Coastal Bay Perching

[Slobber Bob]

I was able to sneak out for a few hours this afternoon to give perch fishing a try in one of the coastal bay creeks near OC. I haven't been perch fishing since about this time last and it was a nice change of pace. Plus, the family was looking for a fish dinner The tide was really low when I launched and a few of the spots I did well in this time last year were too shallow to hold fish so I had to do a little searching to find some deeper water.

Once I found the honey hole - it was on! Shad dart teaser in front of a tiny spoon was getting hit every cast. I found it interesting that despite getting a fish on every cast for a little while, I never got a double though. Fish averaged about 10" with many 11" - 12.5" and one jumbo at 13.25". Kept a dozen and a half and released about twice as many.

A fun afternoon out in the snow!

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[azmdted]

Nicely done, thanks for posting. Beautiful big perch.

[ronaultmtd]

yum...great tasting fish..and a 13.25 is a really nice perch anytime of the year...congratulations...and on a snowy day to boot...

[Mark]

When I saw the title of your thread I thought maybe it would be a post about yellow perch.

And then I remembered that one of the few white perch near 12 inches I caught this year (but certainly not citation-worthy like your 13+ incher) was on the Magothy in February when skim ice was covering portions of the water.

Congratulations to you on a productive day in less than ideal weather conditions.

[Big Mike]

Boy, you must have found some protected water, down at Point Lookout the wind was howling most of the day with whitecaps breaking on both sides. Nice perch haul.

[Slobber Bob]

Thanks. I was up in some creeks, so the wind wasn't too much of a factor.

Mark, I don't think there are many yellow perch in the creeks off the coastal bays? At least not in any numbers like the Chesapeake creeks and rivers have anyways. I'd have to head over to Salisbury or Snow Hill if I wanted to find yellow perch.

[ComeOnFish]

I never knew WP are catch-able this time of the year. Dang!

Joe

[ComeOnFish]

I just remembered. Many years ago, I caught WP in 55-65' (If I remember depth correctly) of water at the rock pile under Bay Bridge, MD in the mid December.
I used 1 OZ sinker and 15# test braided to hit the bottom when the current was mild. I thought 2 OZ sinker would be be better that time.

Joe

[Mark]

I've read that winter patterns of tidal white perch are not known with absolute certainty. MD DNR officials know they retreat to deeper water as proven by Joe's post on this thread. But the precise locations where they congregate are unclear.

It is believed that they return to the rivers in which they spawned to reproduce and they stay there through the summer and fall. So those fish caught at the Bay Bridge could have originated in any of the nearby rivers.

Anyway, I think it’s interesting that a fish so common in this region still hold behavioral secrets from us.

[jhoss]

Nice haul !

[Slobber Bob]

The creek I was in is certainly nowhere near those depths. Most of the creek seems to average about 3 - 4' at high water with the two deepest holes I've found so far around maybe 8 - 10'.

The perch that are in the coastal bay creeks are essentially stuck up in the creeks though due to intolerable salinity levels further down the system where the creeks meet the back bays. I've never heard of perch being caught in the back bays.