Fly Fishing For Yellow Perch
Blog by: David Coulson , CO 9/12/2011 (Return to blogs)
Part of Series: Warmwater Fly Fishing
Yellow perch are popular with a lot of folks, including myself, primarily because they’re outstanding table fare. Let’s face it, you won’t hear many stories about their fight or huge size (a 12 inch fish is a Master Angler), but when it comes to eating few fish rival these tasty morsels.
Further, when the conversation turns to fishing for perch, bait fishing with worms has to be one of the top methods, closely followed by small jigs tipped with a worm. Fly fishing, well not so much. But there are times when it should be consider as it can be an extremely productive method of catching yellow perch. Sunday is case in point.
Cody and I decided to fish Boyd from kayaks and we were on the water shortly after sunrise. We paddled to the south end to work the weed edges. Primarily looking for black and white bass, of which we had little success. After a couple hours we decided to head north. As is my habit I drag flies behind me as I move from one location to another. Once we got into deeper water, 13-15 feet I got a strike and landed a brace of 8-10 inch perch.
Now what was really interesting was the two fish came in with a whole school of perch, fifty or so fish. Needless to say, we parked and proceeded to catch triple after triple, with an occasional double. Simply, once our gang of flies encountered a school of perch (running from 50-100 fish each), they ganged up on the flies until all hooks were loaded and then they kept at it, trying to take the flies from the hooked fish.
Simply, right now at Boyd, I presume other perch waters, large schools of perch are aggressively chasing bait and a gang of flies (2 or 3), in our case 1.5 to 2 inch clousers worked on a sinking line is producing some great action.
If you like perch and fast action, give fly fishing a try. I think you’ll find it to be an extremely effective and fun way to catch your dinner.
Nice Largemouth
Decent `gill
Early mornting fisher
Cody with a perch triple
Boyd Lake Perch
Boyd Crappie
Blog content © David Coulson
Comments
Good Sam
09.15.11 10:02 PM
Good job Dave. How deep were you fishing your flies?
Steve
David Coulson (author, aka Flyrodn)
09.16.11 1:21 AM
I was counting down 5 to 15 seconds. With a type three line that starts me down from 2 to 5 or 6 feet and with long casts I got a bit more sink andI was ticking bottom (evidenced by weeds on the flies occassionally). So I was working the full column to about 10 ft. However, I don't think the fish were hugging the bottom, as we often got hit within the first strip or so.
Tiny Stevens
09.16.11 3:35 AM
Reading this makes me hungry!
ThoseGuys26
09.19.11 10:05 PM
I thought I was a loner on fly fishing for perch. They're focusing on baby crayfish right now in 1-6 feet of water. Sink tip or your type 3 line and small crayfish patterns are killer right now. You're spot on about how few fish compare to the taste of the perch! Sashimi style yellow tail tuna straight from the ocean is pretty hard to beat..but that's a whole different animal.
David Coulson (author, aka Flyrodn)
09.20.11 11:21 AM
There are few species that can't be caught with flies, and at times, such as fall the fly rod can be extremely effective for such species as perch. Likely hit Boyd or some other local perch water, it's time for a perch dinner. I do hope, however, that folks will consider harvesting them selectively. Boyd has a huge number of perch, but like many waters most are small. Harvesting fish under 12 inches, and releasing "trophies," fish over 12 inches will go a long way to keeping the small fish thinned down in my opinion.
ThoseGuys26
09.22.11 1:53 AM
Good point. I don't harvest hardly any fish.. well I guess I've actually been harvesting more fish the past year in CO than I have for years but that's do to the crazy amount of stocked lakes CO does. Honestly, if the CO residents didn't harvest the amount of bows they do, the DOW wouldn't stock so many. I probably catch and cook 12 brookies a year on & at the river in CO but I take a few rainbows out of some private lakes for my friends & my own smoking, that truly enjoy the fish. It's very different where I come from but I'm very excited about CO's fisheries and plan on making it last with my own efforts.
David Coulson (author, aka Flyrodn)
09.22.11 9:58 AM
Absolutely nothing wrong with harvesting fish. I rarely say that I do, and almost never say I did when I report on fishing as I don't see how it helps others catch fish. I really enjoy eating most warm water species, including black bass. But I try to harvest when a particular species at a given water are plentiful and then I keep whatever comes my way, and release the "trophies." As an example, at Boyd if I want a meal, depending on the catching, I time how long it will take to catch enough for dinner, and then I keep whatever comes my way that is big enough to clean, but not a trophy (and legal of course). I let nature decide the size, and often the species. So somedays it will be all perch, somedays it will be a mix of species, such as bluegill, crappie, and white bass. And never more than meal at a time. I don't stock the freezer and I don't often give fish away, and when I do it is to fill a special request as a favor. I feel the resource is too valuable to be harvesting just because it's legal. The only exception is where CPW requests certain species be harvested. I do comply in those cases, such as brookies at Trappers Lake.
FishBrad
11.09.11 11:01 PM
big mouth,lov to eat bass
but I have eaten 1.
FishBrad
11.09.11 11:06 PM
tasty,yum,good to eat thats all i can think to say
Other Blogs in the Warmwater Fly Fishing Series
Walleye Fly Fishing by M. Snider 09.03.21
Ready For Carp by M. McConnell03.18.19
Carp on the Fly Resources - Part 4 by T. McInerney 10.14.18
Carp on the Fly Resources - Part 3 by T. McInerney 09.24.18
About the Author
To say fly fishing is a passion for Dave is an understatement, he lives by the adage, �fly fishing isn�t a matter of life or death, it�s much more important than that.� Simply, if it�s a fish, then Dave�s willing to chase it on a fly. This includes making two or three trips a year out of state to places like Alaska, Canada, East and West Coasts to fly fish for salmon, northern pike and salt water species, such as redfish. The rest of the time Dave spends his time plying Colorado waters with a fly rod for everything the state has to offer such as bass, perch, crappie, bluegill, walleye, catfish, pike and yes even trout with a fly.