Author Topic: Let's talk about perch (Read 24277 times)

bgriffis17 · « **Reply #60 on:** Jan 20, 2013, 09:17 PM »

Quote from: bgriffis17 on Jan 20, 2013, 08:39 PM

HELLGRAMITE's

well thats what dad called them straw bugs/ we would get them in small streams with grassy sides and gravel bottom a small larva 3/4" to 1 1/4" long they would build a tube made of stiks or fine gravel but I havent been abel to find them for the last few years now modern ag practice's ?
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Jigmup · « **Reply #61 on:** Jan 20, 2013, 09:24 PM »

wait...these right?

Hog Daddy · « **Reply #62 on:** Jan 20, 2013, 09:29 PM »

I've not run across as many perch chasers as I have walleye chasers .... but having only been exposed to this in the past few years, I often ask myself how these guys can go out day after day, work so hard, and sometimes catch nothing , or maybe one fish or 2 on these inland Indiana lakes. Like HT said, this ain't North Dakota. It's almost shamefully too easy for me to catch a mess of gills or crappie. I think it takes a special perserverence to spend the time and energy on Indiana perch or walleye. As a spectator, it's always fun to see someone so passionate about their craft.

HHD

Jigmup · « **Reply #63 on:** Jan 20, 2013, 09:33 PM »

I loved all 8 trips to ND for Jumbo's.....I will get back!

bgriffis17 · « **Reply #64 on:** Jan 20, 2013, 09:52 PM »

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Jigmup · « **Reply #65 on:** Jan 20, 2013, 10:05 PM »

The video won't work for me but I did google the Caddisfly larvae and it is different than a Hellgrammite and I can see how they would work through the ice. Now, where do I get them?

walleyepac · « **Reply #66 on:** Jan 20, 2013, 10:50 PM »

The helgramite was the 1 i showed u that was mixed with all them, like a lg green wax worm

princecraft · « **Reply #67 on:** Jan 20, 2013, 11:34 PM »

Quote from: bgriffis17 on Jan 20, 2013, 09:17 PM

well thats what dad called them straw bugs/ we would get them in small streams with grassy sides and gravel bottom a small larva 3/4" to 1 1/4" long they would build a tube made of stiks or fine gravel but I havent been abel to find them for the last few years now modern ag practice's ?
"""

I believe what you are describing is cress bugs. They are a bug that you find in watercress. Great bait.

Hog Daddy · « **Reply #68 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 06:56 AM »

Getting away from perch discussion a little here, but I have a little story about insects. The whole life cycle of these insects that hatch from the watery depths is pretty amazing. A friend of mine used to call mayflies God's gift to fish. Coming to the surface and hatching , only to live a day and then to fall back to the water for some bloated fish to gobble up. One of the stangest hatches I ever came upon occurred one year on Sept 29th...a day I will never forget. I was bluegill fishing with jigs and beemoth and not doing real well. About 10 AM that day, the wind died completely and the water was as smooth as glass. I started hearing these little noises and turning my attention toward them, started seeing little circle waves out toward the middle of the small lake I was on. By instinct, I moved closer, tossed a jig in, and immediately yanked in a big gill. After closer inspection, I could see that there were these tiny insects coming up from the bottom and hatching. Looked almost the size of a small ant with wings. The amazing part was, that I looked down the lake and litterally saw hundreds of little circle waves where bluegill were hitting the surface. Needless to say, I had a ball that day. At the end of the day , there were tons of little wings floating in the water. I took my bluegill haul home and couldn't wait to hit the lake the next day. I was amazed to only see just a few circles, and caught very few fish. The one day wonder was over. We have several insect books and I never was able to identify what the insect was. The nymph stage of these would be way too small to thread on a hook, lol.

Makes me wonder how they harvest the wigglers ?

HHD

HHD

Hog Daddy · « **Reply #69 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 07:12 AM »

This brings another question to mind....Would you be more likely to find the perch on a mud bottom....versus gravel bottom?

HHD

Jigmup · « **Reply #70 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 07:52 AM »

depends on the primary forage base.
Mud bottoms are notorious for blood worms which perch key in on especially in the winter. Perch are oportunistic so if there is greater food source as well as easier one they will be there. I've caught them on hard bottom humps during feeding periods while jigging for walleye so there was obviously a food source there, probably fry or crawfish.

It can be argued but my observation is that breaks are not the place to be fishing for perch. Perch will either be up on the structure feeding or at the base feeding. So, for example if you are fishing a flat and cannot make contact with perch, the next step is to move to the next depth transition deeper. This is to say, where does the flat drop the quickest to the next shelf, flat or basin. Same with bars, if they are not on the bar where is the next area adjacent to it that would hold fish?

