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Started off the morning by hitting Slez’s for the best minnows in the world, then proceeded to launch Portage. Scanned around a bit a ways west of the ditch, where we have done well in the past, few marks, small schools, and a few bumps was it. Headed towards the donut and seen some boats between the green can off the Port and the donut. Stopped in 25-30 ft of water and proceeded to catch pretty quickly, then it slowed way down. Moved a bunch but never went past the donut. Today, I had the great honor of fishing with user Lund, his wife, and son. We ended up with 30 in the cooler, on baby roaches. Hot but on the water, it wasn’t bad early. 

Very nice!

what is a baby roach?

Another word for small golden shiners basically if I’m correct. Little more $ than crappie minnows or fatheads but seem to be very effective. Rich from Slez’s Bait told me they closely resemble the native lake shiners that the perch chase around by the beaches in the summer. 

So, essentially, you start out by screening for schools of perch off the bottom. Are you working any kind of pattern when doing this -shallow to deep, or E to W ?
  I love perch fishing, but only have a 16'5 lund with a 25merc. so I'm skeptical about going out too far.
Thanks for the input, Ddude

I've seen reports of bait fish right off the shore and have caught perch in 10ft of water. Try fishing along the shore line and out to where you feel comfortable,  you won't always Mark them, look for divets in the bottom over by black ditch.  There's always fish around. South winds are best and safest.  Good luck.