I went out this past weekend and caught a fish that my dad and I had never seen before.  I've found out now that it was a yellow perch.  I was just wondering how common they are in the south. I've showed the picture to serval fishing buddies, but non of them have seen one around here. It was caught out of Bay Springs lake in NE Mississippi.  It's on the TN-Tombigbee waterway.

perch are pretty common in the south. Most of the lakes in NC have them.

I found a listing of the game fish in Bay Springs and Perch is on the list so I guess it's not uncommon. It also has Walleye and Sauger on the list.  I didn't know any of those were in there either.  I just started bass fishing over the last year or so and I've only fished at Bay Springs about 6 times.  I grew up fishing in my grandfathers pond and haven't got the chance to catch and see that many different species of fish.  I caught that bass in my avatar there and it's loaded with HUGE Bluegill.  

We have them in Virginia.

In Louisiana they are purple and gold perch.