I visualize it (especially with a topo map) like this; you got a big platform for fish to be on with a steep staircase on one side and gradual one to the other side. The steep one ends and another platform develops where the gradual one leads to shallow water. The next platform has another steep set of stairs that leads to a deep hole. The Perch may be feeding on any of the platforms and even in the hole but not on the staircases.
Seems childish to put it this way but its easier to visualize a lake map (for perch angling) when thinking like this.

Hog Daddy · « **Reply #71 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 08:19 AM »

Jigmup or others.... If you were a guy just starting out and had limited funds and wanted to start a small tackle chest for fishing perch...what baits would you recommend. What should you spend your money on....or I guess if you could only have one bait in your arsenal...what would it be? (OK, I know it is impossible for us to only have one bait, lol)...but suppose

HHD

Jigmup · « **Reply #72 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 08:31 AM »

Knowing what I know now, mostly spoons.
I'll let some others chime in as I'm leaving for work but I'll be back on after bit to add to their lists but I'm sure they will cover the bases!

Jigmup · « **Reply #73 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 08:34 AM »

Pretty much the same lures you would walleye fish for but just scaled down versions. Sometimes full size versions!!
Spoons (includes droppers)
Swimming lures
jigs

Jigmup · « **Reply #74 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 10:23 AM »

Go to: Pretty much all spoons
Pimples 1/10th
Hawgers 1/10th
Homemaders 1/8th and 1/16th
Hali's and other droppers(when the previous won't work)

For active fish:
Raps, puppets and first strike's No.2's and 3's(get down super fast and they annihilate them when they are in a positive feeding mode)
flyer spoons and airplane jigs (same premise as the raps)
Chubby darters and Lindy darters

For negative to neutral fish:
Marmooska's (my favorite of the ice jigs)
rockers and teardrops (forget about fishing them past 20)
jig heads but especially mini-mites
plain hook and minnow or the "deadly cross" but its got to be really tough! I'll elaborate if I must!

Beets · « **Reply #75 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 10:33 AM »

Quote from: Jigmup on Jan 20, 2013, 06:11 PM

Hey Beets.....which Long lake?

Valpo, Ive fished this area my whole life and it can be quite tuff at times.
The best perch fishing is Lake Michigan hands down...

Jigmup · « **Reply #76 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 01:07 PM »

I don't know anything about that Long lake but if it was a consistent producer of Jumbo's over the years and the forage base is still present, than it still produces jumbo's today. The numbers may be down due to predation or fishing pressure or maybe they just switched up migrations or feeding grounds due to food location.

Wall-E-eyes · « **Reply #77 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 01:38 PM »

Quote from: bret on Jan 20, 2013, 09:00 PM

Dragonfly larvae I believe. we used to seine them from the river. I would think it would be a summer bait...?

I remember fish hitting them aggressively!!!

They are Dobsonfly Larvae

tightliner812 · « **Reply #78 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 02:15 PM »

I use a lot of fiskas jigs and small jigging raps most of the time .

tightliner812 · « **Reply #79 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 02:31 PM »

Jigump I do ok at keeping myself on perch . But I can tell that there is still I got to learn . My biggest down fall right now is reading the maps . I have had to do this the hard way by finding a spot that looks go to me and going out and drilling it . a few times I have been right and others I was a learning experience because I did not find anything at all . I for one would like to thank you for sharing all the info that you have in this post .

Jigmup · « **Reply #80 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 03:04 PM »

Heck yeah, anytime! Like I said before, I am far from "the authority" on perch fishing but I Love to chase them so much that you learn to avoid the things that didn't produce and try and replicate the things that do. However, a lot of times the fish will break your confidence just when you think you got 'em figured out.

I will tell you this, its like anything else...practice makes perfect. I am probably one of the worst bluegill fisherman through the ice that there is and I can put some crappie on the ice only because of what I'm using to chase perch! The guys on here that put hawg gills on the ice are just like the guys that put hawg perch on the ice. They do it because that's their game. Same goes for giant crappies or walleye or anything else for that matter. Its their passion and they get really good at it through trial, error and education.

Sounds like you already have a leg up in the game tightliner so now the fun begins!

Jigmup · « **Reply #81 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 03:12 PM »

Ok, now i have a question:
It has been said by many perch anglers and some of them experts on the subject that perch seldom suspend. I want to know how many of you out there find the opposite to be true? I'm not talking about a time or two, I'm referring to multiple times or a significant percentage.

