Yellow Perch Angling: Best Bait and Lures

Yellow perch are a fun fish to catch, especially when ice fishing here in North America. Yellow perch are native to North America, specifically to the Arctic and Pacific Ocean tributaries. You will find yellow perch from Ohio and Illinois north into Canada.

If you have ever been ice fishing, you likely have a few yellow perch. In this article, I will elaborate on the best baits to use for yellow perch fishing. Yellow perch are pretty easy to catch, and if you use the right bait for the right situation, you will have an even better chance at catching your limit of yellow perch.

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Best Bait For Yellow Perch

Perch tend to swim in schools, so when you catch your first yellow perch of the day, you know there is more perch in the area. And it won’t be long until you start catching them left and right. So here are the best baits to use to catch yellow perch.

Small Perch

Perch are cannibalistic in nature, and the more prominent perch will feed on the smaller perch. So if you can find some smaller-sized perch, try them on your hook, and you will likely catch some of the larger perch in the vicinity.

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Wax Worms

Wax Worms work well for catching yellow perch when you are ice fishing

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Minnows

Another live bait that perch go after is minnows. Although choose your minnows wisely, you will want to use small minnows because perch have small mouths, and they might not beagle to take a larger minnow like a fathead minnow in their mouth.

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Crayfish

Large perch love to munch on crayfish, so try your luck using this as live bait.

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Fish Eggs

Another favorite of large perch is fish eggs.

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Nightcrawlers

Yellow perch will be attracted to nightcrawlers as a source of food.

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Best Jig For Yellow Perch

During the winter, when the ice is thick, yellow perch respond well to various jigs.

Marabou Jig

Marabou Jigs act like baitfish that are fleeing a predator fish. Most freshwater fish, including yellow perch, will go after a marabou jig.

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In The End

At the end of the day, yellow perch are attracted to many different types of bait. Experiment with plastic worms and minnows attached. When ice fishing, try various bottom rigs to get results. Each day can be different out on the water, but once you find the right bait, you will reel these fish in all day!