Perch is the common name for a group of freshwater fish belonging to the family Percidae. Depending on where you may live they might be called Lake Perch, Yellow Perch, or Ring Perch. They have a dark green back blending into yellow sides with 6-8 dark vertical bars along each side. They adapt very well to a variety of habitats but more often can be found in open clear water with aquatic vegetation and a mud, sand or gravel bottom.
When Perch are about 3 years old they will spawn early in the spring once the water temperature reaches 45-48 degrees and their eggs will hatch out in 8-10 days. They generally forage for aquatic insects, crayfish, small minnows, and leaches.
They can easily be caught with a small panfish jig, or with a small hook using minnows, worms and fly larva. Perch have a distinctive tick, tick, tick bite that quickly identifies them long before the angler will see them. To truly enjoy catching them an angler should use a light or ultra-light rod with 4-6 pound test line.
Perch fishing can be one of the more enjoyable experiences for an angler. Whether you are out in the boat or fishing from a dock or shore, when you hit a school of these hungry little guys the action can be very long lasting - often for hours. When the bite is on it is easy to run out of bait before the Perch stop biting. Because Perch schools provide almost continuous action, are easy to catch and fight pretty hard for such small fish, they are great for young anglers with short attention spans.
And a mess of Perch will be a great reward for all of that hard fishing. Like many panfish Perch are a small fish usually averaging less than 1 pound and less than 12 inches long. Any that are over 8 inches will filet up very nicely and taste wonderful. Their flesh has a pleasant consistency and they are not at all fishy in flavor. They can be prepared in a variety of ways; fried, broiled and sautéed are my favorites. They are also great with eggs for breakfast. The big females filled with eggs are my favorites because Perch eggs dipped in an egg batter, rolled in a light breading and quickly fried are delicious!
Here is
More about Perch