Prospecting for perch

Two friends and I have been prospecting for perch on the north end with mixed results. When "prospecting", we move along some structure (deep weedlines now) and run a flasher style locator to look for fish. We stop and fish when we mark some perch. The past two days have been bad for moving around (fog and windy, snowy weather) so we have not moved too much. In any case, we have sometimes pick up a half dozen to a dozen keepers and at other times just small fish that are released. We continue to see a few walleyes, pike, and sometimes suckers on camera. We are still concentrating on 12 to 15 foot depths.

We often use standard rigs for perch (small spoons and wigglers for example), but my "finesse rig" has been good. This is a weighted nymph trout fly with a split shot six inches above it and tipped with 2 or 3 spikes. I use a light action rod and four-pound test line with the fly. This is a very natural looking presentation, but can produce too many small fish at times. Still, you can usually count on it to produce hits, and some will be larger perch.

I'll be heading out to deeper water before long and I hope to post a report about larger perch from the deep flats.