By Peter Brookes
When February rolls around, most anglers have had about as much of being stuck indoors and away from their favorite fishing hole as they can stand.
“Cabin fever” among anglers ranks right up there with the flu as an unwelcome winter illness. This year’s bone-chilling polar vortex only made it worse.
But letting cabin fever get to you isn’t the answer.
Instead, put on your warmest woolies and go outside and fish. Yes, “Go outside and fish!” One of the best options in late winter is fishing for yellow perch in the Northwest River.
Indeed, the Northwest River, a scenic, underdeveloped waterway in the rural Hampton Roads area, is one of the first rivers in the state to have a spawning run of trophy-sized yellow perch.
Yellow perch start to spawn in late-February to early-March as the days get longer and the water temperatures creep toward 45 degrees to 50 degrees.
The pre-spawn and spawning activity means that these fish can be found in concentrations, can be quite large and—perhaps, best of all—are quite willing to hit your lure, bait or fly.
But why get out of the easy chair, turn off the TV, and brave Jack Frost to fish for yellow perch? It turns out that yellow perch aren’t only good fishing, they’re darn good eating.
That should come as no surprise as the Perca Flavescens—the impress-your-fishing-buddies, Latin name for the yellow perch—is a member of the same family that also includes the walleye and sauger. These fish are some of the best – if not the best eating fish around.
According to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF), yellow perch in the Old Dominion average 6 inches to 8 inches in length, but can get as big as 14 inches to 15 inches and weigh in at 1 1/2 pounds to 2 pounds.
While the Northwest River is unique as an early spawning river for yellow perch, fishery experts say that these fish can also be found in other tidal tributary rivers such as the Potomac, Rappahannock, Chickahominy, Nottoway and New Rivers.
Some other good fishing for yellow perch can be found in Virginia’s Machodoc, Maddox, Aquia and Occoquan Creeks and Western Branch, Prince, Waller Mill, Little Creek, Holliday, Moomaw and Claytor Lakes.
But how do you put one on the line?
Able anglers tell me that you have to go deep for yellow perch in winter. Think jigging for spin fishers or nymphing for fly fishers. Of course, live bait such as minnows work—and is probably the best overall bait for hooking these fish.
DGIF also recommends other live baits such as mummichogs, mayfly nymphs, worms and grubs. But yellow perch will also hammer fish eyes, cut bait and pork rind.
Artificials work, too, including small spoons, spoon hooks, spinners, bucktails, and spinner baits. Streamers for fly anglers is a good choice.
There’s currently no shot for cabin fever. Medical science just hasn’t progressed that far–yet. But catching a limit of trophy yellow perch in the dead of winter on the Northwest River may be the best medicine of all for battling this most awful of angler afflictions.
Freshwater Report
The Pros at Greentop report that bass fishing has been very good on the Chickahominy lately. The baits to use have been lipless cranks, jerkbaits, Silver Buddies, and jigs. A-rigs have been catching both stripers and bass, but the stripers have to be released. Chickahominy Lake has also been good. The pits along the James always have the potential for quality, and trophy sized Bass. The same baits used on the Chick, work well on the James. Large blue catfish are being targeted and caught on the tidal rivers. Lately, the Rappahannock seems to be more popular. The Tappahannock area has been good. The upper James was in great shape a few days ago, leaving a great opportunity for smallmouth fishing. Now, the river is on the rise again and will be tough the next few days. The stripers at Kerr slowed a little after the warm weather left, but anglers chasing them are finding them in the same areas, just deeper. Casting swim baits to points and covering water has been key. The shallows warmed nicely during the warming trend, triggering movements of bass. Crankbaits, jerkbaits, and lipless cranks were responsible for many catches over the weekend in many places. The crappie turned on nicely, as many big fish were caught, including a 3-pounder from Kerr. The warmer weather especially impacted the smaller bodies of water, enabling nice catches of bass, crappie and pickerel.
Saltwater News
The sea bass bite remains strong out on ocean structures. The month-long season ends Feb. 28. Folks are waiting for the bluefin tuna bite to finally take off. We had a bit of a spark over the last 2 weeks, but this week has been slow. There were some blackfin tuna and Mahi caught over the last week.
In the Nags Head surf, it’s been dog sharks, dog sharks and more dog sharks. Down at Hatteras Harbor, one boat ventured out on a cold rainy Monday and caught a few blackfin tuna, some Mahi and a scattering of sea bass.