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Each summer, I look forward to the arrival of white perch into the shoreline shallows of the Severn tidal creeks and ponds. The earliest arrivers typically show up in the second half of May, with many more filling in during June. Sadly, this year has been way off in numbers of perch that can be found in areas where they usually hang out. I fished often in various Severn creeks and ponds this summer without much success. Recently, my catches have picked up, but I still have had to look far and wide to get the perch.
Perch normally hang around in the shoreline areas until mid-October with most having left by early November. The next month or two could offer some better perch fishing. Here are a few tips that may improve your catching success.
1) Look for shady areas. I don't know why, but perch seem to prefer shaded areas (e.g., overhanging branches, under docks, shadows thrown by trees). This photo was taken last weekend in a Severn tidal creek. I caught perch in the shaded areas to the left. The fallen wood in the photos improves the odds too.
2022-08-20-003.jpg
2) Cast at different distances from the shoreline. Bottom contours vary, the tides change the water depth, and the fish do move around. They are not always found at the same spots or at the same distance from the shoreline. Start with a cast as close to the shoreline as possible (position #1 on the photo below - marked in blue). If you don’t get bites there, cast 5 yards from shore (position #2 – marked in red). If that does not work, try 10 yards (position #3 – marked in yellow) or even farther. I have caught perch in the same shoreline stretches on different days at all those distances.
casting angles.jpg
3) Vary the angle of your retrieve. You may wind in the first cast from the right side of the kayak. On the next cast, you could cast to the same spot but try a retrieve from the left side of the kayak (the colored arrows show the approximate path of the retrieves when you use different rod positions). The lure will pass through different patches of water that way and may pass in front of an interested fish. Combine changing angles with varying the distance from shore, and soon you will be able to cover a lot more water.
4) Vary the speed and cadence of your retrieve. If you retrieve faster, the lure will ride higher in the water column. Or retrieve more slowly, and the lure will ride lower. You can use that to your advantage to put the lure where you thing the perch will be. I try to vary the speed of my retrieval winding a few turns fast, then hesitating, the winding a few turns more slowly, etc. This makes the lure move at different speeds and up and down a bit.
5) Look for spots that have not been fished recently. Weems Creek is a popular perch fishing spot because of the Tucker St ramp. It gets a great deal of fishing pressure, including some anglers who keep as many perch as they catch. The perch population has been diminished and made more wary by this pressure. I have observed over the years that if another angler has fished a shoreline within the past hour, my catch rate drops noticeably. The same applies if I work a shoreline, then come back half an hour later to fish it again. It rarely produces many fish on the second time through. If you are able, plan to get out early and be the first angler at a spot. Also, if you are launching in locations that have heavy fishing pressure, consider paddling/pedaling to another nearby water body that is not so close to a launch spot. I do this regularly after launching at Tucker St or at Jonas Green park. Over the past three days, I fished in 7 different Severn creeks or ponds to look for perch. My searching paid off (30 perch on Mon, 15 on Tues, and 41 this morning).
6) Keep moving. Not every piece of shoreline holds perch to the same extent. Although the shorelines may look equally good to humans, the fish prefer certain areas and tend to be found there more often. The best way to learn these is to spend a lot of time on the water and make hundreds of casts. I have a pretty good idea of where perch should be in the Severn based on the many Severn perch trips I have made over the past 20 years. I make a few casts. If I catch perch or feel bumps, I stay to make more casts. If I don't get bumps, I move along.
Good luck.
Perch normally hang around in the shoreline areas until mid-October with most having left by early November. The next month or two could offer some better perch fishing. Here are a few tips that may improve your catching success.
1) Look for shady areas. I don't know why, but perch seem to prefer shaded areas (e.g., overhanging branches, under docks, shadows thrown by trees). This photo was taken last weekend in a Severn tidal creek. I caught perch in the shaded areas to the left. The fallen wood in the photos improves the odds too.
2022-08-20-003.jpg
2) Cast at different distances from the shoreline. Bottom contours vary, the tides change the water depth, and the fish do move around. They are not always found at the same spots or at the same distance from the shoreline. Start with a cast as close to the shoreline as possible (position #1 on the photo below - marked in blue). If you don’t get bites there, cast 5 yards from shore (position #2 – marked in red). If that does not work, try 10 yards (position #3 – marked in yellow) or even farther. I have caught perch in the same shoreline stretches on different days at all those distances.
casting angles.jpg
3) Vary the angle of your retrieve. You may wind in the first cast from the right side of the kayak. On the next cast, you could cast to the same spot but try a retrieve from the left side of the kayak (the colored arrows show the approximate path of the retrieves when you use different rod positions). The lure will pass through different patches of water that way and may pass in front of an interested fish. Combine changing angles with varying the distance from shore, and soon you will be able to cover a lot more water.
4) Vary the speed and cadence of your retrieve. If you retrieve faster, the lure will ride higher in the water column. Or retrieve more slowly, and the lure will ride lower. You can use that to your advantage to put the lure where you thing the perch will be. I try to vary the speed of my retrieval winding a few turns fast, then hesitating, the winding a few turns more slowly, etc. This makes the lure move at different speeds and up and down a bit.
5) Look for spots that have not been fished recently. Weems Creek is a popular perch fishing spot because of the Tucker St ramp. It gets a great deal of fishing pressure, including some anglers who keep as many perch as they catch. The perch population has been diminished and made more wary by this pressure. I have observed over the years that if another angler has fished a shoreline within the past hour, my catch rate drops noticeably. The same applies if I work a shoreline, then come back half an hour later to fish it again. It rarely produces many fish on the second time through. If you are able, plan to get out early and be the first angler at a spot. Also, if you are launching in locations that have heavy fishing pressure, consider paddling/pedaling to another nearby water body that is not so close to a launch spot. I do this regularly after launching at Tucker St or at Jonas Green park. Over the past three days, I fished in 7 different Severn creeks or ponds to look for perch. My searching paid off (30 perch on Mon, 15 on Tues, and 41 this morning).
6) Keep moving. Not every piece of shoreline holds perch to the same extent. Although the shorelines may look equally good to humans, the fish prefer certain areas and tend to be found there more often. The best way to learn these is to spend a lot of time on the water and make hundreds of casts. I have a pretty good idea of where perch should be in the Severn based on the many Severn perch trips I have made over the past 20 years. I make a few casts. If I catch perch or feel bumps, I stay to make more casts. If I don't get bumps, I move along.
Good luck.
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