There are bodies of water that it seems like every time I fish it, the Perch are suspended.

tightliner812 · « **Reply #82 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 03:18 PM »

I don't know if I have a leg up or not . I still have a lot to learn . But I do love to chase the perch. For me gills just don't get it anymore don't get me wrong I still like fishing for them but most of the time you can go out and get all you want . I like perch fishing because it is a thrill you go out and get away from the crowd and catch fish that most people have no idea how to go about it . And its kinda like a thrill of the hunt thing .

tightliner812 · « **Reply #83 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 03:25 PM »

Quote from: Jigmup on Jan 21, 2013, 03:12 PM

Ok, now i have a question:
It has been said by many perch anglers and some of them experts on the subject that perch seldom suspend. I want to know how many of you out there find the opposite to be true? I'm not talking about a time or two, I'm referring to multiple times or a significant percentage.

There are bodies of water that it seems like every time I fish it, the Perch are suspended.

I have run into this a few times . But its not all of them . But I have had a schools come in several feet off the bottom and trun the vex. into a Christmas tree. You got to love it when the come in like this .

Flattop · « **Reply #84 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 03:32 PM »

Quote from: Jigmup on Jan 21, 2013, 03:12 PM

Ok, now i have a question:
It has been said by many perch anglers and some of them experts on the subject that perch seldom suspend. I want to know how many of you out there find the opposite to be true? I'm not talking about a time or two, I'm referring to multiple times or a significant percentage.

There are bodies of water that it seems like every time I fish it, the Perch are suspended.

I caught suspended perch on 2 different occasions a couple years ago. Both time were at the same lake in Laporte, fishing 23 feet of water and the perch came through at about 10 feet down. the minute they showed up on the LX-5, I reeled up to them and it was fast action. One thing I did notice was that when this happens, these fish seemed to be on a mission. They would bite but you couldn't keep them around. Just my observations.

Joe

Jigmup · « **Reply #85 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 03:36 PM »

@ tightliner......I do love it, yes sir!

same here Joe!
There is one body of water that we seem to find that they suspend a bunch and other lakes that we have encountered it on occasion. Makes you wonder what they are chasin. Funny thing is, the lakes that I almost never see them suspended have giant shad pops. The lake where suspending perch is common, I have never seen a shad, I guess that doesn't mean that they aren't there but I'm guessing they are keying in on zooplankton or whatever is feeding on that.

Jigmup · « **Reply #86 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 03:40 PM »

Another possibility is that they are suspending to conserve energy when moving from a feeding ground to a nuetral position. Instead of following a break back down, maybe they are suspending so that they don't have to burn a lot of energy to get back on the spot once they are going to feed again. That could make sense as my next spot on the "suspending lake" is a small hump that sits on top of a bar. The bar is around 30 ft deep with the hump topping out at 22 ft. deep. The bar is surrounded by two very deep holes on each side and the tip breaks to slightly deeper water but slower. Are they suspending because they want to get back on food fast and then after the evening run they will return to their deep water sanctuaries? I don't know but it kind of makes sense!

first sergeant · « **Reply #87 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 05:45 PM »

i believe you are on the right track as far as the aggressive pattern of their feeding i have found the exact thing to be true and what I believe is that they spend too much time getting their air bladders to adjust going from deep to shallow and then back deep again that they will just suspend horizontally with their feeding at least with that and the traveling to the next feeding area in some cases.. hope to see some of you out on maxi this weekend it should be on for sure ,,I checked it everyday last week and it was looking good till the sun came out and tore it away from shore..

wallin · « **Reply #88 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 06:08 PM »

Maxi is that away with Perch if you can find them, use to come thru fast and furios, big schools - big fish. I do believe what they said about the numbers and I think the spawning of the Perch are different every year. Iceon, bgriffs 17, and old foot doc where ever he is can all testify to them jumbos that come around every so many years. they have off spawning years that drive there numbers down from time to time but were due guys and I'm ready

tightliner812 · « **Reply #89 on:** Jan 21, 2013, 06:43 PM »

Quote from: Jigmup on Jan 21, 2013, 03:40 PM

Another possibility is that they are suspending to conserve energy when moving from a feeding ground to a nuetral position. Instead of following a break back down, maybe they are suspending so that they don't have to burn a lot of energy to get back on the spot once they are going to feed again. That could make sense as my next spot on the "suspending lake" is a small hump that sits on top of a bar. The bar is around 30 ft deep with the hump topping out at 22 ft. deep. The bar is surrounded by two very deep holes on each side and the tip breaks to slightly deeper water but slower. Are they suspending because they want to get back on food fast and then after the evening run they will return to their deep water sanctuaries? I don't know but it kind of makes sense!

You got me thinking on this one . I have never seen where all the fish were doing this every time I have seen it I think it was a school on the hunt . Because they seam to be bigger fish and are fast biters they don't stop and look at the bait they are ready to eat as soon as you get it in front of them .

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Author Topic: Let's talk about perch (Read 24277 times)