Catching Giant Yellow Perch in East TN!!!

On this trip, my buddy Jason takes me to a beautiful new lake in the mountains and we put a whooping on some yellow perch!

[@LonnieAllVolWilliams]

Been fishing that lake for years. Thanks for not saying that name In the video. It truly is a hidden jewel.

[@downriverfishing3639]

It is such a beautiful place. Thanks for watching!

[@thegulfcoastkayaker4460]

Was a jewel 😞

[@PondsSoloFishing]

Great looking perch. I literally just watched a perch bake recipe just before this.

[@downriverfishing3639]

Ponds Solo Fishing I fried some of them up Saturday. 🤤🤤🤤

[@j.p.brien-slack6513]

Sweet vid, love the jumbos. What were y'all doing to locate the fish on the lake?

[@bhfishing8572]

Nice fish !

[@thegulfcoastkayaker4460]

This lake is/was a hidden jewel. Just a year or two ago the crowds were half the size. Fishing forums and FB groups have sent people here in droves. Perch population has already started steadily dropping. Glad you figured out the secret, but why tell everyone? This is how honey holes become holes. They do not stock perch here, and they're quickly on there way to being wiped out.

[@downriverfishing3639]

I don’t believe I said where I was fishing once. If someone knows the lake then they probably know about the perch. Nothing will stay a secret. The only thing that can save the perch is to set limits and size restrictions on harvesting perch. I spoke to the game warden out there several times and he told me that many people are keeping every single perch they catch. I’ve expressed my concerns about having no restrictions on them and everyone else should do the same.

[@thegulfcoastkayaker4460]

Gotcha, I agree about restrictions. I've seen lack of restrictions become a big problem in parts of Florida. Hopefully they enforce it. I'll probably reach out to TWRA myself. The sooner they enforce it, the better. No I'll will btw, just hope something is set in place soon.

[@robertbaker231]

You obviously don't catch as many as you think because there's thousands of yellow perch in those lakes I know and they are undersized because there's so many of them

[@thegulfcoastkayaker4460]

@@robertbaker231 I don't think anyone here is arguing that, my point is to prevent diminished population. I'm from Tampa Bay Florida, and I know what overfishing can do. Only reason fishing in TB is still good, is because of strict regulations. Without them, it would be a marine ghost town. These perch definitely aren't there yet, but the very fast growing attention to them points to first signs of concern. We saw it down there in the 90's with grouper, redfish and snook. Populations and fishing took a noticable dive, but increasingly strict regulations have kept it in check. Gag grouper used to be 22" and 5 a day with no closed season about ten years ago, now it's 24" and 2 a day with limited seasons... It's simple environmental science, the increase in attention and harvest, will eventually lead to diminished population. The great lakes have even noticed drops in perch and walleye populations from overfishing. Setting regulations, and fish stocks are the only way to combat this. It's not necessarily a matter of opinion, but a matter of fact.

[@ArpOutdoors]

Using live minnows?

[@downriverfishing3639]

Yep

[@brittanygunas7251]

Totally weird seeing my dad on KZbin 😂😂😂😂😂

[@downriverfishing3639]

Brittany Gunas he’s in 2 of my videos now!

[@thegulfcoastkayaker4460]

This aged well… population lowest we’ve seen, with bag limits added (which I’m not complaining about), and more people gunning for perch than ever before, on this small, once overlooked mountain lake. …hope you’re enjoying the clicks

[@downriverfishing3639]

I sure did thanks for watching!

[@dawittswineoutdoors4860]

Curious what lake has yellow perch in tennessee? i miss yellow perch im from up north originally. ill find my own fish but let me know what lake unless you wanna keep it a secret

[@downriverfishing3639]

DaWitts Wine Outdoors they all do. Some have higher populations like Melton hill and the clinch. These were up above tellico.

[@dawittswineoutdoors4860]

@@downriverfishing3639 ok thanks ill have to get on them and hunt some perch. the lakes i fish in tennessee dont have them. i think the spinner rigs i tie they will eat up like candy

[@downriverfishing3639]

DaWitts Wine Outdoors I’m not sure about rigs i just catch them with minnows usually. They like to hang out in about 30ft of water where I catch them. I use a double hook rig and spider rig. It’s a lot of fun when you get into a big school of them like we did In this video.

[@dawittswineoutdoors4860]

@@downriverfishing3639 we catch our big walleyes in 80 foot of water on dale hollow suspended in 20 foot to 30 foot we troll mainly

[@downriverfishing3639]

DaWitts Wine Outdoors that’s awesome bud! I’ve always wanted to get on some walleye but just haven’t been able to make it work yet. Down here in East TN we don’t have many of them. Most folks just catch them at the dams.