Perch spreaders with gold hooks and emeralds shiners, or just a sinker and a plain hook 12in. up from sinker.

 

Spreader rig with an appropriate weight underneath and emerald shiners is all I use. Done great this past summer.....filleted so many, I just cannot drag myself to perch fish anymore this year...only upon special request from my kids, wife and dad....shhhhhhhhh!

 

Crappie Rig, Spreader or a Jigging Spoon and anywhere from a size 6 to size 2 snelled hook, grab some Shiners, spool your reel up with braided line and you're set! Not saying artificials won't work, but live bait is used most of the time.

 

Why has no one mentioned:
"DOUBLE-HEADER"
Spreaders forever!

 

Shiners and spreaders have been the only method i have heard of from day one. Fish on!

 

Single hook rig is the best way to go. I don't want to come off as a know it all, but if you switch to this method, you will never go back to crappie rigs, spreaders, etc.

Tie a 18" to 24" leader - insert barrel sinker 3/4 ounce or 1 ounce...rough days or deep water use 2 barrel sinkers. Tie leader barrel swivel to main line and use the bottom swivel for a #2 perch hook.

The barrels will go back and forth between the swivels and create a clicking sound as you drop the rig to the bottom and pull up off bottom and drop back on bottom to entice a bite. This rig allows you to feel if your minnow is still on the hook due to the drag it creates, you won't miss as many fish in a vertical position as the spreader tips to one side when you have a bite, plus it is faster to get up and then back down when fishing one hook keeping the feeding frenzy going. Try it and you will never switch back.

 

I prefer a crappie rig with two hooks adjusted so the bottom hook presents the minnow two to three inches below the sinker and the top hook adjusted so it will be about one inch above the horizontal wire that suspends the bottom hook. I'll also use a single snelled hook attached to the same DuoLok snap as the sinker. There are times when a rattle spoon replaces the sinker and a hook is attached to the treble with a snell of about 1.5 to 2 inches. Last of all is a barrel slip sinker on the main line with a large enough swivel to keep it from slipping down to a hook tied on a 15 to 18" snell and fished right on the bottom. I'll cycle through these various methods on those days when the perch bite is VERY SLOW and sometimes luck out in producing a better bite. All I ever use are light wire hooks in size 2.

Don't ask me why, but I don't care for spreaders even though many guests on my boat use them effectively.

 

Lou K,
Can you post a picture of what you are discribing there? I'm having a tough time visualizing what you are trying to tell us. Sorry I"m a little mentally handicapped I guess. LOL. Thanks.

BK

 

Lou K,
Can you post a picture of what you are discribing there? I'm having a tough time visualizing what you are trying to tell us. Sorry I"m a little mentally handicapped I guess. LOL. Thanks.

BK

Your not handicapped, because I am also having a hard time. Unless we are both mentally challenged lol

 

Single hook rig is the best way to go. I don't want to come off as a know it all, but if you switch to this method, you will never go back to crappie rigs, spreaders, etc.

Tie a 18" to 24" leader - insert barrel sinker 3/4 ounce or 1 ounce...rough days or deep water use 2 barrel sinkers. Tie leader barrel swivel to main line and use the bottom swivel for a #2 perch hook.

The barrels will go back and forth between the swivels and create a clicking sound as you drop the rig to the bottom and pull up off bottom and drop back on bottom to entice a bite. This rig allows you to feel if your minnow is still on the hook due to the drag it creates, you won't miss as many fish in a vertical position as the spreader tips to one side when you have a bite, plus it is faster to get up and then back down when fishing one hook keeping the feeding frenzy going. Try it and you will never switch back.

Can you post a pic of this rig ?

 

Emerald shiners is the prefered bait of Erie perch. Use a braided line with minimal stretch and you will feel more bites. This is crucial when fishing deep water. Learn to tie a drop shot rig(like bass fishing). I use 3/4oz dipsy barrel swivel sinker tied to the bottom of an 18inch leader of 17lb test mono line.(heavy line will have less stretch over time and less kinky line) I tie two hooks(#4 gold long shank) just above the sinker about 4inches apart. Cheap. Works great.

 

View attachment inline perch rig.doc

I will try to post a document as I have to draw it...my gear is in Vermilion and I am working at home in Marysville, OH. When you go down to the bottom, the rig lies in the mud or clay, then as you pull up and down the barrel sinkers move within the leader and clank...this is the best way to have your bait within 1" of the bottom and you continously lay the rig flat then pull upright in the feeding zone and is completely vertical at 1" or more off the bottom.

I use 14 pound mono as the leader line, because the barrel sinkers are rough in the center from the die used to make them...if you use 8 -10 lb test, you will break the rig off setting the hook as it becomes frayed. You can use beads to add color (red or green normally) and you can also paint the sinkers white, which add flashes of shiners as it moves up and down within the rig. Even when using frozen shiners that are soft and tear off easily, this rig can feel the drag of the minnow to know you have lost your bait.

