Don’t Miss the Spawn
Perch begin spawning soon after ice out. They spawn around 45 degrees. Even though the water is cold, perch are extremely active. They move out of their deep, wintering areas into shallower, weedy areas. Hard bottoms such as gravel and sand hold more spawning perch than soft, mucky bottoms. During the spawn, catching perch is extremely easy. If you want to catch a lot of perch, the spring is one of the easiest times to do it.
Fish the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes have some of the best perch fishing destinations in the country. Go out with an experienced charter and you can catch a lot of fish.
Find the Schools in Open Water
Once they do deep, it’s all about location schools. This can be extremely hard at times, however, if you have a good boat with good electronics and you understand how perch move, you can find some fish. Look for bait fish on main lake structures and keep an eye out on your electronics as you are going from spot to spot. Sometimes, you will drive over a school of perch in open water and if you aren’t looking at your electronics, you will miss it. Finding the thermocline also helps, as large schools of fish will be found along the thermocline in the summer.
Use Live Bait
It’s a lot easier to catch a lot of perch with live bait. Artificials will work too, but if you’re trying to catch a mess of them, it’s tough to beat live bait.
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