White Perch - How To Catch A Mess

White perch are not quite as popular as the yellow perch but they are still common. The white perch can be distinguished by their silvery color and irregular dark longitudinal lines that run all along its body. They have small teeth and a lower jaw that projects slightly.

There will be three spines on their anal fin and the dorsal fins are separate. The average weight for the white perch is one pound or under and they average between seven and ten inches in length. However, there have been white perch caught that measured up to nineteen inches.

White perch are most abundant in the Chesapeake Bay all along the Hudson River. They can also be found in many of the Maryland's largest reservoirs. The white perch are predaceous carnivores and bottom oriented fish. The smaller ones eat insects, zooplankton and small crustaceans and as they mature they feed on shrimp, crabs, larval insects, worms, small fish and fish eggs belonging to other species.

Catching white crab is fairly easy and does not require any expensive equipment. All you need is a quality rod and reel and the basic gear and you are ready to get started. Fishing for white perch is easy but knowing a little about this particular species can help to make your trips a little more productive.

Basic Information about White Perch

White perch spawn in waters that are considered to be low salinity or freshwater. They prefer to find waters with a sandy or fine gravel bottom if possible. They begin spawning in April and it usually last on into the month of June. Females can produce anywhere between 50,000 eggs up to 150,000 eggs over a period of ten to twenty-one days. The eggs normally hatch between one to six days after they have been fertilized.

A male perch is usually mature by the time it reaches age two and the female by the time it reaches age three. The average white perch lives approximately nine to ten years. During the first year the young white perch stay close to the shore and just downstream from the spawning area. The adults will live in open waters and during the winter they travel to deeper channels.

White Perch Fishing Tips

White perch prefer the brackish waters that you will find in bays, rivers and creeks. It is best to use small bait when fishing for white perch. The best baits to use are bloodworms, shrimp, minnows, earthworms and so forth. Use small pieces of bait when fishing for white perch or you may lose your bait to a sneaky fish. You can also use artificial lures and flies to fish for white perch. The shiny lures will usually get you the best results so spoons and metallic plastic minnows are always a great choice.

The white perch will live in rivers and lakes even though they prefer the low-salinity estuaries. They are a semi-anadromous and will migrate from the brackish estuaries where they spend most of their time to the freshwater of rivers in the spring to spawn.