You know that feeling you get when the weather first breaks warm in March? Like a bear coming out of hibernation, you feel alive again, chomping at the bit to get out of your cave and do something outdoors. I suggest you grab your fishing gear and head for the ponds or bays off Lake Ontario. It may seem too early, but it is not; the perch bite starts as soon as the ice goes out on any of the local tributaries of the lake. Perch spawn in shallow water as soon as the ice melts; this concentrates them in the shallows near shore. If you have a boat, Sodus or Irondequoit Bay are great spots, but if you just want to get outdoors and do a little shore fishing, give Braddock Bay or the ponds in Greece a try.
Braddock Bay has a whole new ecosystem because of the construction of a 1,675-foot long rubble mound barrier reef on the northeast side of the bay. The state spent $8 million on the project. Thankfully, they have allowed for some parking for anglers through West Point Marina off East Manitou Road. Another good perch spot on Braddock Bay is under or on either side of the Parkway Bridge. There is a parking lot just off the Manitou Beach exit of the Parkway.
Cranberry and Long Pond can be very good perch fishing in March when the ice melts. The water warms up faster on Cranberry than Long Pond, so it is usually better to start fishing there in March. Then as the water warms in April, move to Long Pond as the perch make their way back into Lake Ontario. Again, the big problem is a lack of parking on Cranberry Pond. Anglers can park on Edgemere Drive to fish Long Pond easily enough but cannot park on Edgemere Drive to fish Cranberry Pond. There is a tiny parking lot off Edgemere Drive on the northwest corner of Cranberry, but it is usually full when the bite is hot. Keep in mind when looking for perch in March, you are looking for the warmest water you can find, which is usually in the northwest corner of any waterway as that area gets the most overall sun.
Spring techniques for perch differ from summer fishing. Perch bite much lighter and on smaller baits when the water is cold. Many of the serious perch fishermen I know use a small weighted bobber four feet above a 1/16 ounce pink or chartreuse jig tipped with spikes, grubs, or minnows. Others use two gold #6 hooks about a foot apart, tied directly to the #6 lb. test line with a 1/4 ounce sinker on the bottom. The idea behind two hooks is you will occasionally catch two at a time, and if these finicky fish steal one of your baits, the other is still working. Avoid heavy pound test line and snelled hooks with heavy line; the thicker line will be put off these picky cold water perch.
If you’re fishing Braddock or the Greece ponds, you can find all the bait you need at Stew’s Grocery & Deli on East Manitou Road. They open at 6 a.m., seven days a week, and have a great selection of bait.
If you get lucky enough to worry about it, remember there is a 50-perch limit, so you must keep a count if you are really hammering them. The D.E.C. applied this law because some anglers were catching hundreds of these fish and selling them. The rule seems to have made a difference as the perch numbers are coming back.
When it comes time to clean these delicacies, I suggest you give the electric knife technique a try. Go to YouTube and watch a few videos. It will surprise you how easy it is. It takes a few fish to get a feel for it, and you will mess up the first fish you try, but don’t get discouraged; you will soon get a feel for it. Yes, you lose some meat, but you will make up for that in speed and lack of mess. Once you go electric, you will never go back.
If you want to give these perch a try, it is important not to procrastinate as there is roughly a three-week window when you can catch these spawning fish in good numbers before the majority migrate back to Lake Ontario to spend the summer.
I feel I must repeat my annual sermon when talking about shore anglers because I still don’t understand. Why all the shore litter? How hard can it be to just pick up what you brought out? The shoreline of these ponds is outrageously loaded with garbage left by anglers, most of it plastic, Styrofoam, and, even worse, discarded fishing line. You understand this trash will eventually blow into the ponds and live forever on the bottom of these great fisheries, don’t you? Think of it this way. You are damaging the fishing for your grandchildren with your garbage. There is no excuse – do the right thing and pick up all your garbage. You brought it in; take it out!
Spring is coming, time to get out of the cave. As my granny Knorr used to say, “Go outside and get the stink blown off you!”
