Perchin’ on the Pond!

Often overlooked this time of year, the Jumbo Tigers of Mille Lacs make their own pilgrimage to the shallows to fatten up for the winter. These fish can be found readily, and can be taken by any number of means. Perch are easily accessible along any shallow rock reef right now. They also flood into the many bays formed within many of Mille Lacs Eastern, Southern and Western shores. Weed to rock, and rock to sand transitions are holding vast schools of these fish right now.

We concentrated on areas where we knew many baitfish were present. I personally watched minnow schools get ravaged by a number of perch. (Dean Marshall, those Costa Del Mar Sunglasses are awesome!!!) They would disorient the school and move in like piranhas! Watch for the gulls dining from above for another tip off.

Another thing we noticed as the week went on was that these fish could be there today and gone tomorrow. I believe one of the reasons for that was the fact that the wind would blow the warmer shallower water from one side of the bay to the other. The fish tended to school in the warmer water. Many people opt to anchor and fish with minnows and bobbers. This is very effective if the fish are present. We found that the best approach for our boat was to be mobile and contact the fish. Once done, throw out the anchor and work them over. You often will go through a half dozen until you latch onto a true jumbo. We set up right on the transitions. We worked areas that went from 4-5 FOW up to 2 FOW. We anchored right over the break so we could cast up onto the shallow shelf as well as the deeper water behind the boat. We used 1/16 ounce jigs with rubber skirts. Yellow in the middle, and white tentacles. One other thing you can to is bring a black marker. Make stripes on the sides of the bodies like small perch. These fish are eating the YOY perch like it is Old Country Buffet! Pitch these jigs, and slowly retrieve like IDA Field Staffer Jami Ritter is doing here. No bait needed for us! I actually caught a number of fish on a plain jig with no bait or plastic!

Often times I vote for trolling for perch. Especially when I have the kids with. Pitching jigs with three kids and myself could easily end up in a trip to the ER to get hooks removed from various body parts. Trolling lets you put a number of baits back, and you tend to contact bigger fish. I like running #4 crayfish colored Jointed Shad Raps over the rocks. Speeds run about 1.5 MPH. These will provide you with some awesome strikes, and some really nice fish. Plus the occasional walleye in the slot cannot be ruled out! Three Mile Reef, Lakeside and Flamingo Reefs as well as Agate Bay’s Reefs, Indian Point and Seguchie Points are some fine bets for big perch right now. So if you are up there for the night bite, give these tigers a shot during the day! Good luck!