Pesky perch provide a fun winter challenge for Idaho anglers
For many anglers, yellow perch are the crown jewel of ice fishing season. Given the hard work required to set up camp on the ice, there’s nothing better than drilling a hole right on top of a school of perch. If you play your cards right, a busy day of catching could be in store — and if you’re at Lake Cascade, the perch you pull up might be of the legendary jumbo variety.
But finding a school is only half the battle. Once you’ve located fish, it’s up to you to figure out their behavior and convince them to eat. Here’s a quick look at three different categories of perch fishing, along with a few tips for maximizing your success:
On the chew
Ideally, the perch you find will be actively feeding. This type of fishing is foolproof — hungry perch are very aggressive, and getting them to bite isn’t a problem. If you fish with a flasher, you’ll see when perch are active. As you drop your lure toward the bottom — and perch are almost always on the bottom, usually in 20 to 30 feet of water — multiple fish will come up to meet your offering.
They’re competing for the food, and you’ll have a chance to set the hook on whoever gets there first. The key is to land your fish quickly and get your bait back in the strike zone, as you never know how long the feeding frenzy will last. A small jig tipped with a mealworm, waxworm or piece of perch meat is a surefire way to catch fish. I prefer cut bait, which stays on the hook better and seems to trigger extra aggression. And if you’re catching a bunch of dinks, try using larger, minnow-shaped lures to target bigger perch.
Just chilling
Days with an aggressive perch bite are awesome, but rare. More often, the fish will have neutral attitudes that require a nudge toward feeding. Neutral fish will eat, but it calls for extra effort. You might have to change lures and/or baits several times to find the one thing they’ll eat.
On a recent trip to Hyrum Reservoir in Utah, my buddy Dallas and I honed in on a tiny, perch-colored tungsten jig tipped with a small chunk of cut bait. Those lures racked up dozens of fish — everything else we tried went untouched. It’s not uncommon for smaller baits to work better on neutral fish. More active, erratic jigging patterns can also help trigger a strike. With a flasher, you might see a fish come off the bottom two or three times to inspect a bait before finally taking a swipe. And when the bite comes, expect it to be subtle. Fish with a spring bobber and be ready to set the hook any time it bobs downward!
Lockjaw status
These are the tough trips. Even your most tried and true spots, methods and lures might come up short on the frustrating days when perch just refuse to eat. I’ve watched on my flasher as perch after perch came up, looked at my lure, and swam away without so much as a nibble.
My advice in these situations is to find a different school of fish. You could also alter your approach and target another species, like trout. And don’t rule out changing locations altogether. In Utah, Dallas and I encountered lockjaw fish at Mantua Reservoir before moving to Hyrum and putting the hammer down.
Perch behavior is one of my favorite winter riddles to solve. It takes practice, but once you get things dialed in, fast ice fishing action is an awesome reward — not to mention some delicious perch fillets.
Tight lines!
Jordan Rodriguez has been fishing Idaho waters since he was a teen. Share your fish stories, adventures, tips and tricks with him at tightlinesboise@gmail.com or visit www.tightlines208.com.