Perch may not hold the glamour of the musky or walleye but they can be fun to catch and are very tasty fried to a golden brown. Here, long time guest Kurt Hebeker from Sheboygan, Wisconsin gives us his take on how to catch these pesky perch. Check out his pictures!

Perching at Vermilion Bay Lodge
By Kurt Hebeker (a.k.a. "The Perch Queen")

Welcome to the web site of Vermilion Bay Lodge! I have been asked by none other than lodge owner Gord Bastable to give a little insight to perch fishing while staying at VBL. For those of you that have never tried perch fishing for a day while staying at VBL you don't know what you're missing! A few years back, during our annual opener trip in May, my fishing partner, Mark Miszkiewicz (Green Bay, Wi.), and I decided we would try our hand at perch fishing. We took a trek about 10 miles to the Bottle Bay area in search of the mighty perch. After trying Bottle Bay and catching a few Northern and Smallies we then ventured up the creek into Bottle Lake. Shortly after pulling through a few beaver dams we entered Bottle Lake in search of the mighty perch. We set up in shallow water (2 to 6 feet) with 1/16oz jigs and a piece of night-crawler, just drifting & jigging over the side of the boat. There were perch everywhere! We caught more than Gord could believe, perch as big as 16" with most of them in the 13" range and very fat. One of the most important bits of advice is to try and locate any immerging weeds (tough to do in May) and concentrate on those areas….that is where the perch will be.

The following years that we have gone to VBL we have made it a day long adventure to go perch fishing. A few years back we hit them in big schools, limiting out with a 100 perch in 55 minutes. The secret bait now is a 1/16oz jig tipped with a strip of Chena bait, which is like chicken or seal skin. If you want to have a blast with the family this is an adventure you don't want to pass up while staying at VBL. All you need is an ultra-light rod with 6lb test (a light action rod will also work fine), a few jigs and you will have the time of your life. The best time for perch fishing is the end of May and into June so make sure you give it a try.

Good Luck
Perch-Master