Before we jump into some fishy talk for the New Year, let’s take a look at the fishing, boating, and outdoor shows we have on tap this month.
The Progressive New England Boat Show will be at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center January 10 – 12. (www.newenglandboatshow.com) The Narragansett Surfcasters 11th Annual Surf Day will be held at the Narragansett Community Center, 53 Mumford Rd, Narragansett, RI on January 11. Adult admission is a $5 donation to the club’s Take a Kid Fishing Day (children get in free); the show runs 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. On January 16 – 19 the CMTA Hartford Boat Show will be held in the Earth Expo Center at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT. (https://hartfordboatshow.com) The New York Boat Show is being held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, New York on January 22 – 26. (www.nyboatshow.com) Last up for now, the New England Fishing & Outdoor Expo, formerly known as “the Boxboro show, will be held at the Royal Plaza Trade Center in Marlborough, MA, on January 31 – February 2. (www.nefishingexpo.com)
One more item of note before we get into January fishing that needs to be passed along, expect new fishing regulations for striped bass in 2025. As I write this, we’re in between the public informational meeting and the Striped Bass Management Board (Board) meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), and this evening I have a meeting of the Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP) for Atlantic Striped Bass of which I am one of the two representatives for the state of Connecticut. A slew of new management measures is being considered including options for complete no target/no harvest, no harvest (catch and release only), a variety of closed seasons with either no target or no harvest conditions, a change to the slot limit, and more. The Board is scheduled to meet and decide on new management measures on December 16, 2024, so by the time you read this we should know what we’d be fishing on in 2025. There will of course be a window of time for states to ratify and implement the measures, and I’ll have a full report due back to you next month.
Ok, now on to the fishing.
Assuming we don’t have a deep freeze across Southern New England, there are a few fisheries that we have at our disposal including cod, holdover striped bass, trout, and others. For this month, I’ll cover one that has always been of interest to me but of which I had little success before this fall: white perch. The white perch is not a true perch but instead a “cousin” of the striped bass. It is often found in the same waters as holdover striped bass as it’s a brackish water species. It can be found in landlocked lakes and ponds as well. It is often caught as a bycatch of anglers targeting stripers in the fall and winter, and this is where I generally have encountered them in the past, although not generally large numbers.
This November I set out to make a point of fishing and hopefully figuring out a few things to improve my white perch catch. I started, as I usually do, heading to some of the local tidal creeks armed with light spinning gear and tiny jigs. The first few outings resulted in all striped bass; not a terrible thing as it kept my son happy, but I really wanted to be able to target white perch, so we started adjusting our tactics. I changed tide stage first, opting to fish the dropping tide where I usually target the flood for stripers. Again, we landed more small striped bass, but I did pop my first perch of the season.
The next outing we began fishing at the tide stage when we had previously stopped, now heading into the final hour or so of the outgoing tide, and we again picked up several striped bass with two perch this time around. More success but still not the productivity I sought.
Building off the improving success, the next plan was to fish around the bottom of the tide with time spent on both sides of it. Whether we simply got lucky and hit the perfect storm, or if we had unlocked a key to success remains to be determined, but that next outing produced the single best white perch trip I have ever experienced as my son and I teamed up to land nearly 40 fish! We added another 30+ the following day, then 20+, and on the final day of the “blitz,” I went on my own and landed another 13 perch and three striped bass before stopping for the day due to rapidly dropping temperatures and a setting sun.
Sure, this is a small sample of success, but I have been fishing this specific tidal river for holdover striped bass for the past 15 or so striped bass and haven’t landed a dozen perch combined in that stretch. Might this have just been a large school I found? Sure, but I have been able to stay on the success since and transferred it to several other local tidal rivers so there might be a little something to it, for now at least.
If you’re looking to take a whack at some white perch this winter, here is what I have been doing that has worked to date.
The lower stages of the tides have been far more productive. I believe this is because the fish get grouped up into much tighter schools as some of the rivers I am fishing have large, expansive mud flats. When the tide drops, much of those mud flats are exposed so there is far less room for the fish to hide from me. I also think that this pushes the bait into a smaller area, and the perch know this, making for easier hunting on their part.
As to the bait, the primary forage where I am finding white perch is grass shrimp, but I am also seeing some large schools of peanut bunker still milling around. This could be a large part of my increased success this year as I have not seen peanuts before, but in an average year there is always grass shrimp, which is a traditional favorite food source.
While live bait can most certainly be used – a minnow trap baited with bread and set overnight will catch grass shrimp – I like to stay mobile as I find even when I locate a school of fish, it rarely stays put. To this end I fish small jigs that mimic either shrimp or small fish like the peanuts as well as silversides and even mummichogs that can be found in the tidal rivers. For weights on the jigheads I fish stuff as light as 1/64th of an ounce when throwing micro baits, on up to 3/8 when fishing some of the deepest holes. As is always the case when fishing jigs for any species, better success always seems to come with the absolute lightest weight possible for the day’s location and conditions.
I carry a lot of different lures to fish on the jigheads with a whole bunch of shapes in my pack, but a few have proven more effective than others of late. To replicate the shrimp, the 1-3/4″ Triple Threat Crappie Scrub in Arkansas Shad from Kalin’s is darn near as close in color, size and even action as I have found. Pin this double-tail grub onto a 1/32-ounce head, slowly bounce it along the bottom, and if there is a hungry perch in the area, you’re certain to get bit! I have also done well on the Z-Man Micro TRD in “The Deal” when the fish get really fussy. Fished on a 1/15-ounce ShroomZ head, I can walk it along the bottom and the tail pops up on the pause, as the bait is naturally buoyant.
To replicate minnow-type baitfish, I fish a variety of rubber shad lures. Tsunami makes a great little 2-inch swim shad that I have done well on when targeting small holdover stripers, and the perch like it as well. The Z-Man Shad FryZ as well as the 3-inch Mangrove Minnow in Storm’s 360 GT Coastal series has also caught well, with the latter producing several of the largest white perch I have ever seen!
To round things out, all these lures are fished on light spinning rods to match the weights, fine braided line of 10# or less, and tipped with 6-pound leader material. The fish are not generally line shy, so fluorocarbon is not necessary, but the lighter lines present the super light baits in a much more realistic manner.