I know this sounds crazy to the average angler, let alone a normal human, but for those fishermen hardy (foolish) enough to get out on open water in December, there is a tremendous and I mean tremendous perch bite going on in the bays off of Lake Ontario right now.
This is not blowing smoke or secondhand fish stories. I experienced this bite first-hand last week when along with hardcore perch punishers John Tufano and Jim Miller, I launched my boat at the south end of Sodus Bay and headed north. We had heard rumblings that dedicated perchers were taking their 50 perch per angler limits on a regular basis, and we needed to see for ourselves. We quickly found out the rumblings were correct. We had our 150 nice jack perch filling my cooler to the brim in less than two hours. The bite was so fast and furious that we had to use a clicker to keep count. This was the quickest fishing I’ve ever had in my life, and I’m a geezer. I was born back in the pioneer days when your phone hung on the wall in the kitchen.
I must admit I was hesitant to write this article. After reading it, I know my two fishing partners will badmouth me for days for breaking the cardinal rule of “never give up a perch hot spot.” But hey, it’s the holidays. Plus, I feel comfortable the average angler is not going to leave his warm house and jump into a frozen boat to venture out on open water in winter conditions to overpopulate Sodus Bay with perch chasers.
I am writing this is for the few hardy souls who will give Sodus a try and for the others that will call BS, that they have fished Sodus many times and never caught many perch. That is true in the summer, but this incredible bite happens in late fall as the perch run in from the big lake into all its bays and tributaries to stage and feed for the winter. At first ice out in March, they move shallow to spawn before heading back to Lake Ontario to spend the summer in some mysterious location that nobody I know has learned of yet.
If you’re robust enough to give Sodus Bay a try and are unsure where to fish, just look for the other boats. The bay is not that big, and there is usually a group of boats in a cluster around any good school of perch. Just don’t come motoring up and throw your anchor in with a splash; know your fishing ethics. Motor in slowly and stay a good 50- to 100-yards away from other boats. Then lower your anchor gradually. Perch are schooled this time of year, so you may have to keep moving to get on a herd. This is when a good electric motor can really pay for itself, allowing you to move slowly along to find fish. Once you find the school, slowly deploy the anchor. Some perch fanatics use two anchors, believing you have to stay in an exact position.
Many of these new electric motors are equipped with a GPS system built-in. They are wireless, so you can just hit the anchor button on a remote-control unit, and the electric motor will keep you in the exact spot as long as you want to stay there. This eliminates the need for an anchor altogether. Can you imagine? Talk about a great breakthrough. This is especially handy when fishing in deep water, where double or triple the depth of anchor line is needed to stay in one location. These GPS sync electric motors are big bucks, but that anchor feature alone is priceless to anyone trying to stay on an exact spot. It is the greatest product to happen in fishing since the electric motor first arrived on the scene in the early ‘70s.
As far as bait goes for perch, minnows are hard to beat. This time of year, when the water temperature is in the 30s, the perch are finicky; they won’t bite worms. Rig up with the standard sinker on the bottom and two small #6 hooks. Tie the first hook about six inches up from the sinker and the second a foot up from that. Make sure you have a heavy sinker to get down to the bottom quickly. It is important when on fish to get your caught perch off the hook fast and drop right back down to keep the feeding frenzy going. It’s like feeding bread to seagulls. By getting your bait back down in the fish zone quickly, it will actually help keep the school under your boat.
If you are brave enough to give these perch a try, remember New York State has implemented a 50-perch limit. If the bite is sizzling, you must keep an accurate count, or you could get ticketed. This law was implemented because some anglers were catching hundreds of these tasty fish and selling them. These regulations seem to have made a difference, and perch numbers are back.
I’m sure there are many readers out there thinking… fish story! This, of course, is why God invented cell phones. The evidence is a click away.
Sane folks ask, “Why would anyone go in a boat in December in Western, New York?” These are people who have never tasted a fresh, delectable perch fillet. Once you do, you will want to break out the new long underwear Santa got you and give it a try.
