Perch Fishing Fun

As summer vacation draws to a close I have run several family fishing trips with young kids. Usually for yellow perch but lately a few bass and white perch have gotten into the mix. Last week on Seven Tree Pond several nice bass were brought to the boat and two broke the line when hooked the drags on my closed face reels are simply not adequate for big fish. Pretty exciting stuff for young kids and old guides.

Yesterday I was on Megunticook Lake in Camden with excellent yellow perch fishing right at the float alongside the ramp. I spent a little time fishing while waiting for my afternoon party and was quickly into double digits. A family came in from a fishing trip where the kids had not had any luck and I was able to have both of their boys catch a few in five minutes or so.

When my party arrived those boys each caught several perch in a few minutes before we moved to a spot that produced a bunch of eager little smallmouth bass. As we were moving to another spot I came onto a school of white perch chasing bait on the surface just like stripers. White perch give quite a fight on light tackle and are in my opinion the best fish to eat in freshwater. As luck would have it everyone caught at least one large perch (maybe a pound) that I filleted and sent home for supper.

Finding those perch on the surface was at least as much fun as finding stripers on the surface. I am thinking about heading back there one morning with a light fly rod for some fun of my own.