5 Things You Need To Know About Yellow Perch

5 Things You Need To Know About Yellow Perch
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I was born and raised in Chicago, but after working 12 years in the financial Industry regulating the futures and options markets at the CME/CBOT I decided to pursue my passion fishing professional tournaments and left my full time corporate job. At that point, I moved to Junction City, WI with my wife Sara and two boys Hank and Duke. I've been fishing professionally since 2011 and full-time since 2015. I've qualified for six MLF Championships and won roughly a half million in tournament winnings at the professional level.

[@markhorton1718]

I gotta say that Yellow Perch are my favorite eating fish, and definitely one of my favorites to catch!!.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Mine too!

[@aarongreenlee7867]

Matt, THANK YOU!!! I had requested perch and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Super excited.

[@MattStefanFishing]

They are a primary species anglers need to understand! Thanks for watching!

[@H8er-Maker]

These prey videos are pearls of wisdom. Thank you.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks!

[@markhorton1718]

Thank You for sharing/posting such an informative video on one of my favorite fish!!!

[@MattStefanFishing]

My pleasure!

[@ferndel4]

Yellow Perch are awesome. Fun to catch, great forage, cool looking, and apparently very tasty though I don’t catch and cook.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Yes they are

[@jpecci1262]

Extremely tasty. Kind of like little walleye.

[@amandacabe8209]

​@@jpecci1262I fish for perch and bream and crappie in north carolina

[@weslovell815]

Best freshwater eating fish...rivals most saltwater...

[@tommywalker741]

I agree with every thing you said I appreciate the daily tips Matt 🙏

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks for watching

[@aarongreenlee7867]

I didn't know about their spawning habits, or that they hated muddy water. Around here we have mostly gin clear water but with all the rain some places are getting to be a little stained from time to time. Great info!

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks!

[@mousepudding]

A few years back in the spring I was fishing a shallow area and found all these strands of what looked like tiny yellow bubble wrap just floating near the shore. Took some photos and after a lot of online detective work, discovered they were yellow perch eggs. Today I caught about a 7" yellow perch on my ultralight at the same lake. Cool to think he could have come from those very eggs!

[@MattStefanFishing]

Very cool

[@steventakach8128]

Another great must know Video, gold

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks!

[@johnrayner5599]

Now I know about yellow perch, great info Matt and thanks so much.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Anytime!

[@kevinjtoner]

Another informative video. Thank you, Matt!!! 👍🎣

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks for watching!

[@stephencarlson1430]

This was interesting video thank you

[@MattStefanFishing]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@rustyshakleford9222]

About to go and try to catch some now so I can try how they taste. Native Brook trout up here in maine is my favorite eating

[@MattStefanFishing]

Sounds good

[@jpecci1262]

The Great State of Maine: I bet you'll love perch. Sebec is one of my favorite lakes. I hear there are walleye up north - somewhere like Long Lake- never tried.

[@tywalk5011]

Thanks for the info. I believe it when you say they are big time sight feeders. In my experience they hate braided line, because soon as I switch to fluorocarbon I can catch them usually.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Yep!

[@donaldkenney2648]

Thanks 😊 great info 👍

[@MattStefanFishing]

you bet!

[@stephenballard3759]

I just caught my first fourteen inch perch here in Utah. Sometimes, when we ice out a little bit late, the perch will actually spawn under the ice.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Big one!

[@richerwin6397]

Spot on, Matt. From my earliest days of smallmouth fishing in Central New York, I realized that perch were key forage, especially in eastern Lake Ontario. Southern fishing articles always talked about shad and I couldn't feel connected to their articles. A natural perch , firetiger, or what used to be called "yellow coachdog" patterns comprise about 75 percent of my crankbait patterns. In our larger central NY waters the smallies can follow schools of perch in open water like the walleye do.

[@MattStefanFishing]

very cool! thanks for sharing!

[@stephencarlson1430]

Big catch catfish and flathead catfish

[@MattStefanFishing]

Nice

[@jimliechty2983]

Great info Matt.... just wish that info back in the 70's would have been easier to get!

[@MattStefanFishing]

A lot more resources now

[@TheHolisticPinner]

I've caught a few smallmouth with ¹/³² and ¹/¹⁶ white jig heads, combined with plastic in the shad color range, i.e. whites, blues, light greens.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Nice

[@midwestfischerman]

Yellow perch DO taste the best!!! Especially through the ice!

[@MattStefanFishing]

Yep

[@AjLynn45thParallelFishing]

The perch to brown bass connection has been key for me for a long time. Both being sight feeders makes it easier, find the perch, find the brown bass. Nicely Done

[@MattStefanFishing]

Agreed!

