Often referred to as the poor mans shrimp, perch are some of the best eating and fun to catch anyone with just a piece of string and a stick can catch. Portaging from one lake to the next with kayaks, my brother Austen and I sought out the best looking submerged logs, beaver dams and rocks we could find. Targeting the under fished schools of giant perch which roam the lake of Northern NY, we eagerly tied on marabou jigs and tipped them off with grubs.
A deadly combination
Finding perch was relatively easy,weeding through the small schools of fish to the lower depths where the big boys live, proved to be interesting. We had to be more attentive to our presentations on this trip as the fish seemed spookier than usual. But fish by fish, our boats began to fill.
One of the greatest scenes in the wild is having a big perch bend your light weight pole over and make the drag scream on your small reel. With a large open mouth darting frantically in and out of the branches of a downed in efforts to lose the hook, big perch offer excitement for all age ranges.
Thank you Bass Pro Shops
One of the nice things about being a bit older is the ability to take off on an adventure by ourselves. To be able to implement the skills passed down from parents and grandparents and be successful in the lakes and ponds in which they learned to fish is a special feeling. At the end of this day, we totaled 64 perch averaging over 10 inches. The biggest was 13inches. Our total weight was over 30 pounds of fish. We spent over 2 hours cleaning those fish, and the cookout was amazing.
A quick shout out to Bass Pro Shops Marabou Jigs. They give great action, are built well for hours of action and are able to get past many of the smaller fish to the depths of the larger fish faster. I highly recommend these jigs if looking to score big on perch or crappie.
Brotherly love…… and perch.
Pushing the Wild Limits 