Rocker jig with perch eye or mousees. Wigglers if they are fussy. Perch could be suspending by now. Your guide will be on it.

You have to have at least one Macho Minnow in your pocket for perch.

WS

Did that when we ran out of minnow on Higgins Lake...worked well. Before running out of bait, used a bell sinker with two drop lines about 3 inches each. Small hook with minnows...very light gear. Catch two 10 inch perch at once on super light gear coming out of 60 feet of water and you thought you had a whale by the tail....fun times

Ill add that the bite on Saginaw Bay has been real good for perch this year and most folks I know are using russian hooks....have to google them as i dont know how to do pics and links....keep in mind it is shallow fishing on the Bay

A #10 Kahle has been my "go to" rig for walleyes and crappies for years.

Beav have you ever tried tip downs ? This was something I saw on youtube and tried.They caught us a good many nice perch this year.I tried tip ups and had very little success with them.

I use tip downs all the time for crappies in less than 20 feet of water. In 50-60 feet, like Mendota perch, there are more practical solutions. I'm not Beav but thought I'd answer since it's probably past his bedtime.

I cant believe there will be any ice left , please be safe

I like to use Kodiak and Hali jigs for perch with a dropper chain. Don't be fooled by the hook size, just bring pliers or hemo's. This year, when we had fishable ice here, they were finicky on what they wanted them tipped with. Some days spikes, other days waxies, and when I ran out of the other two, mealworms, but they had to be crushed (I believe the little bit of scent helped there). Cadence was drop it on the bottom three times, then raise it up a foot and watch your Vex. The perch usually came right in and bit within 10-15 seconds, while the sunfish liked to eyeball the baits and sometimes would just look at it.

Good luck, give us a report when you get back.

I would expect the guide to have all the tackle needed. I would have asked that right off the bat to be sure.
Been on many guided fishing trips and you could bring your stuff and use it but the guides always had stuff encase you bought the wrong stuff.

A guides job is to help you catch fish, if you get a guide that just tells you where to fish thats a poor guide.
He should show you where, how and with the proper bait/rod/line setup.

To be successful when fishing Mendota perch you need to have the rod In hand and be lighting fast on the hook set. Sometimes the bite Is so light you never see It. Lots of times you catch one when your moving your bait and you never see or feel the bite.

Are you bringing your locators or Is the guide furnishing you with one per fisherman? I'm being told the perch are know suspended. Sometimes as much as 10' or more off the bottom. A locator Is going to be your best friend In finding fish. Do you have your own augers? If so drill lots of holes and get use to hole hopping.

Beav, I plan on bringing my own... He will supply them but I would prefer to use my own locator. He's guiding Thursday-Saturday and we're heading out on Sunday so hopefully he's on fish by then.

Good luck.

If your after numbers, Monona would be the lake to fish. 30-35 feet of water for med to nice perch. Some really nice ones on Mendota just not the numbers. The thing about fishing shallow is you can release the dinks and they'll and survive. Deep water when you bring them up fast the air sack pops out their mouth, no releasing those fish and should become part of bag limit. As for bait #8 glo rat finkie with a few spikes to start, then perch eyes. Monona and Mendota are about 1.5 miles apart

My buddy just called and said he and another friend caught 35 yesterday on Mendota They were In 65' of water and the fish were right on the bottom. He said they had to work for them.

Appreciate the update- The guide said they were deep and getting them on Rat Finkies and small flies tipped with two Red Spikes, using a Mendota Pencil Weight to get down deep and fast. I've ice fished 15 out of the last 17 days and I'm sure my wife is super excited that I'm heading out for this opportunity

Ultralite reel, 6 lb. braided line with a 4lb. leader. A bell sinker on the end of the line and 2 droppers with the lowest one a 1' above the sinker and the other one a 1.5' above the sinker. Use rockers and teardrop jigs tipped with mousies. Reel them in as quick as you can and get back to the bottom as fast as possible.

Just wanted to follow up with some pics and special thanks for feedback and tips that proved to be very beneficial. I’ll preface it by saying I really didn’t need to catch a fish- spending the day with my son on the ice is great day. We limited out with some good eaters, the bite was extremely light with fast moving schools. Choices are: Chase them or Wait them out... we did a little of both. We fished 74’ water and most fish were caught 12’ off the bottom on light line, a pencil weight and a Rat Finkie tipped with (4) ted spikes. We went out at 6:00 am the guide was great and took us out about 1.7 miles in an air boat. If the perch even breathed on the hook you had to respond with a lightening fast hook set, no jigging just a twitch or shaking motion. Watching the graphics was important and if the fish were closing fast a slight uplift seemed to trigger more bites. I also used beaver tail and it worked equally as well Today was the last day of ice fishing for us- great end to a great season.

Nice pictures and catch.Way to go.