Keep your bait within a foot or two of the bottom and you are far more likely to hook a perch. The rod should be stiff to aid in setting the hook.Think about baits that work well for walleyes; then think smaller. Come the autumn and the first fall of leaves my thoughts and fishing turn away from the summer species and I go into winter mode. If you drop a bait right on top of them, it may scare the fish.If you find a school of small, feeding perch, stay on the school. As always, the first step is location. Perch fishing tends to be an overlooked branch of our sport. Lure wise, a good selection of colours is useful, but as with winter fishing when you can use smaller micro lures, I tend to stick to bigger shads in the summer/autumn months. The best way to discover good perch waters is to ask around; because perch are not the "in fish" other anglers are usually very willing to share their knowledge. Perch are usually not found near thick weed cover.Perch can be caught at any time during the day, but it is important to know that they feed in cycles. Try jigs that also have a spinner blade. Retrieve your baits slowly and select spinners with a white or yellow color that will be easier to see by fish at night.
Look for them near rocks and gravel, or near sparse weedlines along points or other structure like bars or humps. During the summer months, try small crayfish or crayfish imitations.One of the best techniques for perch is vertical jigging. Give the perch plenty of time to see the bait and react to it. One hour, they may be feeding heavily, and the next hour, they not be feeding at all. To target the biggest yellow perch in your lake, fish deeper waters, with gravelly areas, as it gets later in the summer. Live bait like nightcrawlers or leeches fished on a small, colorful jig can be deadly for perch.
Use an ultralite rod with no more than 4-pound test line. Summer Fishing Tactics: How to Catch Bigger Yellow Perch. To draw in a perch in the low-light night, opt for a spinner that puts out some flash and vibration. Lure fishing for pike using spinners, plugs and spoons is a great, exciting way of catching pike. If you can see a school on a fish finder, try to work the edges of the school. In summer they will hit lures very hard and give a fantastic fight right to the net. If the bite stops, move and try to locate another concentration of perch that may be feeding.Perch are smaller fish than walleyes and like walleyes, their bite can often be very light. They’re usually near the bottom.