How to catch Yellow perch

Yellow perch feed in 34–80°F water and bite best at 55–72°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 35 waters; in October they are at their peak in Ohio fresh water, Indiana fresh water, Illinois fresh water and 26 more.

5 pts · trophy at 12"Feeds 34–80°FBest 55–72°FIn season nowLakeReservoirFishing pierDock / pilingsRiverPond / pitFish attractor / brush pile

About

The ringed perch: gold with dark saddles, schooled by the thousand over the weed flats and the mud of the northern lakes and the Great Lakes, and the fish behind half the ice shanties and fish fries of the Midwest. A 13-inch 'jumbo' is the prize.

How to fish it

Find the school and stay on it: a perch rig or a small jig on the bottom over the weed edge or the mud flat. Through the ice, a spoon tipped with a minnow head.

What it eats

minnowswax worms and spikessmall jigging spoonsemerald shiners

Live bait for it

Minnows (fatheads, shiners)Hooked lightly through the lips or behind the dorsal on a #6 to #2 hook under a slip bobber for crappie, perch and walleye; a big golden shiner on a 2/0 to 4/0 for largemouth, pike and stripers.

Wax wormsOne or two on a tiny ice jig or a #10 hook for bluegill, perch and crappie, under the ice or a float.

NightcrawlersWhole on a #6 to #2 hook under a bobber or on a bottom rig; threaded on a spinner harness drifted for walleye. The bait that catches everything in fresh water.