Welcome to our Yellow Perch Fishing Home Page
Yellow Perch are one of the best-tasting freshwater fish. Some anglers absolutely love catching perch, while others may get annoyed by them because they will steal your bait when anglers are fishing for walleye or bass with live bait. Most perch are between 6 and 9 inches long, but many lakes produce good populations of jumbo perch in the 10 to 12 inch range with some even bigger. Perch fishing is typically best in clear, cool lakes and in reservoirs that contain rock, gravel or sand bottoms. The shallower, weedy lakes can also hold large populations of perch, but the lack of deep water will often result in lots of smaller fish.
Perch Fishing Tips
Quick Links
| Baits, Rigs & Techniques | Tackle Recommendations |
| Best Fishing Rigs | Fishing Line Recommendations |
| Best Fishing Techniques | Fishing Rod & Reel Recommendations |
| Best Live & Natural Baits | |
| Best Lures | Time of Day & Throughout the Seasons |
| Catch More & Bigger Fish | Seasons (Spring thru Winter) |
| Time of Day | |
| Catch Big Yellow Perch | |
| Catch Lots of Yellow Perch | Water & Weather |
| Kitchen Table | Cover & Structure |
| Types of Water | |
| Eating Yellow Perch | Water Depths |
| Weather | |
Habitat
Perch can be found in a variety of waters. You will find them in rivers and lakes, big and small. Perch like weeds, but can also be found around rocky areas, wood and they are known for roaming the deeper open waters as well.
Learn more about the different types of cover and structure where you will find and catch more perch.
Perch Prefer Colder Water Temperatures
Yellow perch like cooler water temperatures. Anglers get a short window early in the spring where they can target perch in the shallows, but then these fish move out to deeper waters where temperatures are much cooler. This can make it challenging to locate schools of perch once summer water temperatures set in.
Perch Move A Lot
Yellow Perch can move a lot throughout the open water fishing season. These fish will search for food in open waters as they seek out cooler water temperatures in deeper water from summer through fall. Even with good electronics, it can be quite difficult to find schools of perch once they are found roaming the offshore waters.
On Many Lakes, Perch are Boom or Bust
Some lakes offer very good perch fishing on a consistent basis, however, for many bodies of water, the perch fishing can easily go boom or bust. Following a couple real good spawning seasons, anglers may experience awesome perch fishing on a specific body of water. However, perch can also have a few bad years of spawning action, which can make fishing quite tough once the anglers put a large dent in the keeper-sized fish from the good spawning classes.
Lures Work, But Live Bait is King for Perch Fishing
Yellow Perch will eat a wide variety of smaller fishing lures, however, it is tough to beat live bait when fishing for them. Whether you use small minnows, small pieces of worms, shrimp, soft shell crayfish or leeches, you can usually out fish artificial lures by a good margin compared to artificial lures.
Some of the Best Perch Fishing is up North
Perch like colder water temperatures, so it is no surprise that the best perch fishing destinations are found in the midwest and up north.
Best Perch Fishing Destinations
Best Baits for Perch
Best Perch Fishing Rigs
Best Perch Fishing Techniques
Best Fishing Techniques for Perch
Catch Big Perch
Catch Lots of Perch
Fishing Line Recommendations
With perch, you’re going to be going lighter with your fishing line. You can go a little heavier, but you really don’t need to. Learn more on our perch fishing line recommendations page.
Fishing Rod & Reel Recommendations
With perch, you are going to be using lighter action fishing rods and reels to go with lighter line. Learn more on our perch rod & reel recommendations page.
Seasons
As the seasons change, perch move from deep to shallow back to deep. Learn where they can usually be found as they transition throughout the different seasons every year.
Learn about Perch Fishing Through the Different Seasons
Time of Day
Learn how the Time of Day Affects Perch Fishing
Types of Water
Learn about catching Perch in the Different Types of Water.
Water Depths
Learn how to catch Perch through the Different Water Columns.
Weather
Weather plays a role with perch just like it does with other fish. Learn how yellow perch react to the sun, clouds, wind, rain and other weather variables so you can put more fish in the boat.
Learn more about How the Weather Affects Perch Fishing
