Traditional perch lures
Modern perch fishing often appears to be all about soft plastic lures and the many methods associated with them like drop shotting and Nedd rigging, to name but two. Without doubt they have taken perch fishing by storm in recent years. That doesn't mean that the methods we used previously have stopped working, and I often use them alongside the new wave of methods.
In particular I love spinning for perch and that can work where the soft plastics can't, over weedy water for example. Similarly you can draw spinnerbaits through weed, as you can a Texas rigged plastic worm. Then there are the crankbaits that can be worked at any depth and at any speed. The modern day perch angler has never had it so good.
If I'm spinning I'll have a few different colours and sizes with me. Red, Gold, Silver, they all have their day. Critical when spinning is to experiment with depth and you can suddenly start catching by simply finding the depth they are feeding at.
Spinnerbaits have been useful in open water, but have worked well when perch are tight to the bottom. Dropping the spinnerbait to the bottom and then waiting a few seconds before retrieving often provokes a strike.
Crankbaits come in all shapes and sizes and I find them more useful when trolling as I can make them work at a constant depth more accurately. I prefer fat bodied models but never rule anything out.
The problem with the traditional methods is that they seem to attract more pike than the soft plastics. As they have treble hooks or large singles (spinnerbaits), you just have to use a wire trace, which I'm sure reduces the number of perch you catch. As I don't mind catching pike, that doesn't bother me.
Nowadays I use the traditional methods for searching for perch, and when located I'll bring in the soft plastics for a more delicate presentation. There's no doubt about it, perch fishing today is more interesting and productive than it has ever been. There seems to be more perch in our waters and we have the methods to catch them.