White Perch

Effective baits include small minnows, bloodworms, grass shrimp, and nightcrawlers. For artificials, try Mepps #2 spinners, small bucktails, shad darts, or Beetle Spin combinations with 1/8-ounce jig heads in yellow and white paired with live minnows.

Spring through fall would offer the best opportunities. Avoid fishing during their spring spawning period when water temperatures reach 50-60°F.

Fish moving water during tide changes, targeting shallow areas during high tide and deeper edges during low tide. The most productive rig combines a spinner blade with a jig head and small minnow, retrieved near shoreline structure.

White Perch are opportunistic predators with ravenous appetites, feeding on zooplankton, fish e.g.gs, small fish, aquatic insect larvae, crustaceans, and benthic invertebrates. As they grow larger, fish become a dominant part of their diet, including minnows and even their own young.

They are semi-anadromous in their native range but adapt to purely freshwater environments. White Perch prefer brackish to fresh waters and are commonly found in pools and quiet areas of medium to large rivers, usually over mud bottom. This represents the southernmost extent of their invasive range expansion.