Jumbo Perch Fishing on Lake Erie, Sept.7, 2014- Keys to Finding Schools

We had another awesome day on Lake Erie fishing for Jumbo Perch. Here's a video of that trip!

Jumbo perch school up in the Spring and in the Fall for about 1 month. If you can find them, they offer some great fishing action and a great feed.
I like the perch that are not too big for the table. Any perch from about 8-10 inches are the best tasting fish you will taste anywhere.
The large Jumbo's are still good eating but they are not as sweet as the 8-10 sizes.


The use a few of the following keys to finding the schools of Jumbo Perch:
1) look for the "Armada" of boats
This is an obvious starting point. I start where all the other fisherman are first.  It's highly likely that other fishermen have found the school I am looking for so I follow the other boats first.
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2) Use Fish Finder to Locate 
When I approach the group of boats, I travel slowly around and through the group carefully watching my screen looking for some fish activity on the bottom. Usually the schools are in about 50-60 feet of water. I keep speed under 5 mph to avoid disrupting other fishermen.


3) Look for Sea Gulls
I look for sea gull activity around fishing boats. Usually boats that are catching perch, are releasing little ones that are overcome from the bends. These small fish struggle at the surface and are then scooped up by the opportunistic sea gulls.  I find where the small fish are, the bigger ones are there too or will be moving in soon.


4) Look for Fishermen Catching
A possible good sign to a location of a school is several fishermen catching fish. I look at all the boats around me and assess the activity of the area.  If someone starts to catch fish I keep an eye on them to see if it is consistent. If it is I move in for a closer look but not too close.


5) Move Around
If I haven't caught anything in my location or if the fishing activity (of other fishermen) is low and there are few groups of sea gulls, I will be moving to a new location after about 20 minutes. Perch move around, so I do as well.


Al Maddalena
Maddalena Environmental Inc.