How to stop dink perch from biting at tip-ups?

[evanesce]

I was fishing all day yesterday and the damn dink perch kept biting at the tip ups, causing flags non stop because the lake has so many perch.  I could just as easily not run for flags for hours and just jig the damn perch out at the same rate per hour.

I'm kinda new to this so I'm not sure how to stop the perch from eating my tip up lines lol.  I'm mainly fishing for Pickerel.  Thanks

[GrizlyGarou]

Jig them up and use them as bait. Pickerel love dink perch!

[MatCat]

Just wondering what you are using for bait, if it's minnows, go bigger, use 4" or bigger, it's big enough the dinks shouldn't take it.

[evanesce]

Just wondering what you are using for bait, if it's minnows, go bigger, use 4" or bigger, it's big enough the dinks shouldn't take it.

yup minnows, small ones.  I think you're on to something.  These perch have big mouths with big appetites and i'm thinking they'll even eat the 4" minnows heh

[IceFlagger]

BIGGER bait.

[dkillay64]

BIGGER bait.

X2

[evanesce]

got it, i'll give that a shot and post my results.

[Dispy]

In my experience, bait size does not matter to the little fellas. Whether large shiners or small ones , the will eat it. A trick we often employ to get to the bigger fish is to use a fast sinking approach with our jigs. Good luck out there.

[FRESHBAIT]

I'm assuming you are are using tip ups and not jigging.  Thats how we mainly fish here in Maine, by tip ups.  We have alot of small dink perch here as well.   I have a couple questions for you, these are to help me help you.   Your using minnows, I kinda got that.  Also How are you hooking them? back behind dorsal, back infront of dorsal, or in the lips?  Also What hook size are you using???  If your using too big of a hook, those dink perch are gonna chew and screw(eat your bait and take off never getting hooked)  If your using small minnows 1.5"-2.5" switch to a sz8 octopus hook and start hooking your bait in front of the dorsal,  or in its lips( through the lower and out the top lip) don't go through the skull into the brain they'll die.  Try that and I bet you land alot more of those perch out of those holes.  They tend to stick around once they realize they can get a free meal.  Also you can go to a larger bait.  3-4" for pickeral.  Hook them in the back behind the dorsal or infront of the dorsal.  The perch won't mess with them unless they are really aggressive. 

[TheOutdoorsman]

Fish your bait higher up in the water column.  Keep it out of the zone they are comfortable with, but still at a depth where a predator would like to feed.  Most predators feed "upward" anyway.

[dalwhe1970]

  Hang a sign on your tip-up that reads "Sorry Charlie"; Might help if they are smart enough to read...

[dgb]

I'm assuming you are are using tip ups and not jigging.  Thats how we mainly fish here in Maine, by tip ups.  We have alot of small dink perch here as well.   I have a couple questions for you, these are to help me help you.   Your using minnows, I kinda got that.  Also How are you hooking them? back behind dorsal, back infront of dorsal, or in the lips?  Also What hook size are you using???  If your using too big of a hook, those dink perch are gonna chew and screw(eat your bait and take off never getting hooked)  If your using small minnows 1.5"-2.5" switch to a sz8 octopus hook and start hooking your bait in front of the dorsal,  or in its lips( through the lower and out the top lip) don't go through the skull into the brain they'll die.  Try that and I bet you land alot more of those perch out of those holes.  They tend to stick around once they realize they can get a free meal.  Also you can go to a larger bait.  3-4" for pickeral.  Hook them in the back behind the dorsal or infront of the dorsal.  The perch won't mess with them unless they are really aggressive.

like above use bigger bait

[dkillay64]

pickerell will take huge bait, you could just use a perch you catch for pickerell baid (depending on regulations in your area)... but if you can get your hands on 4'' and above shiners... i dont think the perch will mess with those, at least they dont for me and there are tons of perch where i fish

[Pole-ska]

Jig them up and use them as bait. Pickerel love dink perch!

i live in NY and was wondering if this was legal? i looked in the regs with no luck.  i dont see why not, you can net a bunch of minnows and use them. as long as you dont transport the dinks to another body of water your good right?

