‘If You Find One, You’ll Find A Hundred’ It’s A Perch Party On MN Lakes

It's the first weekend after the first full work week of 2026. Chances are you've got plans to NOT have plans after the holiday hustle and bustle. That's just fine, but if you are looking to get out and do something, you might want to head out to your favorite fishing spot, as this is a great time to catch perch.

A Lot Of Social Media Attention On Perch

I follow a handful of fishing pages on social media, and right now, I am seeing a lot of people out on the hard water having some great success catching perch. So, seeing that, here are a few things you should know about catching perch on a Minnesota lake over the next 4-6 weeks.

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Put Some Fish In Your Bucket

• Perch are available to catch year-round in Minnesota, meaning that they don’t have a closed season like some gamefish do, so you can legally fish for them now.
• Perch love to school up; there is a saying that I've been told a few times over the years, particularly during hard water season, and that is "If you find one, you'll find a hundred." If you drop in a line and don't get a bite, move around and look for a pod of fish, as once you find it, you'll more than likely fill your daily limit.
• Late February look to the shallower water. As winter continues into late February and March, perch will start to move toward spawning flats and shallow areas as ice out approaches. Late-season ice fishing can be a very productive period for perch, if you know where to look.

Head to the Minnesota DNR website for complete fishing regulations that you can look up by lake, here. 

Practice Safe Ice Fishing

Make sure that if you are heading out onto the lake this weekend, you are regularly checking ice thickness as you go. We've had a run of warmer weather, and I've seen some posts about bad ice popping up at entry points, thanks to the salt we put on the roads. Make sure you've got 4 inches of good ice under your feet.

Another thing you can do is check with the bait shop and see if they can't put you on some fish, or give you areas to avoid. You'd be surprised how many people don't ask when they are buying bait.

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