Where are the perch ?

[chinook35]

Not exactly on a par with a 20 # king for sport , but a plate of perch fillets sure is a nice way to end a day . My friend and i have been out 3 times in the last few weeks chasing perch . We have been from Catfish Creek to Henderson Harbor , and have caught very few perch . When we fished off Mexico point (Sage Creek) we caught nothing but gobys (at least 50) . This is very troubling to me . We have never failed to catch at least enough for a meal . Any body got any input ?

[jimski2]

Gobies? Go deeper.

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[chinook35]

We were catching gobys at every depth at Henderson . We started at 25 fow and changed shallower and deeper (31 fow) and had the same result at every depth . We used fathead minnows and tried worms . Nothing but gobys ,with a few small perch once in a while .

[Pequod1]

What has helped me in the lake was to use a drop shot rig with a minnow at least 1-2' off the bottom. It kept the gobies off and I still caught plenty of perch. I usually fish for them in the lake off Sodus. Kind of disturbing that you haven't found them yet. They should be there any time now. Good Luck.

[GAMBLER]

We have been getting them on occasion in the intake at work. They do not show up until the water gets below 60 degrees in at the intake. They must be deep in the cooler water.

[jimski2]

With the warm Lake Erie waters at this time of year, we do not start looking for perch till we are out over sixty five foot of water. We sometimes find them in eighty feet of water until the lake drops to the sixties water temperatures.

[devoknevo]

We've picked up a few in Irondequoit bay lately but the highlight was my son who landed his personal best, a 15 1/2 inch long, monster "freak of nature" perch.

He caught it on a pike minnow in 10FOW, took a few pic's and then set it free to save the gene pool. I'm proud of the boy.