[@stephenballard3759]

The only problem there being that all the bass mess up your perch fishing. I'm only trying to be clever a little bit. It literally can get almost annoying how many small bass will eat the worms i'm trying to throw to perch.

[@amandacabe8209]

I like catching yellow perch good fight done caught a couple on small spinner

[@MattStefanFishing]

They are fun

[@alexz1158]

Hey buddy! I used your guppy head for perch on lake Simcoe you’re dialled!

[@MattStefanFishing]

👍

[@stephencarlson1430]

Using perch cut bait on your hook make catfish go crazy for the bait

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks for sharing

[@michaelvice6805]

Great topic. Very helpful info

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks!

[@midwestfischerman]

Hey Matt, I think the paddletail swimbait and suspending jerkbait do the best job of matching the hatch when it comes to yellow perch. What other lures/baits do you employ when the bass are eating yellow perch?

[@MattStefanFishing]

Jerkbaits, swimbaits, dropshot and cranks are my favorites

[@davidball3461]

Never ate any perch. How do they taste compared to crappie? Are they real bony or can you filet them like crappie?

[@MattStefanFishing]

best tasting fish out there by far!

[@davidball3461]

@@MattStefanFishing I’d absolutely have to compare my Aunt Margaret’s fried crappie from here on Weiss Lake. I just can’t believe it without trying it. I’d never call you a liar. I might say ur taste is some place other than your mouth.😺

[@jpecci1262]

absolutely delish -- like a walleye.

[@FishermanJoel]

Awesome, knowledge about the forage is key I learned that from Rick Clunn and now that you are breaking it down the gears are starting to turn! Maybe I’m overthinking but I would like to know about alewives and gizzard shad separately because it seems like those lakes fish differently. Smaller baits for alewives, etc….

[@MattStefanFishing]

They are on my list to discuss! Thanks!

[@romaloboda2280]

Matt, thank you for your video. I review it a third time since it came out. Can you tell me, please, what are the best baits that imitate yellow perch from your experience? Thanks.

[@MattStefanFishing]

i like a perch colored jerkbait

[@jpecci1262]

Extra bass -- large and small mouth were added to our local lake and they wiped out most of the yellow perch. White perch seemed to have survived.

[@MattStefanFishing]

interesting

[@Strat642001]

Thank you Matt! I fish a gin clear small northern lake, that has perch and sunfish. This video and the bluegill videos have been highly informative!

[@MattStefanFishing]

Perfect!

[@Strat642001]

@@MattStefanFishing Hey Matt, meant to ask any advice dealing with algae blooms? My lake has gone from 15 ft visibility to 4 ft, and my gut tells me there is a bloom brewing.

[@juleswinnfield826]

Mmmmmm......smerch....love em. Added bonus this time of the year in the Clair channels is to come home with 7-10 of them after a day of looking for new smallie spots. They'll wreck a jerkbait just as hard as a smallie. My fav is seeing 3-4 perch giving chase to a jerkbait that is double their size. Good info, looking forward to the next one.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Seen it lots of times!

[@WysteriaGuitar]

I live on a 240 acre lake in Western Virginia. A couple of years ago we caught so many yellow perch basically in the same flat area of the lake it was crazy. Starting in Late July through early September. Since that time, nothing, zero, zip...they were gone from that spot and I could not find them again anywhere on the lake the last two years. How may you explain that? Like where did they go?

[@MattStefanFishing]

if there was a hatch going on they will flood an area...sometimes those hatches happen every couple of years.

[@WysteriaGuitar]

@@MattStefanFishing These fish were all quite large, some very large.

[@timward3685]

Matt, Thanks for this video! I live and fish in the Pacific Northwest and we don't have shad, but we do have a lot of perch. One thing I haven't been able to find and you kind of touched on is what temperature do the Perch start to spawn? The lakes I fish in western Washington do not freeze so I am looking for a temp range 35 - 40, 40 - 45, etc. Thanks again

[@MattStefanFishing]

45-55 is prime temps

[@jonathanadamgordon1]

The lake I fish all the time has white perch, how similar are white perch to yellow perch?

[@MattStefanFishing]

no similar. I believe white perch are in a whole dfferent family

[@mikeandrade586]

White perch are basically small bass. They're a lot like fishing crappie.

[@WestsideKharri]

great video.

[@roberthayford2004]

Got a question. The only perch I’ve heard of are white and yellow perch, and some people down here,(mobile/tensaw delta), call crappie a white perch or speckled perch. None of these fish are green, but every crank bait or jerk bait perch imitation I’ve ever seen has a dark green back. You got any thoughts or info on why that is??

