# What do you Erie perch guys use for elecronics



## BrianSipe17 (Aug 5, 2006)

Just curious. My cheap Humminbird isn't worth a darn while moving. I just wondered what some other folks use on Erie to find perch.


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## BlueMax (Dec 3, 2006)

Minnows!
My Lowrance B&W unit shows perch as bumps on the bottom. If they are suspended a bit then short straight lines bunched together.


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## K gonefishin (May 4, 2004)

A good color sonar is crucial to finding perch EXPECIALLY when they are in the mud belly down in deep water deeper the water smaller the echo's will return. In this screen shot I have split screen zoom in use, on the left you can see little red marks (you can barely see them on the right but still can) those are much on the bottom, the screen's bottom is bumpy because it was 3-4 fters, the line you see coming up is a perch hookset (where it's red is when the perch came up and hit the minnow the echo got brighter) and a fish on it's way up is the streak. The screen on the right shows a perch spreader hanging mid depth in the water column I stopped fishing to help my girlfriend when she hooked one (to unhook and rebait), and stopped to take a picture in before unhooking the perch. Without a color fishfinder I would have never been able to see the perch glued to the bottom the color change is what made me fish this area. When perch are up and off the bottom slightly you can mark them fairly easy and they show us as little hooks along the bottom, often bunched up. 

We smoked em this day and others struggled and fished all by ourselves off 72nd street in september.


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## BrianSipe17 (Aug 5, 2006)

Thanks! A picture is worth a thousand words. Where is your transducer mounted? We have an old aluminum Starcraft. The main fishfinder's transducer is mounted to the right side of the motor. We don't get good readings when we are moving more than a couple miles per hour.


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## K gonefishin (May 4, 2004)

BrianSipe17 said:


> Thanks! A picture is worth a thousand words. Where is your transducer mounted? We have an old aluminum Starcraft. The main fishfinder's transducer is mounted to the right side of the motor. We don't get good readings when we are moving more than a couple miles per hour.



I have a glass boat with a shoot thru hull transducer so I get really good readings and can mark fish at high speeds I can pick up walleye and bait balls at 30 mph or better depending on conditions. 

Since perch are obviously smaller fish and don't mark as well as walleye I do need to slow down to mark but can still pick up schools at 15-20. A nice color lowrance is the way to go or hummingbird but I feel lowrance allow you to "mark" hooks fish better and they are easier to tell what's what. 

A properly mounted transducer is KEY to marking any fish at any speed.


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## ohiojmj (Apr 16, 2004)

BrianSipe17, I was losing signal at low speeds as well until I moved my transducer. It was right behind a strake where bubbles and turbulent water would cause the problem (thank you Cabelas rigging folks!). I moved it away from the strake and put it on a transducer mounting plate. I can now adjust without making my tin boat into swiss cheese. Increasing the depth of the transducer below the transom is another adjustment that may bring you a better signal. You might check fishfinder websites for transducer installtion info or surf "transducer mounting" here on OGF. Many eople have this problem. I read that some boat configurations make it unavoidable. Good Luck.


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## ohiojmj (Apr 16, 2004)

Kgone, I appreciate your post about the red dots being perch.....amazing. I must learn to read my new color HB 788CI. Great insight on how to find them tasty devils in the dirt.


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## ParmaBass (Apr 11, 2004)

And here's what a school of suspended Perch looks like on an Eagle 500c! Down and Up, I remember this day well!


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## K gonefishin (May 4, 2004)

Exackery  You need to learn how to read YOUR fishfinder at ALL speeds, marks change depending on how fast your moving (along with setting this is also another big topic), the slower your trolling the looooonger the marks are, your sitting still like anchored or ice fishing they will be long lines across your screen, trolling at 1.0 they will be decent long marks not really hooks, trolling at 2.0-2.5 they will be short upside down banana looking marks. Resolution and size of the screen plays a big role, my screen is 8.4 inches, Parmabass's screen is 5 inches with much lower resolution so his marks look bigger than mine do. Decieving if your not used to it.


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## BrianSipe17 (Aug 5, 2006)

My grandpa (of course he's old, old school) swears by installing a flasher for locating perch. He said they also perform better at higher speeds. Any thoughts? They are cheaper than a sonar like kgones...


Here's a pic of me an him fishing in the old tinny


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## FSHNERIE (Mar 5, 2005)

K gone thats what I look for....


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## Bluewalleye (Jun 1, 2009)

Color graph is the only way to go now days. I just got the Humminbird 586C, and can easily see the perch on the bottom when searching around at 5 to 10 mph. Makes it nice when searching for them.


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