Yellow perch

[Ham]

Man, John stealing My Thunder. I believe they are well established in the White River. I have caught them from a half a dozen places from within sight of Gaston’s to below the Buffalo River. 
I anticipate catching them in the Buffalo and Crooked Creek eventually, but I have not done so yet. 

[Bill Babler]

Buster Loving caught a huge one last week 1lb. 10 oz. 15.5 inches fishing for walleye. 4oz. Off the state record

K-dock area. Swim bait. 

[Quillback]

1 minute ago, Bill Babler said:

Buster Loving caught a huge one last week 1lb. 10 oz. 15.5 inches fishing for walleye. 4oz. Off the state record

Kosovo area. Swim bait. 

That's a biggun for sure.  If Bull has the schools of little shad like Table Rock does, those perch are going to have a good food source.  

And those perch are good eats, I have had them side by side with walleye and would take the perch over the walleye.  

[Fish24/7]

Will usually dumb into 1 per year.  And this is the only 1 this year 

[MoCarp]

On 12/4/2020 at 5:13 AM, Dutch said:

The most consistent place that I have caught them is between the mouth of Beaver Creek and the mouth of Cedar Creek while fishing for white bass.

It seems in other areas they make spawning runs up feeder streams, but like spawning on weeds or twiggy brush....I’d bet Xmas tree piles in the lower reaches of creeks would be a good place to target them....they spawn after the walleyes in other waters but before crappies

 

[tjm]

40 years ago in the north east the two favorite perch baits were shiners and shrimp, shiners there were flown in from Arkansas they said and the shrimp I saw used was the ready to cook super market kind.  Folks fished for them just like I would for blue gill or crappie near the bottom, in <10' of water,  as best I recall. I suspect in these lakes they would travel at a temperature level rather than a depth, coolish water.  I also knew one guy that caught 7-8" yellow perch by the bucket full on trout flies and used them for pike bait. They were in common in old mill ponds on streams marginally suitable for trout, the perch liked the edges of submerged weed beds as I recall. They also were in brackish water at the mouths of streams. I never really targeted perch so stuff is vague in my memory, but I seem to think that the schools swam circles around those ponds almost constantly on the move. If they come up into the creeks here, I'd think it would be through the spring spawning  months.

[Johnsfolly]

5 hours ago, MoCarp said:

It seems in other areas they make spawning runs up feeder streams, but like spawning on weeds or twiggy brush....I’d bet Xmas tree piles in the lower reaches of creeks would be a good place to target them....they spawn after the walleyes in other waters but before crappies

 

Here they tend to make spawning runs up the local creeks mid to late Feb. Small ones are in the creeks year round but the big one stick to the deeper water or head into the bay after the spawn.

[MoCarp]

Caught some jumbos when I went to lake of the woods. Honestly they were better eating than walleyes

[MoCarp]

I have been researching yellow perch spawning...seems in the Dakotas not every year is good...but years that are high water...wind blown egg “ribbons” drift onto flooded grass areas....if that was the case, seeding shorelines with annual rye grass that receive winds would do the trick in our lakes, timing would be key, if fall seeding at drawdown took place would give plenty of proper spawning area by spring higher water levels...as well as food for things like daphnia and crayfish....IMHO would also work for northern pike who also spawn in those flooded grasses....our lakes have such flux in lake levels this could take advantage, cost would be easy to justify if it works well...man made booms that we see from normal flood years....could be a mix of grasses could work...definitely worth researching....

[watermen2]

Curious does anybody catch any numbers?  Their habits and habitat are diff than crappie or Bluegill, but will intermingle.  The ones in the pictures are so skinny they look unhealthy. They do not suspend like a walleye will.