White perch?

[bluetick]

Hello everyone! Going to be at Arrowhead this weekend. Looking to get into a few schools of white perch. Any advice is much appreciated! Thanks!

[johnr]

Still kinda early for widespread summer schooling, but they can still be had now. The area you’re in is a good place to look. We do 90% of our perch catching within two miles of there in several different spots.

Best bet is to drift crawlers or cut alewives near the bottom in 5-20’. Coves, backs of creeks and points/humps in creeks are all good bets. Casting small spoons, in-line spinners or small crankbaits will also get them in the same areas. I tend to do best on clean, flattish areas, with baitfish nearby.

Considering the moon, water temp, and forecasted weather, I’d anticipate a mayfly hatch and a good bit of crawfish activity for the next several days. This can influence the bite as I’ve caught perch just stuffed with both creatures at times. You’ll need to adjust if this is the case. Match the hatch.

Also consider the alewife spawn. They might not feed much at dawn and dusk as they’ll be in recovery from the binge, and anticipating the approaching buffet. Midday can be an absolutely awesome time to fish for them.

Finally, keep moving till you catch em.

[westonhar00]

I’m out here scouting for them right now in my hole and they aren’t schooling here yet should be coming here soon!

[treyferguson08]

Me and my dad get into them every now and again, and I've tried catching them on purpose with artificial lures. I haven't tried minnows or any live bait yet but I am going to really soon. We caught 2 today and a yellow perch while bass fishing, I just got done eating them a few minutes ago. Man are they great table fare. I wish I knew what they looked like on my Garmin so I could locate a school and fill the livewell up with a mess or two.

[johnr]

We started at 10:30 this morning and smoked them till about 1:30. Found em shallow in about 7-10’, scattered across a big flat area. Worms, salted minnows, berkley trout worms and spoons all got fish. No dinks, lots to eat.

We found em the first place we looked. BU5.

Didn’t mark much, but some bait was nearby so I figured the fish were too. Even got them busting bait on top a couple times.

[bluetick]

Marked a ton of fish last weekend in the back of BU in a few of those little coves and cut outs, but couldn’t buy a bite. We were using night crawlers. I say they were fish. I picked up a used Garmin Stryker 4 from a friend of mine. I mean it had to be fish, right? There were little fish symbols all over the screen!😂😂😂 May have just been bait!

[johnr]

Likely bait. A couple times today We were in thick schools of something that wouldn’t eat. They weren’t perch. Perch in schools like that will tear it up.

[bluetick]

The boys did catch some pretty fat bluegill though! They had a blast!

[bluetick]

Saw a guy on YouTube using bluegill as cut bait to catch white perch! Anyone tried that with any luck?

[hambone]

When I’m perch fishing the first dink I catch turns into cutbait. At times perch will wear it out other times they won’t touch it. But I always try it. Honestly the absolute best bait I use is Berkley Gulp Minnows. Using Gulps seem to cut down on catch a lot of small ones

[johnr]

Perch belly strips and eyeballs work real well at times.

[bluetick]

Giving them another shot this weekend! Night crawlers, Gulp minnows, Beetlespins, and small crankbaits are on the menu!