# No reliable perch reports?



## cheddarthief (Jun 18, 2013)

This time last year I had a few trips with great success and the lake was really bad last year too. I can't believe that the perch are that fished out by the nets. Last year I get fish like this and this year, no chatter? I haven't been out because my boat is being repaired but should be out this weekend. Is it really that bad or just people are being hush on where they are?


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## Erieangler51 (Sep 24, 2012)

They're not fished out. Just taking longer to school up and they're not in as big of schools. I've got boat limits the last 4 trips out


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## cheddarthief (Jun 18, 2013)

Erieangler51 said:


> They're not fished out. Just taking longer to school up and they're not in as big of schools. I've got boat limits the last 4 trips out


Are you a charter or private?


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## Erieangler51 (Sep 24, 2012)

Just fishing in my boat I've put up reports every trip


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## Erieangler51 (Sep 24, 2012)

Just put 1 up this morning from the past 2 days


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## fshnfreak (Feb 24, 2007)

Out of my last 6 outings i have had 2 that we didnt put a limit in the cooler havent been out in two weeks hoping to get out saturday and sunday this weekend.


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## Popspastime (Apr 1, 2014)

It's a very large lake and lots of fishing and distance to cover from Toledo to Erie. It seems, although I haven't been out yet for perch the west end is always your best bet for a box of fish. The size is generally smaller but the counts are there all year long. As you move farther east the size moves up but the counts start thinning due to lack of bait and trap netting. The influx of emerald shiners is also long awaited every year as the perch soon follow, but that has also been slow the last few years. Fishing can be great east but lots of looking and moving is usually the successful method. Lots of successful anglers out there don't post results as well as non successful so don't let that be your guide, best to pick an area and go fish. I'd say the East has been tough for the masses but there have been fish being caught. I'd say if you wanted fidh right now head west and fish anywhere between the cooling tower and Catawba and you should be able to catch a limit. No reason to head outside of that area, the fish are there all year long.


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

Yep, what he said.... I agree 100%. I have had no issues finding them out west, how fast you fill the box depends on prevailing weather trends.

It has been my experience that someone is catching somewhere..... always.


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## ldrjay (Apr 2, 2009)

fairport is producing. due to a few great folks on here I do t report much anymore. (sarcasm on the great)


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## creek chub (Sep 18, 2014)

Went to wildwood tues. Morning.fished the hospital. Got 1 perch. Moved into 32ft around the linda mae head boat.fished there for about a half hour and moved again to 37ft.marked what we thought were perch on the bottom. Nada. Went to linda Maes Facebook page and the entire boat had 2 perch at 10:30. Called it quits.had emerald shiners also.


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## r1verr4t (Apr 25, 2015)

They have been stuffed full of bugs. Mayflies or some other bug. 
I see what they haven't been biting though. This is Ashtabula area. I have caught some but it's been very hard to get them to bite. 

Schools have been decent size. Hopefully the bugs run out soon.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

All the info on the last few posts is mostly correct. Basing this on a recent mag article written in concert with info from biologist with the ODNR. Basically the numbers are higher in the WB due to "better hatches"(based on trawl net testing for young of the year spawn numbers-compared to the mid lake and Eastern Basin-done annually over the past several years). The article said the WB numbers are higher, and the fish are of "respectable" sizes. There were no reasons given why the hatches in the other regions of the lake are lower. Also of note in the article was mentioned that with smaller, scattered schools in the middle and eastern lake, the perch are feeding heavily on insect larvae. Well fed fish simply don't bite readily for fishermen. Hopefully as previously mentioned, when the bugs have all hatched(and flown away), the fish have to eat! I for one, am counting on it. Another thread on here mentions perch being caught on spoons. This seems rational to me since these spoons are being trolled, long distances thus finding the "scattered"/smaller schools. That might be a clue to perch fishermen. Troll til you locate active fish, circle back and put the smack-down on that school!(I've done this in the past by simply wind drifting with live bait on the bottom.) Closely monitoring your electronics while doing this is invaluable when trying this technique.


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## ldrjay (Apr 2, 2009)

goldies are outproducing dead shiners no doubt. ask my buddy tim.... the perch we are hitting are feeding on zebra mussels. not bugs.


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## cheddarthief (Jun 18, 2013)

ldrjay said:


> goldies are outproducing dead shiners no doubt. ask my buddy tim.... the perch we are hitting are feeding on zebra mussels. not bugs.


So you're using live goldies?


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## ldrjay (Apr 2, 2009)

that is correct. I will use a live minnows over a dead frozen any day of the week.


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## ldrjay (Apr 2, 2009)

hungry fish will eat what they can get. as any creature the less work they have to do that's what they will do.


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## cheddarthief (Jun 18, 2013)

When they are truly "hungry" and aren't filled with flies or zebra muscles, they prefer emeralds to goldie's. When they are short on food supply they'll eat anything.


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## jeff jenkins (Jan 20, 2017)

I marked a lot of fish but they didn't sit still pick up a few screen would go blank then a school would move threw


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## ldrjay (Apr 2, 2009)

all of ours are packed with mussels and still eating goldies. there are lots of pinhead out here so let's hope they keep hatching so we can get the good stuff. until then I will keep using whatever live minnows I can.


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## PatSea (Oct 10, 2004)

We fished Wednesday and Thursday just West of Kelleys and near Mouse. Not much going with the perch. We would catch an occasional one but they don't seem to be schooled up yet. But the ones we caught were very nice size, all 10 to 11". Ive never seen such a large grade of fish in the Western basin.


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

They're biting plenty on the west end. The trick is to find a active school. I find that fishing away from large packs of boats is best. My last time out we had our 90 in an hour using goldies. S.E corner of Kelly's. Sometimes a 100 yard move is all it takes.