[harrops26]

i live in NY and was wondering if this was legal? i looked in the regs with no luck.  i dont see why not, you can net a bunch of minnows and use them. as long as you dont transport the dinks to another body of water your good right?

I live in NY and you can use perch as bait. They just count towards your dailt limit of bait.  It helped to stop the perch flags and i caught some pike

[fishermantim]

If it's legal in your state use them as bait.
Remember with some predators it's not what kind of bait as much as it's that the bait is STRUGGLING on the hook.

I will use small perch as sunfish as bait for bass and pickerel during the warmer months. I don't see how that would change too much during the winter? There is also the good possibility of having a much larger perch eat a bait perch on your line. Talk about your cannibals!

using larger bait may work, but as stated earlier perch are pigs. If they can fit it in their mouth they WILL.
Raising the bait up higher  (not too high) should result in fewer dinks, and if they persist and follow you bait to a higher level, they may just trigger more predator strikes since there will be more bait suspended off the bottom. It's a WIN/WIN scenario.

Good luck!

[troutaddict33]

Sell your tipups and use the money towards a flasher. Then when you catch 4 times as many fish, you don't have to run all over the place and can throw the smaller ones you don't want back.

[gooseblaster49707]

bigger baits should help BUT, small perch do taste really good.   a bit of a pain to fillet.    the fillets curl up when tossed into lake crisco looking like popcorn shrimp when they are done swimming.  a shot of hot sauce makes them right if not used for a sandwitch.   
.
most lakes won't be hurt removing a bunch of 5-7'' perch from them.   it allows the remaining fish to use the food base and grow larger.
.
one final thought would be to move your location.  if the pecker perch are shallow, 5-7' deep, move out to 10-14' of water.  if you are after pickeral/pike, run your bait half or 2/3'rds the way down in the water column.  the small perch won't come up to hit a larger minnow BUT, pike, pickeral, walleye will rise up and take the bait. 
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my thoughts only.

[RIVERRAT2]

I was fishing all day yesterday and the damn dink perch kept biting at the tip ups, causing flags non stop because the lake has so many perch.  I could just as easily not run for flags for hours and just jig the damn perch out at the same rate per hour.

I'm kinda new to this so I'm not sure how to stop the perch from eating my tip up lines lol.  I'm mainly fishing for Pickerel.  Thanks

i have found that the perch will school by size[most times] if it was me, i would move,i still drill lots of holes till i
hit the fish i want to get,just a thought
 
RAT

[walleyeslayer1978]

big smelts about a foot, foot and a half off the bottom. The perch are attracted to them, but don't hit them. Having the small schools of perch roll through and investigate your bait draws attention to your bait also.

[ice-rod]

check the trip tension on your tip-up and increase it. on polar-tip ups there are different settings another trick is to wrap black tape around the shaft forming a washer that increases the pressure needed to turn the shaft.

[privateeyes]

check the trip tension on your tip-up and increase it. on polar-tip ups there are different settings another trick is to wrap black tape around the shaft forming a washer that increases the pressure needed to turn the shaft.

Than you will have a dink with a swallowed hook just sitting waiting to be released at that end of the fishing trip Best just jig and only use a fewer tip ups in close proximity until  the dinks mover on or just move to another location on the lake.

[RIVERRAT2]

Than you will have a dink with a swallowed hook just sitting waiting to be released at that end of the fishing trip Best just jig and only use a fewer tip ups in close proximity until  the dinks mover on or just move to another location on the lake.

RIGHT ON,me i just move and hand drill 10 more holes
 
RAT

[evanesce]

Your guys suggestions worked perfectly, bigger bait and not so close to the bottom and we ended up catching 7 good sized pickerel instead of perch yesterday's trip.  Thanks!

[RIVERRAT2]

Your guys suggestions worked perfectly, bigger bait and not so close to the bottom and we ended up catching 7 good sized pickerel instead of perch yesterday's trip.  Thanks!

YOU MUST TARGET the fish you want,each fish has it own water column,food,temp.the 3's,cover,comfort zone,calories[food]
 
RAT