Tough time of year for perch, the perch are scattered and not in tight schools until later. When I fish Oct. perch I fish very tight to shore, I talking about being in ten feet of water and tossing a jig into a foot of water. Many perch this time of year are inside the weed line and feeding on young of the year crawfish. Before the arrival of zebra mussels and other unwanted creatures, perch did school in Seneca and other Finger Lakes. Now what to use: 16 oz. jig with a two inch plastic. Colors should be green, pumpkinseed or motoroil. Use 4 lb. mono and drag the jig along the bottom VERY SLOW !! Also, I like to bend the hook up about a quarter of a inch, gives you a better hook set. If you are going to try live bait, minnows, get outside the weed beds in 17 to 25 fow and drift. The perch activity in the Finger Lakes is no where like Lake Erie !! By the way, I was written up in Outdoor life back in the early 90's fishing perch on Seneca lake. Things have changed much since then !!
Good luck !!
Retired ECO
