Yellow Perch Fishing Strategies - Where They Are, And How To Trigger Strikes

The Yellow Perch is a very interesting fish. They are not known for being great fighters but are excellent table fare. They are the junior member of the Walleye family and share many of the same proclivities as the Walleye. As their name suggests their body has a yellow shade of color accompanied by vertical black bars and an orange set of pectoral fins.

When it comes to catching Yellow Perch the more appropriate question is how to catch trophy Yellow Perch. Catching large quantities of small Yellow Perch is quite easy. You simply need to find a lake that contains the species and simply fish with a small piece of nitecrawler; they are that easy to catch when they are small.

Large Yellow Perch, often called jumbo perch are a different matter altogether. The method for locating and catching trophy perch varies from lake to lake. The Yellow Perch is a very adaptable species. They can be found in rivers, small ponds and throughout the Great Lakes. They truly are perhaps the most adaptable species of fish in the United States.

The first feature you need to concern yourself when is the bottom of the body of water you are fishing. Yellow Perch definitely prefer a rocky bottom to any other. Part of the reason for this is their diet. The preferred forage of trophy yellow perch is the crayfish. If you really want to bring the big guns out use a soft shell crayfish for real trophy fish. Some people I talk to laugh at the thought of a soft shell crayfish somehow being better bait than a hard shell crayfish. I can't ell you through years of experience that this is indeed true. I have spent countless hours at the Lake Michigan shoreline catching perch and watching this fact proven. Again we are talking about trophy Yellow Perch. You can surely catch small fish on just about any bait. Fish that have attained trophy status have done so for a reason. They have learned to avoid predation and are selective in their choice of meals. My second choice for bait would be a lively fish that is part of the primary forage for the perch. In Lake Michigan this would be an alewive, in many other lakes it could be a wild shiner or small sucker minnow.

It is important that you a proper setup for catching this species. Ultra light tackle is extremely important if you want to have sustained success. Use an ultra light graphite rod. It is important that your rod be high quality to detect strikes. When fishing for perch you are angling for a species that tends to hit an offering very lightly. This combined with the deep water you will be fishing makes it difficult at times to feel when your bait is picked up.

Your fishing reel is perhaps the least important piece of equipment. This species does not fight very hard so you will almost never need a drag. You also do not need a very powerful reel for the same reason.