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Now help a fellow out here.... Yellow Perch. For some reason I've been catching a number of small ones (7"-10") and this has happened on more than lake over the past 18 months or so. We're catching them on small crank baits while looking for Bass. It's obvious that where there are small ones there should be larger ones, right?
My son & I have done this on both Clark Hill Reservoir and Lake Sidney Lanier. These are clear Corps of Engineers lakes that perch should like. What I don't know is water temp preferences or where they might go if they aren't right on the bank.
If you were in my shoes what would you try?
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Well I must appoligies for not getting to your question sooner. I am out here in Idaho but I will share what I can.
Yes it would seem there should be larger perch but they can and do overpopulate and once they have it is hard to get ahold of them to where they will get bigger. We have bodies of water here that have that size and smaller but we also have a few bodies of water where they are in the 12" range and up to 16", now that's a nice perch.
Not sure about your regs there concerning the use of live bait but if minnows can be used and you can get past the smaller ones they may scare up a larger perch.
Might try the deepest part of the lake and work up till you find some.
Not sure this helped but kept on trying and asking questions.
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idahopanfish these are great tips. I have renewed interest since we are catching them by accident while Bass fishing. Knowing their fine food quality I am driven to explore the opportunity further.
In the State of Georgia there are no restrictions on using live bait and there is no minimum size on Bream, Bluegill or Yellow Perch. One must group them in the Freshwater Game Fish Daily Limit of 50 fish as far as a quantity limit goes. I fish 12 months out of the year and bait is plentiful - must procure minnows! This should be a hoot!
In Lake Sidney Lanier we have resident populations of the Spotted Bass, Largemouth Bass, Walleye and Yellow Perch as well as Bream, Crappie, Channel Catfish, White Catfish and Common Carp. The landlocked Striped Bass are stocked annually as a big game quarry.
I can't imagine that Yellow Perch could limit size by overpopulation but then again there are a great number of panfish species available as well as forage species that include Threadfin Shad, Gizzard Shad and an exploding population of Blueback Herring in this lake. All of these compete with the Yellow Perch from a food source perspective and all of these are food sources for the larger predator fish.
I'd like to run a few other panfish questions by you. This looks like the right forum and there's never an urgency for anyone to respond. I appreciate all the assistance my fellow anglers provide and try to help as well whenever I can. Thank you
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Keep up the question and report especially the pictures of big or not big fish always makes the time on BFT enjoyable.
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