Fish Lake - perch help

[Kokaholic]

Our plans changed recently and we are taking the kids to Fish Lake this coming weekend. I have never been there and neither has my buddy. Any tips or help on where to find perch and how to catch them would be greatly appreciated. We thought that would be the most fun for the kids. We are also going to troll for trout in the early mornings while the kids are sleeping in.
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[Coldfooter]

The lake has a surround of moss known as the "weed line" starting at the bank and continuing out from the bank 100 - 300 feet and more. A chunk of any cut bait or crawler fished in or near the weed line will produce plenty of cut bait/perch..
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[mrm]

It's almost where NOT to catch them. The last time I was there, a few year ago, a little boy at the end of the berm at the first marina had a pile about a foot high behind him.

At that time I was told perch were to be killed rather than released. All of the perch I've caught or seen caught at Fish Lake were small, but for a kid it would be a memory making fish-a-second. Maybe there are larger perch to be found around the weeds.

For kids fishing for perch there, I'd advise taking or investing in an eye harvester to keep from having to rebait every couple of minutes.

Mike
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[bvs]

Small ice-type jigs tipped with a wax worm work great. Anchor just beyond the weedline in about 10-15' of water. It might take a few minutes to get your first perch, but the longer you stay in one place, the more perch will come out of the weeds to see what's going on. After 45 minutes or so there will be a whole school under you. No casting required. Just drop the jig and 99% of the time it will disappear before it hits the bottom.

The perch at Fish lake are very small (6"-7") and in my opinion it's too much work to try and make a meal out of them, but they're not-stop fun for the kids and can be caught all day long.
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[Trawler]

For kids you can't beat Fish Lake perch fishing. Just for fun I like to rig up two or even three hooks on one line and try to hook multiple fish at once. The perch are so active you can set the hook on a fish then just wait a few seconds and another will strike. On a calm day fishing just off the weed line in 20-30 feet of water you can see all the way to the bottom, so watching the perch swarm around and pick at your bait is a lot of fun.

My favorite bait is cut perch meat. Their skin is supper tough, if you stick the hook though the skin you can catch 10,15 or more perch with one piece of meat, it becomes a challange to see how many you can catch with one piece. When using worms you will catch a lot of fish but will often lose your bait. You don't need much meat, just enough to cover your hook, sink it with split shot and your into perch. If you don't have a fish within 5 minutes move to another location. The limit is 50, they do run small, however the bigger ones make a nice fillet so keep a bunch and fry em up. This method will also catch splake.
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[MrLipripper]

One of the best perch baits are perch eyes. Yes, perch eyes. The kids may get a istic blast out of poking the eyes out and putting them on the hook. It seems inherent that kids like to poke fish eyes.
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[maitopoika]

I went to sportsmans today and the fishing report said they can be caught using worms. what size hook should you use if you are using worms? Aren't their mouths pretty small?
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[8incher]

You don't really need bait. Use a small gold cheese hook, no bait on it, and let the kits "sight fish" over the side of your boat. When the hook disappears from sight you have a fish on. Kids can watch the perch take the bare hook. You can do the same thing with a small hook and bait. The kids seem to like to watch them take the hook and or bait. They have fun watching the fish and you have fun watching the kids.

Go get 'em.
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[fsh4fun05]

+1, perch eyes. If the perch are small and you have to weed through the little ones an aberdeen hook is the best, they are much easier to unhook from small perch without causing damage. Plus, if your hook gets snagged they easily straighten out and come loose and with a pair of pliers you just bend it back into shape. FL is full of perch, like said earlier, find the weedline-find the perch.
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[Fishrmn]

[quote Trawler] Just for fun I like to rig up two or even three hooks on one line and try to hook multiple fish at once. [/quote]

In the future, I'd limit that to two hooks. That's all the law allows: Two baited hooks, or lures per line.
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[addicted2fishin]

The perch at fish lake are about the easiest fish to catch anywhere. You almost can't avoid catching them if you are along the weedline (once you are on the water you will easily see what is meant by the weedline). I fished along the weedline at the south end of the lake.
The easiest rig I found was to put a bobber on the line, put a hook about 18-24" below that, then another hook about 12" further down. Put just a very small piece of bait on the hook (probably size 10 or 12 hook) and toss it out there. It doesn't need to be a long cast far from the boat, just toss it over. Wait a few seconds and you will likely have a bit. You will regularly bring in 2 fish at the same time.
If you don't catch one right away, let the wind drift your bobber around. It shouldn't take long to get buckets full.
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