[@MattStefanFishing]

the perch colored crankbaits are mimicking a yellow perch IMO

[@kevinbolton5]

Matt I use to live in the Northeast and Yellow Perch were a primary forage for LM and SM hence I have alot of Perch colored Crank baits and other lures . I relocated to the South 2 years ago and some of the lakes have a small Perch population nothing like the North though, there in the minority compared to Shad Herring and Bream . In the lakes around me now that have a small Perch population will the Perch colored baits I have will still have a role in my Fishing? Or will they be more into chasing the other bait fish I mentioned..

[@MattStefanFishing]

Should still work since most perch colors also mimic bluegill

[@kenneth9874]

I live in Louisiana and perch patterns work pretty well here although I don't believe that we have any here

[@floridaflash]

Cool video just subbed!!👍

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks for the sub!

[@Dingleberry262]

Hey so I'm not sure if you've done a video on this or if its even worth one but I'm in northern Wisconsin on the Menominee and I'm wondering if the fish move more this time of year up here due to the fact that its 88 during the day and 60 58 at night and sometimes even cooler.

[@MattStefanFishing]

I don’t think the move much just might get a little bit more inactive with cooler water before it warms up

[@berryzbridge3210]

I find them predominantly in muddy creeks in Georgia.

[@MattStefanFishing]

interesting

[@berryzbridge3210]

@@MattStefanFishing Yeah man, looking to catch some this early spring. Never really "targeted" them, but they taste so good I need to change my ways. lol

[@shawn_r_schultzfishing4883]

Great now I'm hungry for perch and I want to go fishing! What's your favorite bait to throw to imitate perch, jerkbait or ?

[@MattStefanFishing]

Jerkbait or a swimbait

[@jdean1851]

Billions of 'em here in Idaho! Big baits only way to fend them off!

[@MattStefanFishing]

Yep!

[@davidmarbut]

Next up..Tomato growing tips!!! I’ll be watching….

[@MattStefanFishing]

Haha! Not gonna happen

[@benwilson2119]

Definitely could teach us anything

[@jasonmoyer9530]

Quick ?? Are you going to do a video on alwife? Just curious

[@MattStefanFishing]

its on my list!

[@AddictedAngler]

very informative

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks!

[@johngalt3568]

We don’t have an appreciable population of Perch in Alabama. I’m sure that has to do with our relatively warm winters and our lack of really clear water. I’ve seen videos of guys in the Netherlands catching Perch as big as 5-7 pounds.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Yeah that’s a different breed

[@MarkReed-h5p]

17 to 18 " perch .. wow .. I've caught 15 to 16.5 perch & I am the perch man

[@MattStefanFishing]

awesome

[@bawilliams6950]

Could be some out there somewhere that long. I have one on my wall that is 15-3/4” and have lost 2 that were noticeably larger than that one.

[@MarkReed-h5p]

Yup caught some 15 to 161/4:.. but they don't get much bigger .. I've caught hundreds of thousands

[@rickhensley2251]

Matt can you talk about Gizzard and Thredfin shad for us southern guys?

[@MattStefanFishing]

Coming soon

[@midwestfischerman]

Sadly round gobies have been decimating yellow perch numbers and sizes in Lake Michigan around Chicago. Gobies sure have bolstered the smallmouth and largemouth populations, but are crushing the yellow perch. Definitely a give and take situation.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Always is with mother nature

[@quietlife4me]

Do Perch like deck tomatoes and basil?

[@MattStefanFishing]

Obviously

[@quietlife4me]

@@MattStefanFishing probably why they taste so good

[@davidweston1031]

Thanks Matt yellow perch equal Big Walleye from Ohio

[@MattStefanFishing]

Yep!

[@N5KDA]

I've never had yellow perch because we don't have them in SW MS. As far as our best tasting fish, to me by far it's crappie. Down here we have mostly white crappie and everyone calls them white perch for whatever reason. How do you think the white crappie and yellow perch compare when talking about the best taste?

[@MattStefanFishing]

Perch crushes crappie

[@N5KDA]

@@MattStefanFishing Well, if I ever win the monthly drawing, instead of jerky, maybe you can send me some frozen yellow perch.

[@AKoehnFishing-xf4wj]

So you start off by saying they love muddy shallow bays, then #5 you say they move away from muddy water. What is it?

