Flash Luring Perch

Flash lures come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some have distinctly pronounced wobbles, while others randomly flutter and fall. We divide flash lures into three categories—straight, bent, and super-action. Straight lures, like the Acme Kastmaster or Northland Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon, have flat profiles, modest flash and vibration, rarely tangle, and are easy to wiggle on the hold. Bent lures, like the JB Lures Angel-Eye Spoon or Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle Rattl’r Spoon, are curved and tend to drift slightly to the side of the hole. Super-action lures, like Reef Runner Slender Spoon or the Acme Phoebe, create tremendous vibration on the upstroke and have an intense side-to-side wobble on the fall.

Popular lure sizes for perch weigh between 1/16 and 1/4 ounce. Larger baits offer lots of flash, vibration, and flutter. Smaller lures of the same shape transmit less flash and vibration and may not flutter as distinctly (not necessarily a bad thing—sometimes less is what perch want). I generally start with a 1/4-ounce flash lure to attract fish (more flash and vibration), then downsize if perch are reluctant to take the larger bait.

Some flash lures feature rattles, others fancy paint-jobs, including bright, glowing colors. Lures that rattle, for instance, attract and trigger perch via sound and feel. They work well in most waters, but they’re especially effective in murky or dark water. Glow lures excel in stained or deep water and during twilight hours. Exactly what’s triggering perch to bite can change daily, and experimenting is the only way to determine whether or not size, shape, rattle, color, or glow baits make a difference.

“I like flash lures that I can work fairly straight up and down,” Mitchell says. “Acme Kastmasters and Swedish Pimples are classics that produce perch year after year on Devils Lake. I really like Lindy’s Rattl’r,” he adds. “Not so much for the rattles, but the small heavy spoon cuts through the water and keeps my line tight, which allows me to detect even light bites.”

Tipping flash lures with bait is mandatory for perch. Sometimes packing the treble hook with 10 or more grubs is what fish want; other times, adding just a few maggots produces better than any other combination.

“The key is to use a bait that stays on your hook,” he says. “Minnow heads work, but they tend to fall off if you’re jigging aggressively. Sometimes I use the tail portion of a minnow and set the hook through the spine to ensure the meat stays on. Hooking a bunch of spikes, or a combination of waxworms and spikes, can be good, too. In North Dakota, it’s legal to use perch eyes and they’re great for tipping. They hold lots of scent that perch seem to love, and the eye stays on the hook for several fish.”

Adding a swivel 12 to 14 inches above your lure helps reduce line twist. Quality ball-bearing snap-swivels work, too, and make it easy to change lures. Some anglers are apprehensive about using snap-swivels, believing they’re gaudy and deter strikes; but I know too many good anglers using them with flash lures to believe snap-swivels bother perch.