find that they taste any different. As for lures It really does not make a difference, use what you have success with. Color size and presentation are more important than brand and minnows allways work. You can sometimes get all three to bite cut bait or worms, they are all cannibals. We mostly use jigs, spinner jigs and jigging spoons and don't be afraid to use two or even three or four inch baits. Big fish eat big baits and when they are feeding they will hit baits up to a third or even half their size, I once caught a 6 inch white perch on a four inch minnow. White and yellow perch and crappies can over populate an unbalanced fishery so never transplant fish or their size can become stunted especially in lakes and ponds w/o a predator base to keep the population under control. Hope this helps all you perch jerkers out there
