Yellow Perch

[Wayne SW/MO]

Did you catch any outside of Swan? I wonder if they were there to spawn.

[vonreed]

I haven't tried anywhere other than Swan. I've heard of quite a few people catching them at Barker Hole fishing off the bank, but I've never tried down there or anywhere else. I've only had the boat out twice and mainly did some trolling looking for walleye. All the yellow perch were males. Now that the lake has dropped I haven't seen or caught any.

[Ham]

I'd caught them in Shoal Creek, Sugar Loaf, and Big Creek. I've heard from a diver he saw sizable schools of them in Sister Creek.

I'd like to catch them more often, but I don't try hard enough I guess.

[vonreed]

Most people are after the bass because of the fight, which is fun. But I've gotten more into the eating and catching so I've become more obsessed with walleye, yellow perch, other perch and whatever tastes good. I just figured with the new population of these yellow perch, I thought I'd give a try at targeting them. Probably a lost cause, but I'm gonna try it. It doesn't help that I'm new to fishing out of a boat instead of off the bank, which makes a big difference.

[Sam]

I usually catch two or three yellow perch a year out of upper B.S. while fishing for crappie or walleyes. I've never caught even two in one day, so though they may run in schools I sure wouldn't know how to catch a bunch of them. Also, the ones I've caught are small, only six inches or so. I did catch an eleven inch yellow perch last year and I kept it to see if they really taste as good as I've heard. They're real good, all right - just like a little walleye.

I keep hoping the yellow perch fishery there will improve to the point that they can be targeted on purpose. They're a good fish, and I'd love to be able to catch a bunch of them.

[Wayne SW/MO]

As long as they have been in there I doubt they will ever get to the point they can provide a mess in one trip very often. Walleye have to be stocked, even though they have been in BS forever I believe.

[vonreed]

I think the population may be on a rise. I've always fished Swan this time of year for big bluegill, esp when the water starts to rise good. And this is the first year I've seen them in there. Maybe it was a fluke that so many were in there, but I hope it's because there's becoming more and more of them every year. They're an interesting little fish. Me and my boy are going down this afternoon and I'm hoping I can talk him into looking for some, but he's a more of a white bass fishermen, which is understandable. I hope we can get some walleye to.

[vonreed]

Here's a pic of the last ones we caught out of Swan.

[lockjaw]

Up in Minnesota, the best method is using a chartruse twister tail and jig head with a decent size minnow. They do school up real well and will not be spooked by a boat, normally. I would suggest casting it out and bringing it in slowly, they do like movement. "Minni-Mites" in white with red head are also good bait.

What is a yellow perch? It is in the walleye family. I have caught them as big as 14 inches in Leech Lake. They are delicious. In Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, you will spend about $20 for a "Lake Perch" dinner. Lake Perch and yellow perch are the same. Ocean Perch-nasty.

Easy to identify, dark vertical stripes with alternating yellow stripes on the entire fish.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I suppose the trick is to find where they hang most of the time. You don't hear about them being caught in Swan so I'm thinking they might be there to spawn. I think I would check Barker hole out with some perch baits first.