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White perch are native to the Southeast but were traditionally found in brackish water and saltwater estuaries along the coast. Virginia, North Carolina’s Tar River, and South Carolina’s Pee Dee region are native white perch habitat. The species, however, is well adapted to inland reservoirs and most of South Carolina’s lakes and rivers are now home to them. The Catawba River chain lakes and the Savannah River chain lakes, as well as Lake Greenwood, Lake Murray and the Santee Cooper lakes, have thriving populations of white perch. In fact, white perch as so well adapted to inland reservoirs that they appear to be adversely affecting many native fish populations. Through egg eating and competition they have decimated white bass populations in many lakes and rivers, and there is also concern about their affect on striped bass and crappie among other species. In the summer of 2008 these concerns led white perch to be delisted as a game fish in South Carolina, and so there are now restrictions neither on the number of white perch that may be legally kept nor on their use as bait. The fish’s detractors encourage people to keep as many perch as possible, but even their proponents want the populations thinned to allow them to grow bigger and prevent the population from growing large but stunted (as Captain Taylor says it seems to be on the Santee lakes). Perch are rare among edible fish in that no one seems to care how many you keep!
Unlike many species whose preferred habitats change greatly over the course of a year Captain Taylor seems to find white perch schools in the same types of areas the year round. The large schools seem to gravitate to offshore humps in 18 to 24 feet of water that have a hard or sandy bottom. While perch are generally found on the bottom very occasionally Captain Taylor will catch them suspended – not too long ago he found a feeding school suspended 20 feet down over 27 feet of water. Unlike many species which seek out habitat different than their usual haunts for spawning perch appear to spawn in these same offshore areas, and Captain Taylor believes they have multiple spawns in a given year, starting in the early spring. His fish and the co-record holder’s were both caught in January when they were heavy with eggs.
While some anglers talk about looking for huge schools of perch on their graphs before dropping baits down Captain Taylor usually only sees one or two fish initially. He believes that this is because the fish are usually hugging the bottom, and only once baits are dropped down and the perch swim up off the bottom to go into a feeding frenzy will large numbers be visible. Captain Taylor’s friend Deiter Melhorn has pointed out that white perch often appear larger on the graph than would an equivalent (or larger) sized catfish, and he thinks Dieter is likely correct that this is because white perch have scales and so reflect sonar differently than do catfish.
Some people spider rig or jig spoons to catch white perch but Captain Taylor prefers to keep his set-up simple. Once he anchors over a likely school of white perch he puts two rods in holders out of the back of the boat and drops the lines down vertically. He uses a multiple hook Sabiki rig but cuts the standard six hook rig in half and uses one of the resulting three hook rigs. At the bottom of this rig is a tear drop shaped ½ or ¾ ounce sinker. During the winter and spring Captain Taylor generally baits the bottom of the three hooks with a live minnow, but during the summer when the fish are a bit more aggressive he will sometimes use worm pieces or cut bait. Multiple fish hook-ups are possible on the rigs, especially when the fish are really swarming, but Captain Taylor has found that using multiple minnows is generally not productive. Once one fish is hooked it will generally shake the other minnows off, and the feathers on the Sabiki rig are usually enough to hook other fish. Rodger posed for a photo for South Carolina Sportsman with six fish caught at once on a whole Sabiki rig when they were feeding very aggressively and he gave the fish time to “load up,” but this is not the most effective way to land white perch as multiple fish will often tangle in the boat. The day we fished together we had several two fish hook-ups, including once simultaneously.
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White perch pull hard, especially for their size (generally averaging 6 to 10 ounces), but a large part of the fun is Captain Taylor’s light set up. Instead of using his heavy catfish equipment he likes a 6 and a half foot light action graphite rod made by Fenwick. He uses inexpensive reels spooled with very sensitive 10 pound braided line (which roughly has the diameter of 2 pound monofilament). The light braided line makes it easy to feel the weight hit the bottom when the rigged is dropped down and also makes it possible to feel the white perch’s light bites and set the hook easily. Once it is hooked the braided line also transmits more of the fish’s movement into the pole and makes the fight more fun.
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The day that Captain Taylor and I fished together we caught 117 white perch in under 3 hours. We mainly fished two humps near Big Allison and for most of the time the action was fast and furious. From time to time the bite would moderate, only to pick back up again – it definitely was never slow. The best part of the trip though, didn’t come until the next night. Captain Taylor was good enough to fillet a mess of the perch for me (others he would himself eat or use for catfish bait), and they are outstanding table fare. The meat is light and mild and they fry very well. While my wife and I pan fried them since we were only feeding two, if Captain Taylor is cooking for a larger number he likes to heat a big pot 2/3 full with peanut oil or less expensive canola oil to 375 over an outdoor burner. He puts the fillets in a plastic bag with ½ Aunt Jemima Cornmeal Mix and ½ House Autry Fish Breader mix (which includes salt and pepper) and then shakes the bag up, and he drops the breaded fillets in the hot oil for 45 seconds or a minute until they turn golden and float to the surface. They are delicious, and because the fish are short lived mercury poisoning and other types of pollution are less of a concern that with other fish.
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A guided white perch trip with Captain Taylor is great fun and is an ideal way to entertain children, adult ones included. Captain Taylor loves giving kids the thrill of catching fish, and this is as close to a sure bet for action as fishing can provide. He also guides for catfish on Lake Wylie (and Lake Wateree), and combined catfishing and perch fishing trips on Lake Wylie are becoming one of Captain Taylor’s more popular trips. You will not find a more pleasant, laid back guide more willing to share his spots or teach clients how to catch fish. For more information or to book a guided trip with Captain Rodger Taylor’s Catfish ON! Guide service visit http://www.catfishon.com, call him at 803-328-9587, email rodon@comporium.net or private message him on here (his handle is “Catfish ON!”). And who knows - you might catch another state record!
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Captain Taylor and the record fish
