Yellow Perch on the Fly

[SteelHeadDave]

Inspired by @SRCbum and the crappie/bluegill thread. I’ve never caught a yellow perch on the fly and I’m not sure I’ve ever caught one period. I often dream of having a panko panfish fish fry. This yearning pulls at me this time of year when I happen to catch the bulk of my spiny rays, though I have yet to commit to keeping any for the table.

That being said I really want to pursue yellow perch on the fly if possible. I’ve considered going the light gear route but I don’t think that would entertain me as much as a 3wt. I know people get them on chiros sometimes and I’m thinking that is where I’ll start my search. Does anyone actually target these things on the fly? I’ve seen some great videos from Europe but that’s a different beast. I’m talking western WA, lowland blue collar perch. If you’ve targeted YP and have had success I’d love to hear your insights.

 

[Zak]

Inspired by @SRCbum and the crappie/bluegill thread. I’ve never caught a yellow perch on the fly and I’m not sure I’ve ever caught one period. I often dream of having a panko panfish fish fry. This yearning pulls at me this time of year when I happen to catch the bulk of my spiny rays, though I have yet to commit to keeping any for the table.

That being said I really want to pursue yellow perch on the fly if possible. I’ve considered going the light gear route but I don’t think that would entertain me as much as a 3wt. I know people get them on chiros sometimes and I’m thinking that is where I’ll start my search. Does anyone actually target these things on the fly? I’ve seen some great videos from Europe but that’s a different beast. I’m talking western WA, lowland blue collar perch. If you’ve targeted YP and have had success I’d love to hear your insights.

I've been catching small yellow perch in a local lake this spring. I'd love to get some bigger ones; they are my favorite freshwater fish for eating. They have been hanging out near shore, with them pumpkinseeds and small bass, and hitting leeches and wet flies. When I targeted them back east, the hot fly was an all yellow clouser, a little over an inch long.

 

[RCF]

I catch them with smaller damsel and dragonfly nymphs as a bycatch when trolling for trout.

 

[Smalma]

Yellow perch can be a great fish for the fly angler. They eat primarily insects (chironomids typically are a dominate food item) and small minnows so our fly boxes should be well stocked with flies that will catch them.

Perch are a early spawning fish with spawning typically completed by this time of year (in an earlier thread we discussed how to approach pre-spawn or spawning perch). Once spawning is completed the fish scatter and can be found in loose groups most of the summer along the edges of weed beds, the 10-to-20-foot flats, ends of docks, along humps, drop-offs etc. They tend to be home bodies and once you find an area holding perch they should be that area the rest of the summer though as water temperatures climb (mid to upper 70s) they will slide deeper to find their preferred temperature (upper 60s to 70 degrees). As fall approaches and the water temperatures begin dropping the fish will form in large schools (often schooling by size) and moving deeper and deeper as water temperatures drop. In the fall the perch schools will show up as "stacks" fish on our depth finders.

The larger fish's diet includes more large prey; small minnows up to 2 inches or so. In my targeting perch I rely on my sinking lines of various sink rates to match my target deep (type 3 to 6 sink rates line used most). My fly section leans heavily on smaller woolly buggers (dark olive body and tail with brown hackle my first choice), various soft hackles, and minnow patterns with the fly in the inch size range. Sometimes some color (yellow, orange, red, etc.) usually in the fly body is effective. Unfortunately, in many of our lakes the perch are stunted and even though they can be long lived (up to 7 or 9 years old) finding fish larger than say 8 inches can be difficult. While those smaller fish will produce edible fillets it is tedious filleting those smaller fish so when looking for a potential fish fry I will fish larger flies to sort for larger fish. The larger lakes tend to be less likely to have a stunted population though have found nice fish in smaller lakes but such waters tend to be rare.

While here in western Washington I have found large perch (best fly caught in the 14-inch class and 16.5 on gear) when looking for a fish fry I hope to find a dozen or so fish in 9-to-12-inch range. A great way to find a location holding nicer size fish to troll a 2.5-inch crank bait (perch or crawdad) designed to dive 12 to 15 feet in that 15 to 18 foot depths so local bass fishers maybe a good source of where there a nicer perch.

Have fun!

curt

 

[Matt B]

Lakes Washington and Sammamish are loaded with 'em. Infested, you might say. No matter how I fish those lakes it seems I end up with smallish yellow perch. Of course, now that I say that, I probably won't see one for 4 years.

 

[doublespey]

Have incidentally targeted while fishing for gearfishing for Smallmouth and spotted schools of nice sized perch chasing bait over a submerged weedbed. I threw a small yellow maribou jig on an ultralight spinning rig and watched the entire school follow it before one about 10" bolted out and grabbed it. They were only about 5' below the surface. Happened mid May a couple years ago. Pretty cool, I've been meaning to take a light flyrod and some little Clousers to see if I could find them again.

 

[Dustin Chromers]

I've targeted them on the fly. I figured out that a sinking line is best fished just above the weeds. They will eat any number of streamers like buggers and the like. I found they really like orange and green. A green or orange Carey is a great place to start. Nothing big but nothing tiny. Like generally medium size trout fare sizes will work good. Retrieves should be just like trout and not too fast. Finding a spot where they are in ten feet of water or so and fishing at eight feet just above the weeds will get results.

 

[tkww]

In my experience they're generally in a little deeper water the blugills or pumpkins, and they're more bottom-oriented/located than those as well. Don't expect to catch on on a popper, IOW. So if I were to target them I'd probably go with a sinking line and a flymph/small woolly bugger, or have your indicator game dialed in.

