Can only mark em? (Perch)

[mschma000]

I am sure this is a common problem and I am sorry I bet this has been answered a million times.

I have been fishing in about 12'-24' dept.   Once daylight hits I can pretty much move with the fish from deeper to more shallow water.  Once in a (long) while I will get a nibble but nothing serious.  I know there are fish down there my vex is marking em all over the place off the bottom.  I seem to have my best luck on wax worms but I can only pull out a few dinkers (but I really have to constantly jig to draw them near).  I have switched to minnows a couple of times but to no avail.

My question is should I move to a totally different spot,  move just to a deeper depth,  or try a different technique?  I am up for just about anything at this point.   Thank you.

[iluvcrappie]

try using a different lure..........this time of year the bite slows anyway................ ....the fish seem to almost turn off..................j ust keep trying as long as you are marking fish you should be able to catch them.................o ne question are you marking fish or are you marking baitfish or something else that is in the water................. .........have you tried to use freshwater shrimp................ .......keep drilling holes until you can find the school............wher e there is one fish there are many close by...................k eep trying you will find the spot sooner or later................. ...

[Bluefox]

 Try  having a dead stick near-by and see if it gets hits.

[vermonner]

one word:
EYES!!!!!!

[fish_finder]

I agree with using the eyes ...a lot of times id be fishing perch and only get the odd hit, then id finally catch one put on the eyes and start catching them consistently...also like said before, try lots of different lures and colours, some days all it takes is to put on a lure thats a litlle bigger or a little smaller or of a different shade of color, u just never know

[Sgt. Pepper]

when you notice the fish approach your bait, try lifting the rig ever so slightly. i am talking like 2-3 inches very slowly.  many times, if you can get the fish to come up to your bait, he will hit it. good luck.

[mschma000]

I will have to try using some eyes next time this happens to me but I must say I am a little weary about it.

As far as i know they are perch I have caught about a half dozen from the same area before and on my Vex they are coming up as 3 or four red lines while my wax work is just about one solid green line.


Thanks for all the help! Any more tips would be great,  I would love to piss my uncle off by out fishing him this Sunday.

[bigredonice]

first thing i would try is to get them moving up.  Keep slowly bringing your bait up as they follow it, when they get ready to eat it, they will speed up slightly and overtake it.  Be ready because alot of times bigger perch will swim up with it (like crappies).

[Redbone]

In this situation... I would go to the smallest teardrop in the plano.

[cold_feet]

This has been the same problem we had on the lakes we fish. Solution to it was downsizeing the lure. Fishing over 35 fott of water and perch moving in when jigging only to sit there staring at the bait moving up with it at we rose the rod a much as 2 foot then just slowly sinking back into position. The fish would follow and look as if they would hit but only swim off after it didint like something. We went to smaller baits single grub(spike) 2lb test line and started hooking up. Smal I mean like a 2mm fiska or a 16 to 20 marmooska style horizontal jig. Now in the 35 ft of water we either double stacked them or added a dropper off the small swedish pimple or kastmaster spoon which when jigged added the flash and attracted the fish. but the droper was a good foot under the spoon or better so as not to confuse the Perch on which lure to hit. Sounds nuts but it works. Also in these conditions colors were a big factor. We went to a more earth tone staying away from florecent colors made a huge diffrence. Purples Browns Blacks and Glow in the dark for late and early bites and when water is slightly stained.

[Bearsfan]

Good tip cold feet I going to give that a try. Haven't really gave earth tones a try.

[dkfry]

Downsize the lure, line and use a spring bobber. Sounds like the fish are neutral or negative.

[J_Edwards]

How do you remove the eye?  I tried that a few days ago and wound up with a membrane and some weird slime all over my finders

[GRIZZZ]

Theres something about mouses.....they produce better for me then wax worms

[ex-pug]

I use Twirl tails and I fish differently than most around our lake. I fish in 8-11' of water because that's where the weed beds are. I can see down my hole and can see if the perch are interested in my bait. Sometimes they just look at it and swim away and then I go to earth color rummer worms that I cut the tails off and jig about every 5 seconds and raise the bait about 1'. I've caught dozen of perch this way when others are in 20-30' of water and catching nothing. Other times I use a small silver & blue spoon that really darts around when lifting it and had good luck. If the fish aren't hittiing, always switch baits and try jigging a little faster than usual.

[Drifter_016]

Dead stick a live minnow 1 1/2" to 2 " long.

[FishingNy03]

try a smaller jig, and try not to jig to much, i get many perch when im not jiging