Fly fishing white perch in the pines!

[SleepySheep]

Every year I eagerly await the annual white perch run up the various streams in the NJ pine barrens, and this year I had some extra anticipation for my first chance to catch them on a fly rod!

And as expected, white perch seem to love a little nymph or streamer. Especially fun was catching them on this little 6'6" 2 wt, paired with a very light vintage reel I picked up from the Columbus flea market in NJ.

 

[Bamboozle]

They are some nice sized white perch!!!

I usually catch them by the zillions at Octoraro Reservoir although I'm usually fishing garden hackle and they aren't as big...

...at least the fish I catch aren't that big.

 

[SleepySheep]

They are some nice sized white perch!!!

I usually catch them by the zillions at Octoraro Reservoir although I'm usually fishing garden hackle and they aren't as big...

...at least the fish I catch aren't that big.

Not pictured are the gazillion white perch I hauled in on spinning gear, most of them smaller than those above

Although I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised with the average size of the perch I've caught this year. They'll get smaller as the season continues into summer, and the larger ones move back out to brackish water.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Awesome, Alex! I hope you are spending time with your mom today, and not just because it's raining in Jersey

 

[Mike]

Nice WP’s. You’re hard-pressed to find them that size other than an occasional specimen in Pa with only a very few exceptions (water bodies). In nearly all cases in Pa lakes, that species is nothing but trouble…stunts and is hard on other species when occurring in waters that are not their natural environment. That size WP is, however, found with some consistency in the Delaware Estuary in Philly at this time of the year.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear SleepySheep,

That brings back memories. My brother Terry and I used to fish the yellow perch run in the Great Egg Harbor River in Mays Landing every spring at the dam by the Thatcher Glass factory. You could catch 100's in a couple of hours. I'm certain it's all different now and I'll bet the glass factory is long gone.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

P.S. That is a really neat looking reel!

 

[Bamboozle]

Dear SleepySheep,

That brings back memories. My brother Terry and I used to fish the yellow perch run in the Great Egg Harbor River in Mays Landing every spring at the dam by the Thatcher Glass factory. You could catch 100's in a couple of hours. I'm certain it's all different now and I'll bet the glass factory is long gone.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

P.S. That is a really neat looking reel!

They ain't white, but yellow perch are maybe my favorite fish of all time since my days targeting them as a kid in Crum Creek & Springton Reservoir...

Even to this day when I catch one, it's special.

 

[jifigz]

Is that a bugger I see in that fish's mouth? What won't a bugger catch?

 

[TimMurphy]

They ain't white, but yellow perch are maybe my favorite fish of all time since my day targeting them as a kid in Crum Creek & Springton Reservoir...

Even to this day when I catch one, it's special.

Dear Bamboozle,

I used to live in Windsor NY on the Susquehanna River. I had a jet jon boat back then and we used to run from the Great Bend Access in Susquehanna County 8 miles up the river to the back of my property when the water was right.

But it was rarely right, and we usually had to stop short across from the golf course in Windsor. There was a little back eddy with some weed beds that always held some nice smallmouth bass. As the boat captain I was pretty much a gear fisherman back then, it was easier. I tossed a 3/8 ounce fire tiger colored spinner bait along the edge of the weed line. It was promptly eaten by something judging from the color flash, that had to be a peacock bass. All gold and orange and green. When I got it in, it turned out to be a 17" yellow perch, the biggest and baddest one I've ever caught.

Jesus, I miss that river, and that boat, and my fishing buddies from back then.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[SleepySheep]

Awesome, Alex! I hope you are spending time with your mom today, and not just because it's raining in Jersey

Of course I took a small break from terrorizing the perch to take my momma out to brunch! I've been hitting them all week so I guess I've had my fill. I'll probably be back on the Wiss next Sunday if you don't have anything more exciting lined up and wanna fish

Nice WP’s. You’re hard-pressed to find them that size other than an occasional specimen in Pa with only a very few exceptions (water bodies). In nearly all cases in Pa lakes, that species is nothing but trouble…stunts and is hard on other species when occurring in waters that are not their natural environment. That size WP is, however, found with some consistency in the Delaware Estuary in Philly at this time of the year.

Yeah, we get some pretty nice sizes here on tributaries to the Atlantic. And they share waters with plenty of big fish that like to eat them like blues and stripers, which I guess prevents them from becoming too over-populated. I can definitely see how they'd get out of hand in a closed waterbody.

Dear SleepySheep,

That brings back memories. My brother Terry and I used to fish the yellow perch run in the Great Egg Harbor River in Mays Landing every spring at the dam by the Thatcher Glass factory. You could catch 100's in a couple of hours. I'm certain it's all different now and I'll bet the glass factory is long gone.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

P.S. That is a really neat looking reel!

White perch can definitely be numerous enough in their run that you could catch any arbitrary number of em! Yellow perch are here in the Mullica too but I can't say I've ever found them in huge numbers in the places I fish. Which is a shame, because they're probably my favorite freshwater fish to eat.

 

[Bamboozle]

... I tossed a 3/8 ounce fire tiger colored spinner bait along the edge of the weed line. It was promptly eaten by something judging from the color flash, that had to be a peacock bass. All gold and orange and green. When I got it in, it turned out to be a 17" yellow perch, the biggest and baddest one I've ever caught.

Jesus, I miss that river, and that boat, and my fishing buddies from back then.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

WOW!!

That beats my biggest by 4" caught in the backwaters of Crum Creek Reservoir when I was about 16.

 

[SleepySheep]

P.S. That is a really neat looking reel!

