Fishing for small fry
What many call ‘perch' are actually sunfish — and they're great for beginners and advanced fishermen
What many call 'perch' are actually sunfish - and they're great for beginners and advanced fishermen

By Ed Godfrey

Published: August 3, 2008

DEEP FORK RIVER – It's been a long time since I did any "perch-jerking.”

As a kid, I can remember on occasion catching a basket of perch for supper, or what I thought were perch.

Since I've started covering the outdoors for The Oklahoman, the experts at the state Wildlife Department have educated me on a few things.

For one, what many Oklahomans identify as perch, or bream, are not really perch. They are sunfish. And in Oklahoma, the most popular species of sunfish are bluegills, redears and green sunfish.

"Perch is a family (of fish),” said Greg Summers, fisheries biologist for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. "Walleye and sauger are in that family.”

Bluegills are often called perch in Oklahoma and redears are referred to as "shell crackers,” Summers said. And green sunfish are often called "goggle eyes” by anglers, he said.

Why are sunfish commonly called perch in Oklahoma?

Summers theorizes the colloquialism may have originated in the northern states where there is a yellow perch that is a popular panfish.

"Anytime you were fishing for something small (in northern states), you were fishing for perch,” Summers said.

It's as good as theory as any.

Whatever you call 'em, they can be quite fun to catch, something I rediscovered recently on an adventure with a trio of fly fishermen.

Oklahoma City attorney and 89er Chapter Trout Unlimited member Jeff Hartmann, an avid fisherman, bought an "Oklahoma Bonefishing” trip at this summer's Oklahoma Wildlife Federation auction.

What is bonefishing in Oklahoma? Well, it's fly fishing for carp, and OWF board member George Edwards offered this fishing trip on the Deep Fork River through his property in Oklahoma City.

The headwaters of the Deep Fork flow from north Oklahoma City and empties into the North Canadian at Lake Eufaula about 200 miles away.

It was all kind of in jest, of course, and the money went for a good cause.

I tagged along to see if Hartmann, fellow 89er Trout Unlimited member Brian Ellis and Don Turnbull, a fly fishing guide from Sapulpa and member of the Tulsa Fly Fishers, could catch a carp on a fly rod.

Hartmann had even made a fly from yellow foam that looked like a kernel of corn and did the "Del Monte drift” on the Deep Fork.

Turnbull caught one carp but these three anglers had a blast pulling in small sunfish all evening.

"The only way this could be more fun is to have a kid with us,” Turnbull said.

"Perch-jerking” is a great way to introduce a kid to fishing or an adult to fly fishing.

"I like to take people fishing for bluegills who are just starting to learn to fly fish,” Hartmann said.

Bluegills are formidable adversaries on a fly rod, especially at American Horse Lake near Geary, a lake managed by the state Wildlife Department for trophy bluegills. A bluegill weighing a pound to two pounds is a big bluegill.

State wildlife officials keep a large population of bass in the lake and the predators thin the bluegill population, leaving less competition for groceries so the blugills that are there can grow.

"They're a fish you can find close to home and you don't have to worry about your technique,” Hartmann said of fly fishing for bluegills. "They are hungry and they are hungry all of the time. For a little guy, they pull hard. It's just fun.”

Oklahoma's lakes and small streams are full of sunfish. If you want to take a young kid fishing for them, get some small hooks, light line, a bobber and dangle crickets or worms off a lake dock or in a stream or farm pond.

"You can always usually catch some, just about anywhere,” Summers said.

Watching three grown men, all experienced fly fishermen, get such a kick out of catching sunfish like they were on a Colorado trout stream reminded me that fishing is not always about catching big fish.

It's about getting outside, enjoying the experience and surroundings, and creating memories with family and friends.

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