Best perch fishing lures

Hmm, now that’s a hard question to answer. Everyone has their own views on what they believe to be the best perch fishing lures on the market. The truth is most lures will catch perch on the right day in the right conditions at the right venue.

There is no denying that, but some just seem to stand the test of time and some just tend to shine just a tad above the rest of them. 

Back in the day spinners were the favoured technique if you were after a good size perch on the lures. Two makes of spinners that have definitely remained favourites in most fishermen’s eyes are the mighty Mepps and the awesome Ondex. Still to this day they remain favourite ‘go-to’ lures for many people worldwide when all else is failing.

Nowadays, although people still use faithful spinners, soft plastics seem to be dominating the market. With such a choice of techniques such as drop shotting, jigging, Cheb rigs, Ned rigs, Carolina and Texas rigs the choice of lures seems endless. 

Although soft plastics seem to be taking the world by storm, there is still plenty of fish to be caught on the ever-popular hard plastic lures. Top names such as Westin, Savage Gear, Rapala, and Salmo to name just a few are producing top lures to catch the increasing sort after perch.

The Best Spinners For Catching Perch

The Mighty Mepps Spinner

A Mepps spinner is a precision lure of unique design and great catching power. There are many sizes of spinners ranging from 00 to size 5, including the world-famous Aglia. All are highly effective at catching fish in freshwater or saltwater environments enticing a bite from many species of fish.

I personally think you will find them very reasonably priced and well worth the money. Mepps and spinners in general are different from the many lures on the market today due to the way they attract the fish.

The Mepps purposely doesn’t try to mimic any type of baitfish or creature in the water. Instead, they target the natural instinct of the predator fish. Armed with a spinning blade that flashes in the water, and vibrations that set off an irresistible pattern in the water, the fish just struggle to ignore these awesome-looking spinners.

Considering the vast amount of patterns and colours available (over 4000) I certainly am not going to mention them all now. My personal ‘go-to’ spinner has to be the Aglia. 

The Aglia comes in sizes from 0.0 being the smallest, up to a size 5 which weighs 1/2 oz. For Perch, I like to use any of the sizes up til 3, but all of them will catch depending on your venue. These spinners are well worth a place in your lure box.

The Ondex

My other favourite spinner for catching perch is another name that is renowned worldwide for its ability to catch fish. The awesome Ondex.

The Ondex is a slow rotating spinner with finishes in traditional attractive looks. Ideal for still or slow-moving waters, this lure fishes beautifully on a slow retrieve and can be fished in shallow waters with ease.

The slower throbbing pattern of the Ondex is irresistible to pike and perch. These truly are some of the most productive lures ever produced. When all else fails, usually these will produce.

The Abu Garcia Reflex

The Abu Garcia Reflex is another spinner that is well worth mentioning. This spinner has stood the test of time since it was first produced in the 1950’s.

This spinner really does tend to catch perch. The larger perch are definitely attracted to its vibrations. Even though the small fish love a bit of it as well.

Your average spinner gives off vibrations from the blade spinning in the water. The Reflex has added ridges to the blade that really do seem to help.

These spinners come in several sizes but the 45mm is the one I use the most.

If you like fishing with spinners, like catching big fish, and don’t mind catching the smaller perch as well, this spinner is worth a go.

The Best Hard Plastics For Catching Perch

The Salmo Hornet

The Salmo Hornet is a perfectly balanced hard plastic lure that comes in several colours, absolutely perfect for catching perch among many other species. The Hornet’s shape and design make it easy to cast and retrieve with an erratic swimming action that drives fish crazy!

Due to this certain wobble in the lure, even a straight retrieve gives it an awesome action, almost irresistible to any perch nearby. 

Basically with the Hornet, you have a choice of floating or diving, classic or rattling. The rattling version really does make the difference in coloured water. I quite often use the Fire perch rattling version on my local commercial fishery due to the muddy water stirred up by the carp. Without a doubt, the rattle helps with bringing more perch to the bank.

The Hornets really are good quality hard wearing lures equipped with razor sharp hooks and built to last. Because of the vast selection of Hornets on offer, there is one suited for almost every situation. These by far are my favourite hard plastic lures for perch fishing.

