Yellow Perch

The Yellow Perch is a member of the Perch family. Its scientific name is Perca Flavescens. The Perch is yellow in color and has seven dusky bars across the sides and back. The lower fins of the adult tend to be red or orange. Perch can attain sizes up to 16 inches and 2 pounds. Most perch average around one third pound and are 7 inches long. They can live to be 13 years old. The Idaho record is 2 lbs. 9.6 ounces caught in Wilson Lake in 1975 by Jerry Hamblin.

Perch like clear water in streams, ponds, lakes, and reservoirs with vegetation and weedy shorelines. They hang out in schools in the deeper water that is less than 30 feet deep and come into the shallows at dawn and dusk to feed. They rest on the bottom at night. They eat insects, crustaceans, fish, snails, and worms.

The meat of the Yellow Perch is very tasty if not substantial in size. Most fishermen fillet their fish for eating.

How to Catch a Perch

Perch feed primarily on the bottom. Baits such as nightcrawlers and cut bait (meat from a fish you just caught), maggots, and eggs work best. Fish the bait alone or on a lure or jig. Fish from the bank and bring a kid. When you get into a school the fishing can be fast and furious. Perch can also be caught through the ice because they feed year round.

One of the best places to catch Perch used to be Cascade Reservoir but the population crashed. The Idaho Fish and Game is currently working to reduce the Northern Pikeminnow numbers and plant spawning Perch to boost the Perch fishing ( 2004). A similar program was run in 1975 with good success.

Other places are warm water reservoirs like Brownlee, C. J. Strike, and Hayden Lake.

Do you know of a good place to catch a mess of Perch? Please, give us a hint.