 

Lou K
If I under stand you correctly starting at the top you have barrel swivel with 18/24'' of 15lb line a bead 1 or 2 barrel/ egg sinkers another bead and another barrel swivel that you attach a snelled gold perch hook to, am I right on this Thanks

 

I would hate to go thru life and never have an opportunity to catch a double.Spreaders are the way to go

 

I can agree very much on the adjusted crappie rigs must keep them in the mud, the single hook rig has been the best for us the last two years especially for`
big perch, we vary our single hook rigs a little, using a three way sinker with
anywhere from 18 inch to 4 ft dropper, and our single hook line is roughly 6 to
12 inches longer than our dropper, depends how fincky they are, red hooks
are a must, with one single bead chartuse or dark red, also we use basicly
a lindy rig with a slidder sinker with a 24 to 30 inch lead. one other rig that
has been hot, is to snell your own hooks roughly six inches longer than your
crappie rigs so that lay on bottom, and install a small very shiney willow
leaf blade. The portclition charters use a 24 inch spreader with 18 inch
dropper hooks with small split shots six inches down fished roughly 12 inches
off bottom, they just let rod set and count to ten and lift. we fish the western basin way out in the 32 to 34 ft range of water, with very excellent
catches this year with these methods. hope this helps you. sinkers vary from
1/4 oz to 2 oz. depends on waves and what mood thier in.

 

Fireline, that is correct...Some of my rigs have beads others do not and just let the sinkers move freely between the swivels...sound is a very big attractant with the perch in my opinion.

Donkey, yes I go through life without catching double headers...but I use less bait and catch more bites per every time up and down without having to rebait two hooks. When the perch are up and down, any rig works, and doubles may be normal, but on tough days or sporadic bites, light bites, fishing an area with current, etc. the single hook rig beats everyone else on the boat. After the 1st trip and being outfished, the invited person usually asks us to switch their spreader to a single hook rig.

 

Lou...great job drawing that up. Thanks.

Sometimes I use a simple one hook presentation perchin and do good with it. Will have to try your setup.

 

i use a 3 hook crappie rig. that way you have one in the mud, one 3 or so inches off the bottom and a 3rd about 8 inches off. while it's good to be down in the mud. i have days where the top hook takes the most. and then you also have the possiblity of triple headers. i usually use 2 rods and use an ole petes jigging spoon on the other.

 

Weight goes on bottom middle swivel.

 

I prefer a crappie rig with two hooks adjusted so the bottom hook presents the minnow two to three inches below the sinker and the top hook adjusted so it will be about one inch above the horizontal wire that suspends the bottom hook. I'll also use a single snelled hook attached to the same DuoLok snap as the sinker. There are times when a rattle spoon replaces the sinker and a hook is attached to the treble with a snell of about 1.5 to 2 inches. Last of all is a barrel slip sinker on the main line with a large enough swivel to keep it from slipping down to a hook tied on a 15 to 18" snell and fished right on the bottom. I'll cycle through these various methods on those days when the perch bite is VERY SLOW and sometimes luck out in producing a better bite. All I ever use are light wire hooks in size 2.

Don't ask me why, but I don't care for spreaders even though many guests on my boat use them effectively.

i also like the crappie rigs better.
years ago while fishing w/ my brother on his boat we were using spreaders and doing nothing but getting our bait robbed.jack tibble had one of his charters boats close enough to us for us to see them catching alot of perch.when we got back to tibbles later i asked him what they were using that day.he took the time to show me how he used a crappie rig.i've never used a spreader since.
they were biting light that day and what made the difference is that with a spreader,the weight is between the rod tip and the hooks.the weight makes it more difficult to feel the bite.with the crappie rig,the weight is at the end of the setup with the hooks between the rod tip and the weight.the bite is easier to feel.
when the perch are hitting harder the spreaders work fine b ut i still use the crappie rig.
my advice would be to try both and see which suits you best.

 

Perchin is like all other fishing. There is no one "best way" that always works. Gear up for three or four methods and change your setup till ya find what works.

Must say on slower days single hook setups have worked better for me.

 

I've used a 3/4 to 1 oz hopkins spoon with a single hook 4 ins below....seen to catch larger fish on this rig.

 

I fish two rods one with a spreader and the other with a dropper , I do not recommend it for beginers or the novice-you will loose more fish.

When is going down I work the other, pull the fish up rebait and work the other. When I am in the zone and on the fish its non stop. However there are times when you can only use 1!!!!!

 

there are days that the fish do not like alot of hardware as we say most of the time we try different methods and switch to what works best... as for on the bottom lately 3 to 5 cranks up produce fish there goes that theory.... one thing that seems to be steady is emerald shiners seems to be the key...

 

I've used a 3/4 to 1 oz hopkins spoon with a single hook 4 ins below....seen to catch larger fish on this rig.

i've never used a hopkins spoon before so i image googled it and low and behold look what appeared on the 1st row of images!!!!!