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## cheddarthief (Jun 18, 2013)

idontknow316 said:


> They're biting plenty on the west end. The trick is to find a active school. I find that fishing away from large packs of boats is best. My last time out we had our 90 in an hour using goldies. S.E corner of Kelly's. Sometimes a 100 yard move is all it takes.


 I agree. I've seen people sit in the pack and grind out all day catching nothing, stubborn to move. My guess is that too many people hate dropping, then pulling the anchor, which can be a pain in the butt. So for me it's much simpler. I use my Xi5 and slowly motor around. When I see a decent bump on the bottom of the lake, I hit the Spot Lock and ta-daa!! No anchors or ropes. Now, when it's pretty rough the motor will be working overtime and probably run the batteries dead before we limit. The point is, moving can be hugely important to finding good fish. The worst scenario is finding them and they just wont bite. That's a deflating feeling for sure.


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## slowrollin (May 20, 2012)

Erieangler51 said:


> They're not fished out. Just taking longer to school up and they're not in as big of schools. I've got boat limits the last 4 trips out


Any tips on where


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## Popspastime (Apr 1, 2014)

slowrollin said:


> Any tips on where


If your going west launch at Catawba and head right out to the green can .5 mile out I'd guess. Look around there and if not slowly work your way towards the cooling tower looking as you go. There are plenty of perch there year round and there's no need to run all over the open water.


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## Erieangler51 (Sep 24, 2012)

slowrollin said:


> Any tips on where


Out east in conny. I don't fish west except for the spring


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## shotguner 61 (Sep 30, 2014)

Was out at h can on firing range on fri got a slow pick of 90 decent size fish. Went back there on Saturday same spot and only got 10 . Can't explain why no bite on sat other than less wind but the fish are there if you can get them to bite ha. Moved to green can outside catawba and got two more give up and went bass fishing


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## Dude5285 (Aug 31, 2014)

Hit fairport now got our limit of nice size and a added 16inch walleye 

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk


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## MEISTERICS (May 15, 2006)

Dude5285 said:


> Hit fairport now got our limit of nice size and a added 16inch walleye
> 
> Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk


How deep? Going somewhere tomorrow, thanks


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## Dude5285 (Aug 31, 2014)

43 fow nw pf harbour drove around 3 or so times to find good marks but when I did we were there all day caught 1 **** head, 1 white, and the walleye. 

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk


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## Walleyeguy46 (Jul 10, 2015)

South of Kelly's this weekend. Saturday was outstanding. Sunday was a struggle. Everyone I talked to Sunday struggled. 27 fow. Goldie's and frozen emeralds from Rickards.


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## cheddarthief (Jun 18, 2013)

Walleyeguy46 said:


> South of Kelly's this weekend. Saturday was outstanding. Sunday was a struggle. Everyone I talked to Sunday struggled. 27 fow. Goldie's and frozen emeralds from Rickards.
> View attachment 243776


Nice pull!!


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## jerkaperch (Apr 26, 2013)

Nice! I'm anxiously awaiting next weekend. I plan to be in that area too. Thanks for the report!


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## PETEBOWER (May 16, 2013)

We fished for Walleye on Sunday. Trolled about 1-1/2 miles south of the weather buoy. Caught 4 of the largest perch I've seen. ODNR lady at Huron dock said they were the largest thus far.


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## surffishn (Jan 20, 2010)

I no longer get to lake Erie. But when I perched fished it was central basin in 75' of water. Not another boat in sight. All jumbo fish no smalls. 2 and 3 fish per drop.60 fish weighed 33 lb. At Geneva cleaning station. It has been a few years but I would like to try it again.


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## undertaker (Jan 20, 2013)

Fished out of Craneberry till noon today , picked up a couple before made it bumpy


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## OSUdaddy (Oct 18, 2010)

Walleyegy: nice report but more importantly nice catch!!


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## hearttxp (Dec 21, 2004)

idontknow316 said:


> They're biting plenty on the west end. The trick is to find a active school. I find that fishing away from large packs of boats is best. My last time out we had our 90 in an hour using goldies. S.E corner of Kelly's. Sometimes a 100 yard move is all it takes.


Agree been perching 9 times now and have got limit for me and people every time ! Some days just have to move to.find them and things change every day


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## Mark Julius (Apr 8, 2017)

PatSea said:


> We fished Wednesday and Thursday just West of Kelleys and near Mouse. Not much going with the perch. We would catch an occasional one but they don't seem to be schooled up yet. But the ones we caught were very nice size, all 10 to 11". Ive never seen such a large grade of fish in the Western basin.


Fished Sunday West of Catawba, much the same though the last month has been 2 person limits. Wife and I 2 weeks back same area , up and down finished in 1 45hs. Always use frozen stuff


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## BFG (Mar 29, 2006)

If one of you guys could screen shot your graph so that the ones asking the questions here could see what it is you are talking about when you find "what you are looking for.." it might help them out a bit. 

I agree though...15 minutes and not much action...yank that hook and move.


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## cheddarthief (Jun 18, 2013)

BFG said:


> If one of you guys could screen shot your graph so that the ones asking the questions here could see what it is you are talking about when you find "what you are looking for.." it might help them out a bit.
> 
> I agree though...15 minutes and not much action...yank that hook and move.



Look at the original first post. I have a picture of my screen. That's what you're looking for. Find that, and assuming they're not gobbling fly larvae and you're in good shape.


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## BFG (Mar 29, 2006)

My apologies Cheddarthief...thanks!


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## cheddarthief (Jun 18, 2013)

BFG said:


> My apologies Cheddarthief...thanks!


 No worries.


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