Fishing stories from my youth - Yellow Perch in South Jersey

11. October 2008 by webmaster.

I remember fondly the lazy days of spring and summer when us kids would walk or ride our bikes to our favorite fishing place, located on a tidal tributory of the Tuckahoe River in Cape May County New Jersey.  Most of the time we fished for pickerel or white perch, but there were other fish there too, like catfish, roach, and occassionally a sunfish or bass (very rare).   It was a tidal river, brackish, so you would catch more white perch on mid and high tides, and generally more pickerel when it was more fresh on the low tides.  Sometimes on a high tide you would see saltwater things like blue claw crabs.   And very occassionally, on very low tides, we would luck out and get into some schools of yellow perch.  I remember one time in particular when we had some minnows for bait, and good old “cane poles” and a red & white bobber and got into a nice school of decent sized yellow perch, catching them one after another.   That was indeed a rare day, as I would bet over the hundred or so times I fished there in my youth, that it was about 50 times more likely to catch a white perch, as opposed to catching a yellow perch.  But it is always those special days that keep you coming back!!

 Even now, when I occiassionally go “back home” for a visit, I will still stop by and take a few casts there (although now with fly gear only), and I do still catch the white perch, the pickerel, or catfish……..but would give anything to get into a hungry school of yellow perch, like that magical day.

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