White Perch

[46er]

If anyone is interested, white perch are in the rivers. A blast on a 3 wt.

[martalus]

Wow, thats really early-dont they usually come up rivers in like April, around the same time as the shad? Perhaps last weeks warm weather tricked them? Or do they typically move back and forth between estuaries/bays and rivers throughout the winter/spring? I agree-they are great fun on light tackle-also one of the best fish for the frying pan in my opinion-they are numerous and run in large schools so you can get a lot at once. Also, their meat is firm and delicious fried up in corn meal mixed with some Old Bay seasoning.

[46er]

We usually start to seem them around now as the Stripers move south and again in spring, but that is probably because no one targets them in winter.

[martalus]

Thats good that you are seeing them. How big are they? When I catch them on the Potomac in the spring, a lot can 'hand sized' but sometimes you can get into some 'pounders' which are a lot of fun and easier to fillet! They are an underrated game fish in my opinion as they are scrappy, hit aggressively and fight hard for their size. Again, great for the frying pan too.

[46er]

I have heard of some 2 lbers taken on blood worms, I tie up some chartreuse mop flies and pinch a split shot at the hook eye. Weather has been miserable since Christmas, hoping for some sun soon. It is a short walk for me to a stream that feeds Barnegat Bay and also a lot of public land along the bay/river. They are like saltwater smallmouths, but a lot better tasting

https://www.facebook.com/hookhouse/phot ... 992868738/

[robtf]

would love to get out for them, maybe in the spring... planning on retiring end of March so perhaps can carve some time out this year for the first time.

[martalus]

Potomac River in and around DC has a very healthy population of them-they scored an A for numbers and recruitment! Since they are numerous, closer to the bottom of the food chain (with presumably less mercury), and have tasty firm white meat, they are great to harvest for a fish fry if you are into.
https://potomacreportcard.org/fish/ I would assume that NJ populations are also healthy, but dont know for certain. There are some great brackish estuaries in south jersey to target them in early spring on their spawning run. It can be kind of a party atmoshphere when they are running thick which can be enjoyable, although less ideal for fly fishing.

[martalus]

My brother is coming down to DC this weekend and we will target white perch for a fish fry. Now is about the time of year here where they should be in the river in large numbers. They are exppensive, but we are getting some blood worms to increase our chances of getting big ones.

[martalus]

Only 7-11 inches but great fighters on the Ultralight and super tasty when fried whole in peanut oil, coated in beer/cornmeal/old bay. My kid eats the tails like potato chips!

[rollcast]

Gutted and scaled? Do you eat the skin? I don't eat what I catch, so I'm super interested.

[martalus]

Correct-I just gutted and scaled them with a fork. I left on the skin, tails and most fins as they crunch up nicely when you fry them up. There is certainly a more elegant way of doing things, but I don't have a very good filet knife nor the patience to use it on relatively small fish (the knife in the photo is bread knife and was not involved in the process, it just happened to be on the counter). Once they were fried, I was able to basically peel out the skeleton with my hands and get at the meat-my kid liked dipping the meat into some mayo/old bay combo. Again, not those most elegant way of doing things but darned tasty. Bluegill and other panfish can be cooked the same way. I have heard of guys cutting out little bite sized fillets out of the smaller fish, but seems too tedious and waste of the crunchy skin. I have seen guys cooking them right on a charcoal/wood grill which also would interesting to try. All that aside, white perch are underrated game fish as they move in large schools, are pound for pound/oz for oz super strong fighters and will strike aggressively-they are literally pint sized cousins to Striped Bass.

[martalus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41N8Yb-byqs

These guys were catching some bigger white perch in south jersey and filleting them-I think you loose a lot of meat that way, but if you don't want to contend with bones and you are good with a filet knife, then have at it.

[46er]

They are on the Mullica River, launched in Lowr Bank. The Mullica is known for its White Perch in Collins Cove during winter.

https://www.thefisherman.com/article/wh ... h-options/

[martalus]

Awesome! I just saw Nick H's 30 minute video on white perch fishing in the Mullica-people even used to ice fish that cove you mentioned for white perch in cold winters. Such a cool fishery in south Jersey! those rivers/estuaries look so remote. Again, white perch fishing is an underrated fishing pursuit due to their tastiness, schooling behavior, willingness to bite at all temperatures, and fighting prowess. Each female can lay over 150,000 eggs so its hard/impossible to fish them out.

[martalus]

We found some brackish mudflats in the Meadlowlands that had some real decent white perch today-all were 9-12 inches and pushing a pound-they were hitting Mepps number two silver spinners hard and pulling like a freight train. Great species! The wind was nuts out there though.

[martalus]

It's white perch spawning season here on the Potomac and I would assume in tidal south Jersey rivers as well. On Saturday I went out to my favorite honey hole in DC and caught a bunch of shad and several large white perch (11-14 inches). I have caught so many shad this year that I was ready to target white perch for a fish fry-I ended up catching both species on my ultralight spinning rod which was a blast! Lot of drag being pulled and some tasty white perch to eat! I was competing with a multitude of great blue herons that were catching fish all around me.

[Twism86]

I still gotta catch me some of these, especially if they are good eating!

They are a brackish species?

[martalus]

White perch are a smaller, scrappier cousin of the Striped bass. You are correct-they live most of the year in tidal, brackish water (bays, estuaries, brackish parts of rivers near a bay/ocean). They spawn in fresh water parts of rivers that are accessible to these brackish areas). I believe there native range is North Carolina to Maine with the highest concentration in MD, DE, NJ. There are some landlocked populations that were cut off when dams/reservoirs were built-for example you can find schools of them near Clinton in Spruce Run Creek and the SBRR. Many of them are small (6-9 inches) but you can get into some bigger ones in the 10-14 inch range aka 'pounders'. What makes them fun is that they travel in large schools, are aggressive/hard fighters, and taste great (if you don't mind bones or are adept with a filet knife). https://elevatedwild.com/elevatedwildbl ... rch-recipe If you find one, you find a lot and can fill up a cooler quickly!

[46er]

I still gotta catch me some of these, especially if they are good eating!

They are a brackish species?

Yes, best from the Manasquan south due to access. Best access is county parks along lower brackish stretches. The Toms, 7 bridges road in Tuckerton, Port Republic and south you cannot miss.

[martalus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xQrZWxju4g

This guy is seriously fast at fileting a white perch! That must be a sharp knife and decades of experience! Also those gloves help to prevent the fish from sliding around.