LAKE ERIE’S FALL PERCH By Jonathan LePera
Few moments bring us back to the innocence of youth like a day on the water fishing for perch. Perch fishing was easy, as we didn’t need loads of tackle and high priced rods and reels to put fish in the boat. A simple ‘perch rig’, was enough to fill your dinner plate with as many fish as you wanted and more than enough were released to swim another day. Life can still be that simple with a fall time trip to eastern Lake Erie for some slab perch. They put up a great fight, provide some great memories and a phenomenal meal to cap it off!
WHERE TO LOOK Come fall time, perch behavior is surprisingly predictable. Towards the end of September, they start to school up in search of bait. This inaugurates their fall-time feeding frenzy as they ready themselves for the hard water retreat. While anglers from shore can key into some very isolated shallow schools, those wanting consistent results need to ply deep water. Schools will be easily found off any of the major points and especially straight out of Port Colborne. Using your Navionics chip, you should be able to key in on some areas before even hitting the water. I like to use the Fish’N Chip as it actually displays the deep holes where fish will sit along with details the lake bottom in one-foot increments. Look at the areas I’ve mentioned and try to key in on subtle depth changes. Rarely have I found perch that hold on structure that drastically changes in depth a five-foot drop is the max for me. Typically, I’ll find perch sitting on a hard bottom that slopes towards deeper water, especially in one-foot increments. If you
can find some weeds nearby, fresh or dying, it’s an added bonus. Sometimes, it’s the subtle little transitions or bottom changes that are enough to hold a decent number of perch on a spot.
Perch are not known to move shallower during the day. Typically, I’ll start off in 50feet of water and by late afternoon the schools will have moved off to the 68-foot range. Normally, if you can find a mix of gravel, rocks and bait, you are going to crush them.
WHEN THE BITE TURNS OFF As much as perch can spoil you, they can pull the candy out of the baby’s mouth just
as quickly! Instead of packing up and heading home, get creative; a little moving around will usually put you back in the mix. When perch are actively feeding, you can be drifting and still pound on them. Personally, I like to use my electronics and follow the waypoint where the school is. The minute you toss a marker buoy, it will draw in boats from miles away, especially if others are struggling. Anchoring does allow you to consistently hold on a productive area but, if the school moves, you’ve got 100-feet of rope and an anchor to contend with. As well, anchors draw attention from afar. When the bite does turn off, I’ve found that moving your bait ever so slightly, with your trolling motor on low, is enough to trigger a tough bite. In bass fishing they call it “strolling” but perch like it just the same. It is really important to keep your sinker on bottom at all times and keep a fairly tight line. Again, I will use my electronics to look for two very important visuals; clearly identified hooks, which represent fish, and big schools of bait which will appear a blob on Fall 2011 – Real Fishing 43