davisrich Loc: Eastern Washington

My wife and I love perch eating and catching, crappie as well. We live in the Methow Valley and have to travel a bit to get to lakes that offer spiny ray fishing for decent size perch. Patterson Lake and Leader Lake are close and OK but fish size is pretty small. Any ideas on catching bigger ones or new places to try?? in the general area?? Thanks for any help

OJdidit Loc: Oak Creek Wisconsin

I hate to be the one to break this to you, but those (pictured) are neither perch nor crappies 😉
As for size, I would recommend you fish deeper. The crappies may be suspended and the perch are typically on or near the bottom.

FixorFish Loc: SW Oregon

Yeah, I have to agree with OJdidit... that plate looks piled high with EXACTLY what I took off my grill on the 4th, to share with the neighbors..... salmon.
Maybe davisrich could share his "transformation brine" recipe with us, huh ? LOL.

Flytier Loc: Wilmington Delaware

Or maybe he had to settle for salmon since he couldn't get perch 😊

TxSpeedy Loc: Emory,Tx

yep, this is the trick nationwide on crappie, if you aint hooking sizeable fish your not “on em” get a little deeper as it warms up, find some deep structures like submerged trees, stone piles, good ledges things where fish feel safe,.. the perch take a small treble hook, drop a 6” leader off bottom with a weight on it, rip a earth worm in 1/3 and string it on in these same areas, them perch will tear it up...let the weight sit on bottom, worm will be right in their mouth..... i find typically this time of year if you find crappie, on bottom under them theres the perch, bream and gills..... just my .02,

davisrich Loc: Eastern Washington

Thank you all for your astute observations. Alaska coho and chum salmon (shown)are great, but we cannot access our Ak cabin due to restrictions so we revert to our old habits of perch fishing here in E. Washington. We know how to catch them and do, but because this area is managed for the trout fisherman we find ourselves lacking info on which lakes have perch of more than 5 inches. Any knowledgeable locals??

davisrich Loc: Eastern Washington

We have smoked salmon for 60 years and counting. Tried so many recipes and methods. Always come back to 1 1/2 cup salt, non iodized--1 1/2 mixed brown and white sugar. Mix w/ 1gallon warm water, mix and let cool to cold. Soak fish (up to 1 1/2 inches thick) for 2-3 hours. Rinse or not--up to you. Do not smoke until the fish has dried with a pellicle --Dry to the touch and almost like a shiny skin on it. Refrigerator drying overnite works fine. Smoke with an oven thermometer so temps can be regulated to maintain no more than 160 degrees (very important) for 3 hours, renewing chips occasionally. Then kick the heat up 20 degrees or so for an hour on the thicker pieces. This is called hot smoking. We shrink wrap our product and freeze it and it lasts a long time if you can stay away from it. I like to put garlic powder and pepper on it just before placing it in the smoker. A little olive oil after it cools makes a gorgeous product.

lobo Loc: central montana

go to curlew lake ,, FWP is trying to get rid of the perch,, really good size, and NO LIMIT !!
spend a couple days and catch enough to fill your freezer !
this is not HOGGING,, if they poison the lake all would be a waste ,, some folks I know went there for 2 days and caught over 300 very nice perch!

Crunchy Loc: Clark Fork, North Idaho

davisrich, Have you ever swung down to the Potholes ? All kinds of good stuff there.

Crunchy