White Perch

Egg- I see the guys fishing from the bulkhead in Mays Landing on warm days. Figure they must be trying for perch.

Thanks, I know the bulkhead.
I was wondering about boat spots further down.

Egghead, water temps & salinity are the major concerns this time of year. The closer to spillways the better the bite IMHO. Luck.

Spillways? Like the Mays Landing dam?
What temp is ideal?

The sure fire spot is the outflow from the Beasley's Point powerplant's cooling tower, but I would advise against eating your catch. I don't know that the water there is necisarily contaminated but who knows.

Try the deep holes in the river bends south of Estell Manor Park to the English Creek Landing, they like being near the feeder creeks coming out of Macnamara. They'll take earthworms 2ft off the bottom. Lots of trees and debris so you may want to tie the weight on with 4-6 lb test so it breaks away if tangled and you don't loose your rig. On average, incoming tide has worked best.

I have heard some reports from the bulkhead back a week or so when we had some warm days in the high 50's. Most of my perch afficianado customers start at Betsy Scull road for the best early catches.

Probably the best perch fishing early has been in the Tuckahoe River and Patcong Creek.

It shouldn't be long now. You might even get a couple of those big silver line perch.

Do any bait shops have live grass shrimp yet?

Where is the outflow at Beasley,s Point ?
Are there any restictions on fishing around the power plant ?

Originally posted by DownRiver:
Where is the outflow at Beasley,s Point ?
Are there any restictions on fishing around the power plant ?

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DownRiver,
Welcome to the BassBarn.Com,
Glad To Have You Aboard..........

You can fish the outflow right off the fishing
pier they have next to it...Its open to the
Public,just drive into the Conectiv Power Plant
Entrance and veer to the right,you will see a
parking lot and the pier...

Originally posted by egghead:
Spillways? Like the Mays Landing dam?
What temp is ideal?

Click to expand...

You got it! As to an "ideal" temp.....have done well at 43 (about the same for short bass turn ons) wouldent consider it ideal...perhaps more of a starting point? but thats just me. Know a few that fish even lower temps. Grass shrimp on wire hooks with light drag has been most productive for me (thin wire keeps em alive longer). Bloods are good as well but favor the shrimp.

Egg-This is rite up my alley!!!

I will be starting to fish for perch in the river anytime now.What i do,is hop in the boat head down the river and fish the mouth of feeder creeks that lead into the main river.If you have a fish finder you can go slow and see where the drop-offs are and either anchor rite over it,or a little upstream or downstream,depending on the current and cast your bait in that direction.
I'll fish the river until late April or early May.Start off with grass shrimp then when the water warms up,bloodworms would be best....Good Luck!!...If you want more info E-mail me..Be glad to help you out!!

Hey, do all of u guys fish perch just because that's all there is to fish this time of year? Because i know that in the spring and summer time on the Deleware u can catch 40 or 50 a day just using nightcrawlers. I dont know if I'd eat them out of the Deleware but u can catch em all day, and I'd like it if u did because all they do is steal expensive bloods when striper fishing.

Actually perch are pretty tasty.
Nothing like a good ole perch fry!!!

yea but i never see ppl fish for em in the summer they usually are just considered an annoyance but i guess i wouldnt fish for em in the deleware if i was gonna eat em.Thanx though i was just wonderin what all the perch hype was about. I think personally that there's nothin better than fresh striper myself.Especially with some lemon and butter on the grill. Man can't wait till spring!

you can catch perch up on the tuckhoe river off of mosito landing road at the second boat ramp.lots of small ones but there are some that take your drag.

Decent size perch fillets soaked in Brine and then smoked with cherry wood are great! And just to beat you to the wizzen-heimmer question, they are not hard to lite..

Thanks for the advice folks. Perch taste great, area avialable early, and make great striper bait.

BTW, I fished the upper Chessie fopr perch near Turkey point a couple of years ago in the fall. We were mugging them on 1oz crippled herrings with a treble hook.

Originally posted by Guatemala Dave:
Most of my perch afficianado customers start at Betsy Scull road for the best early catches.

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That dirt road area leading to the landing is now off limits, it was always private, but it's now posted private property and blocked with dirt. The dwarf goat farmers bought all the surrounding land and have posted the land. I think they got tired of too many people flying down the road to get to the point. Cross that one off the list.