I never have been a big proponent of using live bait for blue catfish but it seems the last several times I have been out I have caught my bigger fish on live perch. I am wondering if this is a normal summer pattern or an incidental coincidence?

It may be that the live perch is a bigger bait?

I think a lot of big fish like perch; I never really have fished with them as bait, but I am planning to start. I usually use lures on conventional and flies with flyrods, but I've decide to mix it up. When I was young, catching perch was one of the most enjoyable things my friends and I did, and we ate them, but they are in the food chain, reproduce fast, and are available, so it is no wonder big fish make them a part of their diet, often whatever species the big fish is.

live perch is a great summer time bait for a lot of things!

good question Brian, I also am not very experienced on using live bait for blue cats, I have thought about trying black salties, they are very hardy and lively bait, I might give it a try sometime and if I do any good then I will post

Its been my experience that live bluegill will catch me bigger cats in general but the biggest cats I have caught have came from gizzard shad pieces.

Where can you buy black salties around lavon?

Keep fishing with them Brian

These where just perch that I caught on the lake in my cast net. I throw them in the live well along with the shad...The shad die quickly but the perch stay alive. I just have noticed that the perch have seen to have been out catching the cut shad the last month or so.

I would imagine black salties would work much the same...but they are kind of expensive and tend to be smaller than these perch...you might end up catching some green fish as well. These perch are about the size of my palm...and they are getting hit by blues in the 5 to 10# range...while the cut shad is getting hit by fish in the 3 to 5# range.

I really believe that a bigger bait will catch bigger fish. That being said , I have caught many dinks bass fishing with ten inch worms.

I seem to have much better luck running live perch during the summer months and the bite tends to die off the colder it gets. Im heading to Ray Roberts this sunday night and im taking as many perch as my bait tank will hold.

I always do well with live bait, bigger the perch the better.

Make sure you have the receipt in hand for those perch. Wouldn't want to see anyone breaking the law.

Why would he need a reciept for perch?

According to the new zebra mussel law, fish may not be transported from one body of water to another. All live bait must be accompanied by a receipt to prove that it was not caught and then transported to another body of water.