Northwest Fishing Reports

I was wondering if anyone had some advice on how to rig live perch for catching dogfish? Just moved from AZ, and the kids just love to catch (and release) those little sharks. I was fishing Oak Harbor using frozen herring this weekend and couldn't keep the darn crabs away. Then this young man suggested I use live perch, and happily offered me one to try. I hooked it in the tail and cast out. Almost immediately I had a strike, missed the fish and when I reeled in to check on the bait I noticed that the head was bitten off!! I then re-hooked another perch just behing the head and hooked up to a nice 3 footer in no time. While we had many hits, it just seemed that they would eat the end that the hook wasn't on. I know some people consider these fish to be a neusance, for kids they are great entertainment. Also if anyone has a spot closer than Oak Harbor I would love to hear about it. I live in Mukilteo and have to take the ferry, or drive the 1.5 hours!!! But hey to see the kids happy doing something I loved when I was a kid is priceless. Thank you for any help.

Im not sure if it is legal to use live perch. And you should consider moving this to the freshwater fishing forum. This forum is for technical support/moderator support.

nickbell wrote:Im not sure if it is legal to use live perch. And you should consider moving this to the freshwater fishing forum. This forum is for technical support/moderator support.

Ya, I'm gonna try to see if I can move it. Here goes.

Yea! It worked.

I moved it to 'salt water fishing'. dog fish = salt water.

Ok, I'm gonna say no, you can't use fresh water perch to use for bait in salt water. As far as using sea perch for shark bait, I don't know. Call the Wa. State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife to get the best and latest info.

Amx wrote:Yea! It worked.

Sorry guys.....I'm a novice....

A berkely GULP! 6 inch curly tailed jig on a 2 to 4oz jig head will catch a TON of dogfish. If you tie a small hook and put it through the tail of the grub, you'll increase your hookup rate, AND you'll catch plenty of flounder/sole as well, which are good table fare.

Amx wrote:Ok, I'm gonna say no, you can't use fresh water perch to use for bait in salt water. As far as using sea perch for shark bait, I don't know. Call the Wa. State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife to get the best and latest info.

Will do.....Thanks for your help..

bionic_one wrote:A berkely GULP! 6 inch curly tailed jig on a 2 to 4oz jig head will catch a TON of dogfish. If you tie a small hook and put it through the tail of the grub, you'll increase your hookup rate, AND you'll catch plenty of flounder/sole as well, which are good table fare.

Thanks for the advice..
How do you get the second hook in the tail?? Do you work it slow on the bottom?? Sorry, being from AZ the only fish I know are bass, crappie, and catfish..NO experience with saltwater.. Also any recomended spots from the shore? Again, thank you for any help.

Troy

Amx wrote:Yea! It worked.

I moved it to 'salt water fishing'. dog fish = salt water.

Oops, yeah thats what i meant!

Live baitfish can't be used in freshwater (only). Dead baitfish can be used anywhere other than special regs (freshwater) areas. Perch (fresh or saltwater) can be used for bait as long as one doesn't exceed the limit for "bait". Dead in freshwater and live in saltwater.

You advisors need to read and understand the regulations. Otherwise you give someone wrong advice.

zen leecher aka Bill W wrote:Live baitfish can't be used in freshwater (only). Dead baitfish can be used anywhere other than special regs (freshwater) areas. Perch (fresh or saltwater) can be used for bait as long as one doesn't exceed the limit for "bait". Dead in freshwater and live in saltwater.

You advisors need to read and understand the regulations. Otherwise you give someone wrong advice.

Zen (Bill),
Thanks for the clarrification....Was getting scared there for a second that I was doing something wrong..

Perfectly legal in the salt. Get a Sabaki rig, its a series of small hooks on a 3'-5' leader and you can catch perch a couple at a time and fill a bucket quick. As far as rigging what ever works, try a mooching leader with 1/0 hooks. 1 hook through the lips and let the 2nd hook dangle, but there is more than 1 way to skin a cat. I know some people will drop shot their bait when crabs are a problem.

Sabaki

http://www.cabelas.com/link-12/product/ ... erralID=NA

Mooching leader


http://www.cabelas.com/link-12/product/ ... erralID=NA

Drop shot

http://www.60secondangler.com/images/ar ... opshot.jpg

troylangdon wrote: Also any recomended spots from the shore? Again, thank you for any help.

Troy

If you live in Mukilteo, are you familiar with the fishing pier that is located at the Mukilteo ferry dock? At least it is a shore bound access point. I find dogfish to be in deeper water though. I guess it can't hurt to give it a try.

If you have the opportunity to get out on a boat, you cannot go wrong almost anywhere if looking for dogfish. I catch them in more of the 60-90' of water range. Think of large bait that will stay away from the flounder. Whole herring, look for various whole body fish that you can buy in asian grocery stores. I think one of them was called Butter fish.

So I gotta speak up!! Am I the only one who has a problem with using a live fish as bait when doing "catch and release" for a crap fish. Use a bobber to keep your bait off the bottom.

wintersteelhead wrote:So I gotta speak up!! Am I the only one who has a problem with using a live fish as bait when doing "catch and release" for a crap fish. Use a bobber to keep your bait off the bottom.

Shiner perch are heavily HEAVILY abundant in Puget Sound. I see no harm in using them for bait for catch and release fishing, once the bait is off the hook it will sink to the bottom and be eaten by crabs, sculpins, flatties, and insects OR the dogfish will have ingested it and can enjoy the meal (after the scare of its lifetime).

Its no different than using dead herring for bait, they once were alive, they just happen to be dead when you are using them. Still the loss of a life.

gpc wrote:Perfectly legal in the salt. Get a Sabaki rig, its a series of small hooks on a 3'-5' leader and you can catch perch a couple at a time and fill a bucket quick. As far as rigging what ever works, try a mooching leader with 1/0 hooks. 1 hook through the lips and let the 2nd hook dangle, but there is more than 1 way to skin a cat. I know some people will drop shot their bait when crabs are a problem.

...

careful there.

they changed the rules this year, and placed a limit of 15 for shiner perch.

limit is 10 in Puget Sound, for other kinds of perch (pile perch, striped seaperch)

bummer

Use herring, and keep it off the bottom to avoid crabs. We dogfish don't care if the bait is live or not. Its perfectly legal, but not necessary to use a live perch for bait.

Im with Jake. Why would you use perch in the first place. Seems silly to me seeing that nothing catches doggies better then herring or shiners.

pacific staghorn sculpin fillets work well too!