Well I decided to call it quits until the softwater after my last day of laker fishing, but this hard stuff didnt seem to be going anywhere, so I had to make one last trip out.  The prospect of a perch fry was enticing, so a couple buddies and I headed out to a late season perch spot and made the march out.  We're targetting sand/rock transitions getting closer to their spawning bays now.  We set up along the ridge, I was the shallowest at 19 feet and they set up in 23 and 32 feet.  I started off with a small jigging rap to look for some aggressive fish, and though the showed interest, they wouldnt commit to it.  Switched to a pan slammer and knocked off a couple of decent dinner fish, but still wasnt getting the reactions I was looking for.  When you're targetting these jumbo perch, they dont school in the same way that the little guys do.  A lot of them are solitary or swim in small groups of 2-4 fish.  A lot of moving is neccessary for success, or you can opt to be patient and wait for them.  We moved around a bunch until we found a more consistent area in 18 feet.  There was still a lot of blank screen but when the fish came through, they were the right ones.  With the high sun and picky fish, I dropped down to 2lbs fluoro and a pan slammer on a 1/16 oz jighead.  They needed enticing, but I managed to ice a good number of solid fish and I should be good for a couple meals while I wait for some open water crappie!!

 

Geeze man...those things are beastly!  The one's around here don't get anywhere near that big.

Those things are monstrous. Nice pics, thanks for sharing.

Nice fish, perch are my favorite eating fish next would be Walleye. It don't get no better than that!! ENJOY!

Nice job on the monster perch. How much did those pigs weigh?

Nice job on the monster perch. How much did those pigs weigh?

Not sure on individual weights, I weighed a grocery bag with the 15 I brought home and it was a hair under 14 lbs

HOLY SMOKES!

Wow, it is possible some of them pushed 2 lbs each. Definitely they did look full of spawn. The forage on that lake has to be pleniful

Next time call me for dinner. Awesome fish!

NICE ~ !

 

That had to be fun.

 

Perch-zilla on the hook.

 

A-Jay