Indiana Lake Depths

Panfish · perch family

Yellow perch

Perca flavescens · also called ringed perch, lake perch

Native to IndianaRecorded in 57 Indiana lakes
Illustration of a yellow perch in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Typical adult
5–12 in, a quarter pound to a pound
Spawns
Mid-April to early May, in jelly-like egg strands
Eats
Aquatic insects, larger invertebrates and small fish
Favors
Fairly clear lakes with rooted plants
Indiana record
3 lb 2 oz — Lake Indiana, Lake County, 2024

Where yellow perch have been recorded

57 of the 111 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list yellow perch, across 17 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Wawasee, Kosciusko CountyLake Maxinkuckee, Marshall CountyLake Manitou, Fulton CountyCrooked Lake, Steuben CountyCedar Lake, Lake CountyDewart Lake, Kosciusko CountyBig Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyOliver Lake, LaGrange CountyWorster Lake, St. Joseph CountyJames Lake, Kosciusko CountyKickapoo Lake, Sullivan CountyPike Lake, Kosciusko CountyBlue Lake, Whitley CountyWitmer Lake, LaGrange CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyPretty Lake, LaGrange CountyHoffman Lake, Kosciusko CountyWestwood Run Lake, Henry CountyWall Lake, LaGrange CountyLittle Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyRound Lake, Whitley CountyBear Lake, Noble CountyBixler Lake, Noble CountyCedar Lake, LaGrange CountyNyona Lake, Fulton CountyDiamond Lake, Noble CountyBarton Lake, Steuben CountyCass Lake, LaGrange CountyFish Lake, LaGrange CountyHunter Lake, Elkhart CountyTroy-Cedar Lake, Whitley CountyPretty Lake, Marshall CountyMyers Lake, Marshall CountyWestler Lake, LaGrange CountyAppleman Lake, LaGrange CountyLawrence Lake, Marshall CountyRiddles Lake, St. Joseph CountySaugany Lake, LaPorte CountyLittle Long Lake, Noble CountyRoyer Lake, LaGrange CountyMessick Lake, LaGrange CountyLower Long Lake, Noble CountyHackleburg Lake, LaGrange CountyLincoln Lake, Spencer CountyWilliams Lake, Noble CountyLoomis Lake, Porter CountyBell Lake, Steuben CountyFletcher Lake, Fulton CountyMcClish Lake, Steuben CountyRosser Park Pond, Lake CountySacarider Lake, Noble CountyCedar Lake, DeKalb CountyEve Lake, LaGrange CountyBaugher Lake, Noble CountyGordy Lake, Noble CountyDixon Lake, Marshall CountyMartindale, Wayne County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 57lakes where a DNR fisheries survey caught them

A lake can appear in more than one line. A lake that isn’t listed may still have them: records exist only where someone caught, netted or stocked them.

Inland lakes on this list run from 15 to 3,508 acres (median 102) and from 8 to 90 ft deep (median 40 ft).

How many turn up in DNR surveys

Indiana DNR crews survey lakes the same way everywhere: timed night electrofishing along the shore, plus gill and trap nets set overnight. The standard method makes lakes comparable. These are the DNR’s own sampling rates from its community surveys, 2008–2025 — a measure of how many fish a lake holds, not how many an angler will catch.

Found in
47 of 100 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
1.0 per net lift where found
Highest
16.0 per net lift
Method
fish per net lift (gill and trap nets)

“Typical” is the median across the lakes where the survey caught at least one. Nets and electrofishing catch different fish: by the other method it turned up in 42 lakes at a typical 10 per hour of electrofishing. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.

Highest survey rates on this site

  1. Pike Lake, Kosciusko 2016 16.0
  2. Pretty Lake, Marshall 2017 11.2
  3. Lake Manitou, Fulton 2017–2021 10.1
  4. Worster Lake, St. Joseph 2016–2024 5.2
  5. Fletcher Lake, Fulton 2013 4.8
  6. Lake Wawasee, Kosciusko 2008–2022 3.4
  7. Loomis Lake, Porter 2016 3.0
  8. Lake Maxinkuckee, Marshall 2020 2.9
  9. Stone Lake, LaPorte 2017 2.8
  10. Round Lake, Whitley 2016 2.5

Fish per net lift (gill and trap nets), with survey years. Survey effort and season differ between lakes.

Often found with

Share of these lakes that also list each fish.

How to recognize it

Golden yellow to brassy green with six to eight dark vertical bars, orange-tinged lower fins, and a dark blotch at the rear of the first dorsal fin. No large canine teeth.

Don’t confuse it with

Walleye — A larger relative with large canine teeth and a big, cloudy eye.

Life in an Indiana lake

Yellow perch live mostly in lakes and reservoirs, often around rooted plants in relatively clear water.

They spawn in spring, draping long strands of eggs over plants or sunken brush; the strands swell into a gelatinous mass. The parents give no care.

Source: the sources below.

Rules and eating

Check the rules before you keep fish. Each lake page shows the regulations that apply there, and the Indiana Fishing Guide is the official source. Before eating fish from a particular lake, check the Indiana Fish Consumption Advisory.

All 57 lakes with yellow perch

Show every lake, by county

DeKalb County 1

Cedar Lake

Elkhart County 1

Hunter Lake

Fulton County 3

Fletcher Lake, Lake Manitou, Nyona Lake

Henry County 1

Westwood Run Lake

Kosciusko County 7

Big Chapman Lake, Dewart Lake, Hoffman Lake, James Lake, Lake Wawasee, Little Chapman Lake, Pike Lake

LaGrange County 13

Appleman Lake, Cass Lake, Cedar Lake, Eve Lake, Fish Lake, Hackleburg Lake, Messick Lake, Oliver Lake, Pretty Lake, Royer Lake, Wall Lake, Westler Lake, Witmer Lake

LaPorte County 2

Saugany Lake, Stone Lake

Lake County 2

Cedar Lake, Rosser Park Pond

Marshall County 5

Dixon Lake, Lake Maxinkuckee, Lawrence Lake, Myers Lake, Pretty Lake

Noble County 9

Baugher Lake, Bear Lake, Bixler Lake, Diamond Lake, Gordy Lake, Little Long Lake, Lower Long Lake, Sacarider Lake, Williams Lake

Porter County 1

Loomis Lake

Spencer County 1

Lincoln Lake

St. Joseph County 2

Riddles Lake, Worster Lake

Steuben County 4

Barton Lake, Bell Lake, Crooked Lake, McClish Lake

Sullivan County 1

Kickapoo Lake

Wayne County 1

Martindale

Whitley County 3

Blue Lake, Round Lake, Troy-Cedar Lake

Sources

← All fish of Indiana