Locate the perch beds
The perch is a fish that moves most of its life in large schools of hundreds of individuals. These schools become more dense in the winter season, in important depths.
In large bodies of water, it is not uncommon to find these fish in depths of more than 15 meters, well protected from significant variations in surface temperature. In small bodies of water where the average depth remains low, the schools of perch will be more often in movement, facilitating our work of localization.
Lure fishing techniques such as chatterbaits, linear shads and any other technique that consists of sweeping a maximum of ground, allow you to quickly prospect a large area.
Triggering keys
After finding a school through fast fishing techniques, the goal is to slow down the pace to get as many hits as possible. The perfect rig for this situation is the drop-shot.
A rig that allows you to use up to two lures simultaneously, of different sizes, shapes and colors. This rig will either be composed of a sinker and two single hooks, or a lure on a sinker head and a single hook upstream, also known as the tandem rig. The lead and two hook set-up greatly reduces snags on the bottom, while allowing maximum freedom for the lures.
This technique allows you to keep lures moving in the water without moving the rig. The lead will act as an anchor on the bottom, if its weight is sufficient, allowing to animate the lures delicately by playing with the tension of the line. This will allow you to stay for a long time in the area where the school of perch is located.
Scratch fishing
The drop-shot is not the only technique to fish effectively for perch in winter. The different variations of scratch fishing allow us to complete our arsenal of effective techniques in this season. Many different lures can be used, from shad to crayfish to finesse.
The principle is simple, to make slide the lure on the bottom to raise sediment and imitate an easy prey. This technique is very effective in winter when perch are looking to spend as little energy as possible to feed. It can be interesting to switch to this technique after having tried the drop-shot to get a few hits in the same school.
Nice sized fish sometimes position themselves under smaller individuals in the water layer and can therefore be targeted by scratching with larger lures.
