White Perch Fishing

Type: Nontidal
Region: Southern
Location: Tuckahoe State Park

My grandson Isaac asked early last week if we could get out for some fishing. I said sure. March 9th was out because of the all day rain, but I did manage to get out and take a few casts over at Mason Springs that day. I was looking for Hickory Shad. Buddy Cliff caught a few over at Fletchers on 3/9, after it was reported on 3/7 that the first shad of the year being caught there. I didn�t have minnows but managed a couple perch on Gulp Minnows while at Mason Springs. I saw a few stringers with keepers while there too.

The wind put an end to any kayak fishing on Sunday. Mason Springs would be blown out. My buddy, Chris fished it 3/10, said the water was super high, and cold. He fell in, stepping off the flooded bank. He managed a small channel catfish while there. Said he saw one or two yellow perch (YP) caught.

So, I picked the Tuckahoe, targeting YP. Shoreline fishing in Queen Annes should work. Well, when we got there the tide was way up, way UP! I spoke to an angler who happened to be catching white perch (WP) on bloodworms. He stated that the YP run was over.

Okay, but we had minnows. We tied them on but the bite was lackluster. Me, one perch and Isaac one blue catfish. But, it just so happened that another angler walked past and I spoke with him. He had a bucket of nice WP. I asked what he was catching on, he said grass shrimp. Then he asked if I wanted what was left of them. �SURE!� I said. Now we were on the fish and caught an 23 additional WP until we ran dry on shrimp. Ugh. So we headed up to a tackle shop and bought bloodworms ($21 ouch!).

We caught over 100 WP. I lost track as we neared the 100 mark but we kept catching long after that. We then drove over to the Tuckahoe State Park to check out Geary Mill Pond. But it was muddy and there were white caps on the pond. So were wrapped the day up and headed back.

We fished five hours. What a fun day.