Perch

[ratso]

I have had excellent luck on the perch on Waubay in the winter but why do they seem to dissappear with the ice?? Any suggestions where to fish them once the ice is gone...soon I hope!!! Also what seems to work well on the perch this time of year. I practice 95% cpr so I would even think of trying to damage this special fishery at spawn thirty!!! Any info would be appreciated.

[ifishsd]

I always wondered that myself. I think maybe they have more food to eat in the spring a summer, so they aren't as hungry. I know the perch bite ussually takes off towards the middle of august. We had excellent perch fishing about 6 years ago in September on Waubay.

[Tyler Holm]

You can still catch them at first ice out, but then it seems they dormant. I know the smaller perch can be caught in the shallows with worms, but the Jumbos action is inconsistent. Swan Lake at times give up Jumbos in the middle of the summer, but it's hit or miss. Dragging crawlers might boat you a few, but I've never seen consistent limits.

[rattleL]

ive had luck with waubay perch out in big basins in summer drag a lindy rig with a half a crawler you will encounter them, maybe maybe not if everyone in the boat catches one try to go back over them with the trolling motor. They roam just like in winter so you will get small fluries also some walleyes mixed in.

[percherman]

Last summer I had a hot tip from a local. Go out early in the morning before the wind starts howling and verticle jig with a gold Genz worm tipped with a small piece of crawler in some of the deeper basins. It took us a while to get the feel for the light Genz worms but we did manage to pick a few up before the wind picked up to hard to be able to feel our jig even with the electric down. If there ever were such a thing as a calm day in SD I think you could really smack em this way.

[ratso]

I have heard of guys tying circular life savers to the side of the boat to help "feel" and keep your line vertical has anyone tried this? I intend on trying it soon. I like your idea percherman bc I guess I feel that is why not as many are caught in the summer bc the tackle for most people is just too big.

[icehousebob]

I was fishing Waubay with one of my brothers a few years back in June and we heard of Perch biting by a sunken road. We tied up on a standing tree and saw other people slip bobber fishing. I threw out one slip bobber rig and started vertical jigging with a 5' utralight with 4# fireline, using a Crusher and minnow head. It worked so well that I reeled up the slip bobber rod and just jigged. There were enough Walleyes mixed in to keep it exciting. We then trolled cranks along the roadbed and caught northerns, Walleyes, and Perch. I didn't think Perch would hit a crank but that day they did. Look for the sunken roadbeds and give them a try. They sometimes work.