I'm really happy with this reel. It's super light, feels like it was stamped out of a tuna can. Just happens to be the right weight for this tiny little fly rod, and the look is quite cool as well! It's probably one of my favorite flea market treasures of all time.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Bam,

I haven't come anywhere close to one that size again.

We used to stay in cabins at Shohola Reservoir a long time ago with buddies from Delco. Ken and Lucy owned the cabins. Back then in the early 1990's Ken's father Irv was still alive. He was in his late 80's or early 90's, but he still fished every single day and even trailered a camper to Florida in the winter.

Irv had a 14' Alumacraft V hull boat, serial number #2. It was made in 1947, the second one ever produced, and he bought it brand new. One morning we stumbled out of the cabin at 6:30 AM and there was Irv, already coming back from Shohola Lake. He had a bucket with two 17" perch and a bunch of pie plate sized bluegills in it.

We never did quite as good as Irv did, and Irv would never tell us where to go either. He was an old school outdoorsman. But we float tubed Shohola and Greely Lakes and found a lot of nice bluegills and bass on our own. It was a nice place back then. I can only imagine how nice it was when Irv was a young man?

I'm going to go back to Shohola, one way or another. I'll bet the fishing is still just as good, though I haven't been there in 30 years.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Bamboozle]

Dear Bam,

I haven't come anywhere close to one that size again.

We used to stay in cabins at Shohola Reservoir a long time ago with buddies from Delco. Ken and Lucy owned the cabins. Back then in the early 1990's Ken's father Irv was still alive. He was in his late 80's or early 90's, but he still fished every single day and even trailered a camper to Florida in the winter.

Irv had a 14' Alumacraft V hull boat, serial number #2. It was made in 1947, the second one ever produced, and he bought it brand new. One morning we stumbled out of the cabin at 6:30 AM and there was Irv, already coming back from Shohola Lake. He had a bucket with two 17" perch and a bunch of pie plate sized bluegills in it.

We never did quite as good as Irv did, and Irv would never tell us where to go either. He was an old school outdoorsman. But we float tubed Shohola and Greely Lakes and found a lot of nice bluegills and bass on our own. It was a nice place back then. I can only imagine how nice it was when Irv was a young man?

I'm going to go back to Shohola, one way or another. I'll bet the fishing is still just as good, though I haven't been there in 30 years.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Speaking of the area, I imagine Peck's Pond has some nice perch as well.

I remember a million years ago fishing Beach Lake with my wife while we were on a weekend getaway and hooking a few nice yellow perch.

 

[SleepySheep]

Is that a bugger I see in that fish's mouth? What won't a bugger catch?

It was interesting to compare the my efficiency on a wooly bugger vs a small jighead/soft plastic on my spinning rod. I could catch perch every cast all day on the latter, but only coax the occasional white perch on the wooly bugger, despite being a similarly-sized minnow-y pattern. I suspect if I can hone my retrieve and learn how to keep depth better on a fly rig, I should be able to close the the gap.

There was one instance where I was able to pull out a whole school of white perch stripping a tiny hare's ear nymph, but I didn't need as much depth in that spot.

Lots of puzzles to be solved, fly fishing the pine barrens.

 

[TimMurphy]

Speaking of the area, I imagine Peck's Pond has some nice perch as well.

I remember a million years ago fishing Beach Lake with my wife while we were on a weekend getaway and hooking a few nice yellow perch.

Dear Bam,

We float tubed Pecks Pond back then too. Or rather I should say we tried to float tube it. It was a shallow weed choked ****hole and barely worth the effort. I understand they have done some restoration work in the last few years that may have improved it.

One place that we only visited briefly on a a walk-in was the pond in Masthope PA that was forfeited by the dope smuggler that landed a DC-6 full of weed on a a grass strip 30 years ago. The story was so huge it was a feature in Time Magazine back in the day. That was perhaps some of the greatest pilot work ever done and the poor SOB lost it all to the Game Commission.

I have a friend that hikes and kayaks that pond and takes wonderful wildlife pictures. It's another place to revisit before I kick the bucket.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[wildtrout2]

I'm really happy with this reel. It's super light, feels like it was stamped out of a tuna can. Just happens to be the right weight for this tiny little fly rod, and the look is quite cool as well! It's probably one of my favorite flea market treasures of all time.

It does look like a tricked out tuna fish can with a small handle. Cool reel though.

 

[tomgamber]

Nice WP’s. You’re hard-pressed to find them that size other than an occasional specimen in Pa with only a very few exceptions (water bodies). In nearly all cases in Pa lakes, that species is nothing but trouble…stunts and is hard on other species when occurring in waters that are not their natural environment. That size WP is, however, found with some consistency in the Delaware Estuary in Philly at this time of the year.

Unless you count the little dock on the Ohio on the Northside behind the old prison. Used to always go visit the old timers fishing down there when I had to do a live shot for the news. They used to crush the white perch. Freshwater drum too.

 

[Mike]

Unless you count the little dock on the Ohio on the Northside behind the old prison. Used to always go visit the old timers fishing down there when I had to do a live shot for the news. They used to crush the white perch. Freshwater drum too.

Didn’t know that there were WP in the Ohio R.

 

[Bamboozle]

Dear Bam,

We float tubed Pecks Pond back then too. Or rather I should say we tried to float tube it. It was a shallow weed choked ****hole and barely worth the effort. I understand they have done some restoration work in the last few years that may have improved it....

I've tubed Pecks as well, maybe 15 years ago...

In some spots it was a challenge to find deeper water but it is an easy place to just stand up to pee...