I have never had a problem with perch eating minnows before the Crappie can get to them. But now, fishing brush piles in Canyon Lake for the last 5 weeks, I am having limited Crappie success because the perch are so quick to eat them. Yesterday I caught only 3 keepers, 3-4 dinks, with 5 dz minnows. I caught lots of unwanted perch of course. For some reason, jigs have not worked at all for me. I was wondering if this is unique to Canyon since it has not been a problem for me anywhere else. I suppose it's too much to hope for a solution, but any suggestions would be appreciated.

Try more weight to get past the bream.

Did they look like this??

Haha yes fishbonz!! Thank you!

Use a number 4 eagle claw Lazer sharp. That will catch those bait stealing perch. Throw them in the cooler and fix the problem. The big ones are good to eat, the small ones make good fertilizer.