They're not harmful to humans and cooking kills them. Their inclination to avoid turbid and muddy environs and to reside in clean and cool habitat accounts for their firm white flesh, which has a flavor equal to that of its cousin, the highly touted walleye. A good bait to attract both young and mature yellow perch is a mealworm, which is the young larva of a beetle. Diet studies for fish 100 - 175 mm in size (4 - 7 inches) taken from the southern tip of Lake Michigan have indicated yellow perch are adept at eating small invertebrates or fish eggs, regardless of the food items encountered. Depth Range: 15m or on the bottom: Habitat: Look for the yellow perch in the southern parts of west-central and eastern Canada, South of Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio. Bigger fish such as walleye,pike and muskies eat yellow perch,as well as some largemouth bass and problably some salmonids,and of course humans! History lesson 101,, Yellow perch are smaller than most , but is "THE FISH" in Chicago on friday night. Ranging in length from six to 12 inches, yellow perch are easily distinguished from other perch by the five to nine black vertical bars on their yellow sides. I've had one year old perch spawn in our tanks, albeit small fragmented ribbons. One footnote--The game & fish Commissions around Lake Michigan had a problem with alewives, so they stocked coho salmon by the millions, thinking???? The record-setting perch was 18” long, and weighed in at a whopping 4 lb 3 oz! Title pretty much says it. However perch fishing can be alot of fun, and they are quite tasty. Do yellow perch eat minnows? Perch larvae hatch in 14 to 21 days and feed on a yolk sac for about one week. Eventually a yellow perch will notice the cluster of mealworms and strike. Perch will do fine and should be reproducing by age 3; Salmonid your crappie and lmb are probably feeding on your offspring but as the perch population ages you will get increased recruitment. Many anglers want to know if yellow perch eat minnows as part of their regular diet and if they can use minnows as bait to catch big perch. What I mean by this, the perch was scaled, heads removed, insides removed, breaded and fried. While yellow perch are found throughout the State in a variety of habitats, they prefer shallow, weedy protected sections of rivers, lakes, and ponds. I ask because I caught my first one today and wanted to eat it, but I let it go because I wasn't sure if it was good to eat … At about one month from hatching, their diet turns to insect larvae, freshwater shrimp and aquatic plants. History lesson 101,, Yellow perch are smaller than most , but is "THE FISH" in Chicago on friday night. Every Friday the local corner taverns served fresh perch this way. “So what do perch normally eat? I ask because I caught my first one today and wanted to eat it, but I let it go because I wasn't sure if it was good to eat …