a few years back I was in chicago for a trade show i left early one day and went for a walk , I saw a marina so I headed for it. it was about 3pm and i saw a guy fishing around the boats he was jigging for perch. he was using a plastic minnow with a small spinner blade. I watched him land about 4 perch in 10 minutes, about 10 inchers. it was about 15 feet deep I said why don't you use minnows he said he stops here after work waits for the traffic to thin out and fishes for a while, the bait shop is out of the way and if he buys them in the morning they are dead by the time he gets off work. he said he gets his limit every day after work then goes home. the limit in chicago is 15. when they are hungry they will hit anything. That my friends was the best part of the trade show. Chicago by the way is a cool city.
I'm sure they're all great perch bait (whatever the bait store has is the best). But I worked with and fished with a bunch of charters who fish day after day and I can't think of one who prefers goldies or fatheads. Both work great on certain days, but emeralds work on those days and the other days as well. Goby goo is the exception but tough to get enough of it LOL. I'll bet the original poster talked to a bait dealer on a day following a full moon when emeralds weren't available ;-)
It will be only a matter of time and the Goldens will start reproducing in Lake Erie and effect all the biomass. Thanks to the do gooders and their VHS hysteria, now we have to deal with this foreign invader. Frozen salted emeralds that are kept cold and shiny work as well as live emeralds. Also they are faster to reload your hooks with than jumping emeralds.
I had emeralds yesterday and sat for two hours over great marks on avon point where i have limited twice recently on goldies. Caught two small perch. It's all in your head. They either bite or they don't and if you happen to have a bad bite with goldies, you blame the bait.
Ran into some 4-6 footers yesterday afternoon but put the trolling rods in and toughed it out rather than try to run back home through them. Got a 26" and 22" in the hour it took to somewhat lay down. Purple DHJ 80 back. Speed was kind of fast with the wind @2-2.5.
I'm sure they're all great perch bait (whatever the bait store has is the best). But I worked with and fished with a bunch of charters who fish day after day and I can't think of one who prefers goldies or fatheads. Both work great on certain days, but emeralds work on those days and the other days as well. Goby goo is the exception but tough to get enough of it LOL. I'll bet the original poster talked to a bait dealer on a day following a full moon when emeralds weren't available ;-)
It was on one of those days, and my wife called around first. When I heard what the lady told her I said Bull so she told me to call her myself. I did and she told me the same. It is interesting to hear all the varied responses, Just like everyone else on here, I use goldies when needed but Never have had a bit of success. We always buy 10 - 12 doz emeralds so we have plenty frozen but this last week was a long stretch with no emeralds so we ran out of frozen. Tried them again this time with same bad results. Did find a mangled old bad of frozens and they produced other than they were old and got really mushy which made for checking bait after every bite.
a few years back I was in chicago for a trade show i left early one day and went for a walk , I saw a marina so I headed for it. it was about 3pm and i saw a guy fishing around the boats he was jigging for perch. he was using a plastic minnow with a small spinner blade. I watched him land about 4 perch in 10 minutes, about 10 inchers. it was about 15 feet deep I said why don't you use minnows he said he stops here after work waits for the traffic to thin out and fishes for a while, the bait shop is out of the way and if he buys them in the morning they are dead by the time he gets off work. he said he gets his limit every day after work then goes home. the limit in chicago is 15. when they are hungry they will hit anything. That my friends was the best part of the trade show. Chicago by the way is a cool city.
My son is a bass preferred fisherman and has no patience for elevator fishing. He casts for perch exclusively ( usually a mepps )and does very well. He catches them in whatever fow we are bait fishing in, never lets it hit bottom, just casts and catches. When i'm fishing with the wife i like to sit in my chair and conventional fish, enjoying the water, fresh air and R & R
It will be only a matter of time and the Goldens will start reproducing in Lake Erie and effect all the biomass. Thanks to the do gooders and their VHS hysteria, now we have to deal with this foreign invader. Frozen salted emeralds that are kept cold and shiny work as well as live emeralds. Also they are faster to reload your hooks with than jumping emeralds.
Also the salt could kill the viruses.
Jimski-have no fear about golden shiners taking over the Lake Erie ecosystem-they are native to the lake, like fathead minnows, just not as dominant as emerald, spottail and spotfin shiners. Their original range incuded much of eastern North America from the Great lakes down to Florida.
The one that is posing some threat to the lake is the European rudd, a similar species which coincidentally have been able to hybridize with golden shiners. Imports of them are banned in several states as a noxious species.
I prefer the Emeralds too, but have to admit that last weekend we got a three man limit in pretty quick fashion using Golden Shiners. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again. It's a lot better then using mushy frozen Emeralds that get stolen off the hook in a matter of seconds.
we use emeralds because there cheaper. Some times when perch are picky or slow they wont take any thing else. But when there feeding good they'll hit a bar hook or any thing you drop down.
Goldens - who caught fish with them
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