[@MattStefanFishing]

Mud bottom bays is different than muddy water clarity

[@AKoehnFishing-xf4wj]

@@MattStefanFishing Gotcha

[@TaiTran-gc9lr]

❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks for watching

[@Chris-r5i9e]

Wife just got a yellow perch tonight

[@MattStefanFishing]

awesome!

[@somp3r]

A yellow perch! Yellow birds need to land somewhere

[@MattStefanFishing]

ok

[@barrystepniak8222]

I beg to differ on your comment about Perch liking clear water too dirty water. I live up on the Michigan - Wisconsin boarder, on the bay of Green-Bay, and since the zebra muscles moved in and cleaned up the water, the Perch moved South where the water is dirtier.

[@MattStefanFishing]

That probably has more to do with the water temperature being warmer

[@shannonkirby9295]

You may not believe this but I caught a yellow perch in Guntersville lake when I was 18. I had to look it up to find out what it was

[@MattStefanFishing]

There’s a lot in all of the TVA lakes

[@shannonkirby9295]

@@MattStefanFishing thanks. Did not know that

[@alanstrong55]

I was advised to put a baby perch on a hook with a wire leader. It may catch a whopper northern pike. Say a 20 pounder. Tell me if I am invited to dinner. Grilled pike over the coals has to be tasty to say the least. Biden gets none.😂😂😂

[@MattStefanFishing]

Haha

[@azzathegreat5363]

I think we call these Redfin in Aus

[@MattStefanFishing]

Interesting!

[@azzathegreat5363]

@@MattStefanFishing I believe our official term is European perch as they are Europe natives but yeah these yellow perch you have look very similar 😂 would love to know if they’re related

[@ryanboylan167]

Thanks, Matt. Been really enjoying the channel and used several tips! Question for you. You suggested the Poor Boys Erie Darter for drop shotting. I tried it this morning and KILLED IT! Problem is, they shook the lure off off line about half the time. Many times they floated enough where I could grab or net them. Got any tips on keeping the soft poor boys plastics on the line during jumps and head shakes? Thanks!

[@MattStefanFishing]

Unfortunately not off hand. At least nothing that will not limit the baits movement

[@MichiganWildcat]

Even other fish find yellow perch tasty

[@EpicAJ.]

Every perch I catch is like 2 inches idk

[@MattStefanFishing]

haha

[@justtreesiddty6889]

What happen if I'm already subscribed??

[@MattStefanFishing]

All subscribers are entered into my prize drawings

[@jimhalleran6239]

Please keep them coming. Would love for you to do a skipping video.

[@MattStefanFishing]

I did this one a while back kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZPXqXaIgdZlf7c

[@JohnBenussiBass]

One of the only fish I found that eat yellow perch is large yellow perch. I have video taped them /captive aquarium study. Had yellow perch and chain pickerel in same tank . The yellow would swim right onto the pickerels mouth after a shiner that the pickerel just cought. Flare up while in the pickerels mouth eating the shiner the pickerel just cought and after a moment the pickerel would give up and spit the perch out unsaved . They make bass look retarded .

[@MattStefanFishing]

Interesting

[@JohnBenussiBass]

Both historical records in the United States where caught in NJ. I all wondered if the where uro perch. Would of liked to have seen the fish. related but very different species.. even the yellow perch from grate lakes are different from the ones on East coast.

[@robbanks9104]

18" perch?are they from chernobyl 😂

[@MattStefanFishing]

That would be a giant perch

[@aiden1444]

16-18 inches are somewhat common in Manitoba Canada

[@StephenKeller-ey9gm]

Saginaw bay thats normal

[@RainerAumer-wj6vr]

The perch do not enjoy being eaten

[@MattStefanFishing]

Nope

[@Hungry_Tree_Ghost]

😅

[@runingblackbear]

6 and 7 you need to know and there a secret he he he

[@MattStefanFishing]

Haha

[@jamesh7469]

Nothing takes the tail off of my paddletails quite a perch. So aggressive and they love to nip with those teeth. I take revenge by having a fish fry

[@MattStefanFishing]

Best eating fish in my opinion

[@jamesh7469]

@@MattStefanFishing in my opinion it’s hard to beat a fresh salmon from Lake Michigan. But yea they’re definitely up there

[@youtubzkoz]

these are better videos others aren't doing.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks!

[@TenBuckCanuck]

Blah, blah, blah....not a chance in hell of a subscription.

[@MattStefanFishing]

Hahaha

[@jimboyko2854]

What a waste of time . This guy needs to be told that this is basic knowledge. Get a life .

[@MattStefanFishing]

You are a waste of time

[@马书强]

❤

[@MattStefanFishing]

Thanks