Deep water perch and walleye.

[Shep]

I fish Gun lake in Barry Co. and most of the fishing for perch and walleye is done on the drops or flats.  The lake has alot of 50' water, would it be worth a try out there for perch and walleye in the middle of the day or a waste of time?

[fishinfool96]

Wouldn't hurt to give it a try. I know Burt is mostly 40' and you can catch perch and walleye there. If you can't find them on flats or drops try it. I caught  walleyes in 35' and 29' in the last 2 weeks. These spots were on the bottom of drops where it leveled off, I consider them deep flats, then again I don't know much, just get lucky sometimes.

[Jigmup]

In my experience perch are seldom on breaks. Maybe just briefly when moving from one transition to another. This time of year I always look for perch on large flats that are the break from their spawning areas. I'm talking big expansive flats and they need to be deeper than what you would think. Probably 25 to 35 ft. deep.

[Shep]

I'll give it a try, thanks.

[djkruszewski]

keep in mind that perch and walleye reverse rolls on most lakes that have them in there.  first of all perch really can't see that well to begin with.  and we all know that walleye can see good.  on many lakes, perch will feed in the shallows as it stays light out and the walleye will many times stay in or near the dropoffs.  perch very seldom feed on the drops, they will almost always feed up and on the flats.  as dusk approaches the perch bite will generally slow down and shutoff.  well when this starts the walleye will move shallow and begin to feed on small perch and small minnows.  at that time the perch will hug bottom and slowly drift into the deeper water basin, while the walleye move shallow to feed.  this will again happen when the dawn hits.  perch gradually move shallower as the walleye move deeper.  to answer your question i would fish the flats or a good deep basin the bottoms out, away from the drops or the pivot point of that basin area for perch.  also fish the drop during the day and move to the shallow flats during lowlight for some walleye action.

[YELLOWGIANTS]

I have seen perch caught in 70' of water during mid winter. I couldn't believe it but I saw it with my own eyes.

[Higgins]

I have seen perch caught in 70' of water during mid winter. I couldn't believe it but I saw it with my own eyes.

I can easily believe it cause I catch my limit of perch all the time in 63.7fow and 70fow isn't that much farther.

[Quack_Attack]

I have caught perch consistently during the mid-winter period on deep water flats in 25 to 35 fow, in deep clear water lakes. They generally move around in schools anywhere from a few inches to about 4' off the bottom.

[Fishbomb]

On lakes that have good mayfly populations, perch and walleyes will roam the deep basin areas 40 -70 ft and feed on wigglers, actually rooting them out of the mud. This is a consistent pattern on Hubbard. At this time of year you will see dozens of shanties in the middle of the lake targeting these basin roamers, which sometimes will suspend 5 to 15 ft off bottom. Walleyes often do make a shallow forage up unto flats to seek minnows and crayfish in the evenings all winter long. Later in the season the perch will roam these shallow flats too. If you can find sandgrass on these flats, you can really get some nice perch when this happens.

[Lobes]

keep in mind that perch and walleye reverse rolls on most lakes that have them in there. 

 OH GREAT !!!
    Now we have fish fetishes to deal with.

                     
NBG

[luckyfish]

All you boys are talking about are how to catch perch on big lakes, WHAT ABAOUT THE INLAND LAKES that arnt so dang big, from my point of view inland lakes are the hardest lakes to catch nice perch out of.

[swampbuckster]

Yeah, they are, but when you do catch 'em, all your hard work pays off I get pretty excited catching a 10 1/2".

[wartfroggy]

All you boys are talking about are how to catch perch on big lakes, WHAT ABAOUT THE INLAND LAKES that arnt so dang big, from my point of view inland lakes are the hardest lakes to catch nice perch out of.

That is because alot of (not all) smaller shallower lakes don't support a good fishery of large perch.  Lots of little ones, few jumbos. Sometimes you can get into some big ones, but like you said, it is tough.  Large, deep lakes are more common to support a population of big perch, but not always.

[perchslayer13]

As for inland lakes not usually harboring big perch i've seen some mosnters pulled through the ice on lakes that have a max depth of 25 feet of water, i think that the best way to describe michigan lakes is the fact that they're just like michigan weather unpredictable

[wartfroggy]

I have no doubt in that, I have caught big jumbos on tip-ups while fishing pike in a lake that maxed out at 17'.  But never could find them schooled up or any numbers.  I don't find 25 foot to be that shallow, but not deep either.  But the shallower you get from 25 foot max, the tougher it is to find the big guys, IMO. 

[Higgins]

That is because alot of (not all) smaller shallower lakes don't support a good fishery of large perch.  Lots of little ones, few jumbos. Sometimes you can get into some big ones, but like you said, it is tough.  Large, deep lakes are more common to support a population of big perch, but not always.

That is so true wartfroggy cause I use my aqua vu and when you compare a deep lake of lets say max depth of 110fow V.S. a lake with a max depth of 25fow there is no comparison. I have seen schools of perch in the hundreds in those deep lakes but in the more shallow lakes the most I have ever seen is schools of about 20 to 30 witch is still good but as far as the perch staying around, the huge schools will be there from dusk till dawn and the smaller schools just seem to stop by for a few bites. My favorite depths to fish perch in are between 30 and 60fow, and yes I think the deep lakes are the best for perch.