The Shakespeare S Range

This is another range of hard plastic lures that have stood the test of time for over 30 years. When a lure has been produced for that long you just know they are doing something right. Most of us certainly would have heard of the ‘Big S’ but did you know there is a Mini S and a Midi S?

Now there is also a ‘Mega S’ in the range that has an oversized eye added to the collection. Although I personally haven’t used these for perch due to their size.

There are two colours available in the S range, these are ‘perch stripe’ and ‘silver roach’. Both of which will certainly catch fish, but I do slightly favour the perch pattern personally.

The ‘S’ stands for shaker due to the vigorous shaking this lure gives off whilst retrieving it. Add to that the ball bearings inside adding vibrations in the water it truly makes the S range almost irresistible to perch. Chub, zander, and pike all also love this lure so it won’t just be perch coming to your net whilst using them.

I’ve been using these lures for over 30 years and will probably use them for another 30 to come.

The Rapala X rap

The Rapala X rap is another hard lure that I like to have in my lure box.

Due to the shape and size of the X rap it really is nice to cast. It is surprising just how far these little hard lures cast. They come in a range of sizes from an inch and a half up to just over four inches. All sizes will catch perch, but I favour the two smaller ones.

The colour of the X rap really depends on the conditions of the water and the venue you are fishing. The colour I probably use the most in almost all conditions is yellow perch. This colour just keeps on catching.

The smaller size X rap generally dives 3 to 4ft. These are perfect in the warmer months when the fish are up in the water, or in shallower venues.

The Best Soft Plastic Lures For Catching Perch

The Fox Spikey Shad

Soft plastic lures have proven very popular over recent years, with so many to choose from it’s hard to know where to start. Like with most styles of lures almost all types of soft plastics will catch on their day. But some of the better ones just stand out among the rest, and the Fox Spikey Shad is certainly one of them.

Due to the spikey design of this lure, it maximises the number of vibrations in the water. The spikes also seem to trap small air bubbles which get slowly released whilst the lure is being retrieved, adding to the attraction. The paddle tail also adds some awesome movement to these lures creating tempting movements to any perch nearby.

The Spikey shad comes in 4 sizes, 4 cm, 6 cm, 9 cm, and 12cm and over 20 different colours. I find the 4 cm is perfect when perch fishing on the drop shot. The 6 and the 9 cm I use with small jig heads which is equally as successful on its day.

These little lures are designed to mimic baitfish and in my eyes do a great job of doing just that. When it comes to perch fishing lures in soft plastic these bad boys are hard to beat.

The Westin Blood Teez

I couldn’t do my favourite perch fishing lures without adding the mighty Westin blood teez. I absolutely love these little finesse-type lures. A staple diet of most freshwater fish is the humble blood worm. So to me, it makes perfect sense to fish a lure that mimics these certain worms.

The worm itself is made up of several small segments that make these lures super supple making them move around in the water just like a real worm. 

They come in 2 sizes consisting of 5.5 cm and 7.5 cm and a good variety of colours to choose from.

The good thing about these lures is that you can fish them in several different ways. I prefer to use them on the drop shot.

 As well as just nose hooking them you can fish them wacky style. This consists of hooking them straight through the middle of the body giving it a new action in the water. You can also hook several on one hook making it a bigger lure in the water.

And why not try mixing the colours up. All in all the Bloodteez is a very versatile little lure for catching perch.

Give them a go and see what you think. If you are into your micro jigging these could also work for you.

The Korum Squirmz

The Korum Squirmz is a buoyant stick bait that is perfect for the Ned rig.

If you are targeting perch in a venue that has a lot of pike, be warned that pike love them as well. Squirmz come in packs of 3. These come rigged with the ned heads already rigged up.

The LMAB Finesse Filet Craw

These LMAB finesse filet craw lures are an awesome little bait. They imitate crawfish (crayfish) and do an awesome job of doing so. I prefer to use them when drop shotting for perch. They are super stretchy and have an awesome profile.

I use the 4cm and the 7cm sizes the most for perch fishing. When it comes to colour I think there is 10 to choose from. My favourite colour by far is junebug. I just love this colour.

Conclusion

There are literally thousands of perch fishing lures out there that will catch you fish on certain days. I’m not saying none of the others won’t work, these are just my favourite ones on the market that will always have a place in my lure box. These are good lures with good action that tend to catch a lot of fish for me.

Tight lines and enjoy your fishing.

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