Best Open Water Perch Baits

[idn713]

What baits are preferred for the open water perch? Obviously minnows are king but bait is hard to come by these days with the obvious social situation. I have tons of spikes left from trout fishing, would those work? Worms? Any artificials that are worth trying (gulp)? I typically run a double dropper rig for my open water efforts. 
 

Thanks!

[thejigger]

I fish a lot with Sliders, my favorite is pumpkinseed pepper flake, motor oil also produces. I don't know why spikes wouldn't work, we were catching perch on worms and minnows under slip bobbers. Sometimes I will have a 1/8th ounce jig  on the bottom and a tiny jig or even a fly on a dropper 4 or 5 inches above the jig. Hope this helps

[Sk8man]

Spikes (sometimes even preferred over minnows) and sliders work fine for perch and the one thing to remember is to keep the hook point slightly covered (i.e. hidden).Oak leaf bugs  are often best if you can find them.

Edited April 6, 2020 by Sk8man

[mhtrapper]

I am curious what is a slider or is it another name  of something we use just being called a slider been using nighcrawler this spring and they have been  working as good as minnows 

 

 

 

[signalman]

They are a little grub looking soft bait made by charlie brewer you can get them onine.

[Chowdaire]

2 1/2” Fin-S-Fish is pretty good. A #3 or 5 jigging rap with a couple of those spikes would work well too, I'm sure.

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Chowdaire
jigging

[Sk8man]

https://sliderfishing.com/

 

 

[Kevin J Legg]

Perch eye with 2” Powerbait minnow on slip bobber.


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[Frogger]

Motoroil pepperflake swirl tail, my favorite. Shhhhhh got to talk very quietly........


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[signalman]

Kevin iam going to have to try that one,i may be onto something.

[Kevin J Legg]

Kevin iam going to have to try that one,i may be onto something.

Sometimes they work great but other times they only want minnows. When they work they can outfish minnows as there is less rebating and seem to catch bigger fish. Work well for crappies also.


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[Pequod1]

For the life of me, I can not catch Erie perch on plastics. They just prefer Niagaras.  I have caught them on buckshot spoons and stingnose minnows.  But, Erie fishing is anywhere from 50-70’ deep fishing.  Everywhere else I fish, plastics rule.  

[ifishy]

If in shallower take a hot and tot remove the back hook and tie on a 2 foot piece of line with a jig and twister tail troll this slowly and it can be deadly for crappie and perch will target bigger fish and cover more water and the occasional bonus large fish on the plug. The plug acts as both a diver and an attractor

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