Indiana Lake Depths

Panfish · perch family

Yellow perch

Perca flavescens · also called ringed perch, lake perch

Native to IndianaRecorded in 106 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

106 of the 186 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list yellow perch, across 19 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Wawasee, Kosciusko CountyLake Maxinkuckee, Marshall CountyBass Lake, Starke CountyTippecanoe Lake, Kosciusko CountyHamilton Lake, Steuben CountyLake Manitou, Fulton CountyCrooked Lake, Steuben CountyCedar Lake, Lake CountySylvan Lake, Noble CountyWinona Lake, Kosciusko CountyDewart Lake, Kosciusko CountyBig Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyLake of the Woods, Marshall CountyOliver Lake, LaGrange CountyWorster Lake, St. Joseph CountyKoontz Lake, Starke CountyAdams Lake, LaGrange CountyJAMES LAKE, Kosciusko CountyKickapoo Lake, Sullivan CountyPike Lake, Kosciusko CountyBlue Lake, Whitley CountyWitmer Lake, LaGrange CountyBig Lake, Noble CountyShipshewana Lake, LaGrange CountySilver Lake, Steuben CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyWabee Lake, Kosciusko CountyPretty Lake, LaGrange CountyIrish Lake, Kosciusko CountyHoffman Lake, Kosciusko CountyWestwood Run Lake, Henry CountyAtwood Lake, LaGrange CountyBeaver Dam Lake, Kosciusko CountyFox Lake, Steuben CountyWall Lake, LaGrange CountyLittle Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyKuhn Lake, Kosciusko CountyRound Lake, Whitley CountyLittle Turkey Lake, LaGrange CountyBear Lake, Noble CountySkinner Lake, Noble CountyBixler Lake, Noble CountyCedar Lake, LaGrange CountyIndiana Lake, Elkhart CountyCenter Lake, Kosciusko CountyStone Lake, LaGrange CountyNyona Lake, Fulton CountyDiamond Lake, Noble CountyBarton Lake, Steuben CountyCass Lake, LaGrange CountyFlint Lake, Porter CountySechrist Lake, Kosciusko CountySouth Mud Lake, Fulton CountyClear Lake, LaPorte CountyFish Lake, LaGrange CountyRound Lake, Noble CountyHunter Lake, Elkhart CountyTROY-CEDAR LAKE, Whitley CountyPretty Lake, Marshall CountyMyers Lake, Marshall CountyWestler Lake, LaGrange CountyBall Lake, Steuben CountyUpper Long Lake, Noble CountyAppleman Lake, LaGrange CountyLawrence Lake, Marshall CountyDiamond Lake, Kosciusko CountyCree Lake, Noble CountyRiddles Lake, St. Joseph CountyEagle Lake, Noble CountySaugany Lake, LaPorte CountyLittle Long Lake, Noble CountyRoyer Lake, LaGrange CountyHill Lake, Kosciusko CountyMessick Lake, LaGrange CountyLower Long Lake, Noble CountyIndian Lake, DeKalb CountyHackleburg Lake, LaGrange CountyLincoln Lake, Spencer CountyWilliams Lake, Noble CountyLoomis Lake, Porter CountyBell Lake, Steuben CountyLittle Cedar Lake, Whitley CountyFletcher Lake, Fulton CountyEngle Lake, Noble CountyGilbert Lake, Marshall CountyMcClish Lake, Steuben CountyRosser Park Pond, Lake CountyRound Lake, Steuben CountyOld Lake, Whitley CountySacarider Lake, Noble CountyCedar Lake, DeKalb CountyEve Lake, LaGrange CountyBrokesha Lake, LaGrange CountyBaugher Lake, Noble CountyGordy Lake, Noble CountyDixon Lake, Marshall CountyCrane Lake, Noble CountyGreen Lake, Steuben CountyClear Lake, Porter CountyHenry Lake, Steuben CountyOgle Lake, Brown CountyPleasant Lake, Noble CountyLake Arrowhead, Steuben CountyMartindale, Wayne CountyFancher Lake, Lake CountyMoss Lake, Noble County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 106lakes 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 9 to 3,508 acres (median 103) and from 8 to 125 ft deep (median 38.5 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
92 of 170 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
1.1 per net lift where found
Highest
26.2 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 73 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. Winona Lake, Kosciusko 2017–2020 26.2
  2. Pike Lake, Kosciusko 2016 16.0
  3. Pretty Lake, Marshall 2017 11.2
  4. Lake Manitou, Fulton 2017–2021 10.1
  5. Adams Lake, LaGrange 2011 9.5
  6. Hill Lake, Kosciusko 2019 9.0
  7. Lake of the Woods, Marshall 2015–2024 8.2
  8. Fox Lake, Steuben 2015 5.2
  9. Worster Lake, St. Joseph 2016–2024 5.2
  10. Fletcher Lake, Fulton 2013 4.8

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 106 lakes with yellow perch

Show every lake, by county

Brown County 1

Ogle Lake

DeKalb County 2

Cedar Lake, Indian Lake

Elkhart County 2

Hunter Lake, Indiana Lake

Fulton County 4

Fletcher Lake, Lake Manitou, Nyona Lake, South Mud Lake

Henry County 1

Westwood Run Lake

Kosciusko County 17

Beaver Dam Lake, Big Chapman Lake, Center Lake, Dewart Lake, Diamond Lake, Hill Lake, Hoffman Lake, Irish Lake, JAMES LAKE, Kuhn Lake, Lake Wawasee, Little Chapman Lake, Pike Lake, Sechrist Lake, Tippecanoe Lake, Wabee Lake, Winona Lake

LaGrange County 19

Adams Lake, Appleman Lake, Atwood Lake, Brokesha Lake, Cass Lake, Cedar Lake, Eve Lake, Fish Lake, Hackleburg Lake, Little Turkey Lake, Messick Lake, Oliver Lake, Pretty Lake, Royer Lake, Shipshewana Lake, Stone Lake, Wall Lake, Westler Lake, Witmer Lake

LaPorte County 3

Clear Lake, Saugany Lake, Stone Lake

Lake County 3

Cedar Lake, Fancher Lake, Rosser Park Pond

Marshall County 7

Dixon Lake, Gilbert Lake, Lake Maxinkuckee, Lake of the Woods, Lawrence Lake, Myers Lake, Pretty Lake

Noble County 20

Baugher Lake, Bear Lake, Big Lake, Bixler Lake, Crane Lake, Cree Lake, Diamond Lake, Eagle Lake, Engle Lake, Gordy Lake, Little Long Lake, Lower Long Lake, Moss Lake, Pleasant Lake, Round Lake, Sacarider Lake, Skinner Lake, Sylvan Lake, Upper Long Lake, Williams Lake

Porter County 3

Clear Lake, Flint Lake, Loomis Lake

Spencer County 1

Lincoln Lake

St. Joseph County 2

Riddles Lake, Worster Lake

Starke County 2

Bass Lake, Koontz Lake

Steuben County 12

Ball Lake, Barton Lake, Bell Lake, Crooked Lake, Fox Lake, Green Lake, Hamilton Lake, Henry Lake, Lake Arrowhead, McClish Lake, Round Lake, Silver Lake

Sullivan County 1

Kickapoo Lake

Wayne County 1

Martindale

Whitley County 5

Blue Lake, Little Cedar Lake, Old Lake, Round Lake, TROY-CEDAR LAKE

Sources

← All fish of Indiana