

A light spinning rod with 6-pound line baited with a live minnow or a bit of nightcrawler usually does the trick.

You don’t need a lot of fancy gear to catch perch in New York.

New York’s state record yellow perch (a whopping 3 pounds, 8 ounces) was caught in late April from Lake Erie in 1982.įishing for perch in summer often requires searching for schools of fish on deep structure, but big perch often return to shallower weed beds and rock piles in fall as waters begin to cool. The fishing from right after ice-out until early May is also excellent. As a result, anglers catch some of the biggest yellow perch of the year during these months. New York offers ice fishing from late December through mid-March most years, and the hard water season is one of the most popular times for anglers in the Empire State to target perch. From the Great Lakes to the Finger Lakes, and from nameless Western New York farm ponds to Adirondack glacial lakes, perch seem to be just about everywhere you can cast a fishing pole.īig perch-those scrappy yellow fish measuring 10, 12, 14 inches and up-are a little harder to come by. Yellow perch are one of the most widespread fish species caught in New York.