 

[IHFISH]

Pretty much the same experiences as others. Suspending or slowing stripping small nymphs or yellow jiggy flies over weedbeds has produced.

 

[Replicant]

Lakes Washington and Sammamish are loaded with 'em. Infested, you might say. No matter how I fish those lakes it seems I end up with smallish yellow perch. Of course, now that I say that, I probably won't see one for 4 years.

Pine Lake, back in the 70s with my zebco outfit, and a mepps. I couldn’t catch anything but perch.

 

[Divad]

As Dustin said, full sink line is my goto for them. Usually an olive/chartreuse small wetfly or leeches, in s6 or s3 trolling or slow twitching around 7-10ft depth. I’ve done well with black and orange too.

As the waters warm up, from say July - Sept there are some lakes in Thurston that make fly fishing for them easy. I look for sizeable lakes with long shallow flats, usually the weeds will be up by July and you’ll be stripping between it (not lily pads but the stuff subsurface).

 

[John Svahn]

I like a red-head, yellow body shad dart.
retrieve in 4 inch pulls

 

[Cowlitz Bottomfeeder]

Fished Isaac’s Lake now known as Back to the Wall maybe 15-20 years ago. Caught quite a few of those one year on chironomids under an indicator.

 

[Greg Price]

Inspired by @SRCbum and the crappie/bluegill thread. I’ve never caught a yellow perch on the fly and I’m not sure I’ve ever caught one period. I often dream of having a panko panfish fish fry. This yearning pulls at me this time of year when I happen to catch the bulk of my spiny rays, though I have yet to commit to keeping any for the table.

That being said I really want to pursue yellow perch on the fly if possible. I’ve considered going the light gear route but I don’t think that would entertain me as much as a 3wt. I know people get them on chiros sometimes and I’m thinking that is where I’ll start my search. Does anyone actually target these things on the fly? I’ve seen some great videos from Europe but that’s a different beast. I’m talking western WA, lowland blue collar perch. If you’ve targeted YP and have had success I’d love to hear your insights.

Ok caught a nice fat perch yesterday in a lake near

Inspired by @SRCbum and the crappie/bluegill thread. I’ve never caught a yellow perch on the fly and I’m not sure I’ve ever caught one period. I often dream of having a panko panfish fish fry. This yearning pulls at me this time of year when I happen to catch the bulk of my spiny rays, though I have yet to commit to keeping any for the table.

That being said I really want to pursue yellow perch on the fly if possible. I’ve considered going the light gear route but I don’t think that would entertain me as much as a 3wt. I know people get them on chiros sometimes and I’m thinking that is where I’ll start my search. Does anyone actually target these things on the fly? I’ve seen some great videos from Europe but that’s a different beast. I’m talking western WA, lowland blue collar perch. If you’ve targeted YP and have had success I’d love to hear your insights.

I caught a fat perch yesterday on a lake near Maple Valley. Not sure if it is a yellow perch as I am not up on differences in warm water species.


It hit on an olive bead head clouser that has huge red eyes. Water temp was about 65 degrees. I cast parallel to shore in about 3 feet of water that dropped off to approx 6 to 8 feet of water in canal that leads to boat ramp off the main lake.

It was in shadow just a few feet from overhanging tree limbs. My goal was another topwater big mouth for the topwater hall of fame, but no love anywhere in the lake.

 

[Zak]

Ok caught a nice fat perch yesterday in a lake near

I caught a fat perch yesterday on a lake near Maple Valley. Not sure if it is a yellow perch as I am not up on differences in warm water species.


It hit on an olive bead head clouser that has huge red eyes. Water temp was about 65 degrees. I cast parallel to shore in about 3 feet of water that dropped off to approx 6 to 8 feet of water in canal that leads to boat ramp off the main lake.

It was in shadow just a few feet from overhanging tree limbs. My goal was another topwater big mouth for the topwater hall of fame, but no love anywhere in the lake.

Yup, yellow perch.

 

[iveofione]

I fished a lake last month that I had never fished before and to my surprise it had a good population of sizable perch-10-13'' and fairly deep bodied. We were there for 20'' rainbows (which we both caught) but the presence of big fillets was a pleasant treat! Had I known I would have taken a fish basket and harvested enough for a fish fry. Perch fillets dipped in beer batter and fried in Crisco and eaten with buttermilk cornbread and a good ale is a meal fit for a king.

I was mostly fishing a floater with a 15' clear intermediate sink tip and would catch them, along with trout, in 8-10 feet of water and a slow retrieve. Also caught some on a Type 3 in deeper water. They seemed to like Olive Willy's and small marabou leech patterns. I'm going back to that lake in the fall after the first frost and will try to bring some home with me.

 

[SteelHeadDave]

Ok caught a nice fat perch yesterday in a lake near

I caught a fat perch yesterday on a lake near Maple Valley. Not sure if it is a yellow perch as I am not up on differences in warm water species.


It hit on an olive bead head clouser that has huge red eyes. Water temp was about 65 degrees. I cast parallel to shore in about 3 feet of water that dropped off to approx 6 to 8 feet of water in canal that leads to boat ramp off the main lake.

It was in shadow just a few feet from overhanging tree limbs. My goal was another topwater big mouth for the topwater hall of fame, but no love anywhere in the lake.

I’ve fished that lake a handful of times and while I know there are bass in it I’ve never caught one that I remember. I’ve seen a guy concentrating on the lily pad spot right near the entrance to the channel, looked like he was going for perch or crappie based on his bobber set up. Maybe that’s the zone?