Borrowing a page from walleye anglers' mobile approach can keep you on yellow perch throughout the summer and well into fall.
A downsized spinner/crawler harness makes an ideal rig for checking out weed edges that summertime perch often set up along. Choose a rig with smaller hooks, like Northland Tackle's Live Forage Crawler Hauler, which is available with No. 4 hooks.
A spinner baited with a live 'crawler will get its share of bites if perch are present. If short-strikes become an issue — with the crawler bit off behind the trailing hook — replace it with a soft-bait like Northland's 4-inch Slurpies Ringworm or Yum 4-inch Ribworm. Other options are the Berkley PowerBaitNightcrawler and Northland's Impulse Nightcrawler, snipping off a couple inches of the head end of these 6-inch baits.
Rather than use the traditional bottom bouncer sinker ahead of the rig, try a bullet weight, the same style you'd use in Texas-rigging a plastic worm. The streamlined profile of this setup will come through the fringe of weed edges nicely. Match the size of the weight to the depth being fished, with quarter to three-quarter ounce versions covering most situations well.
Now, slow troll weed edges to locate perch, doubling back on productive areas. Sonar/GPS combos add to the efficiency of this tactic, accurately showing weed transitions as well as boat paths. Also, be sure to check out inside weed edges in lakes where they exist.
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