# Perchin’ mosquito



## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

went to mosquito with a buddy today with a plan to troll for walleye, I lost one at the net, we got his in the boat, just over 5# on a deep firetiger hj14. Couldn’t keep the weeds off the lines and as we were trolling and I noticed a large school of something on the side scan on a drop off from 10’ down to 18’ so we switched up to 1/4 oz jig and 1/2 a night crawler. Handled over 60+ perch to get 12 keepers, it was lunch time so we headed back to the marina and got a couple of joe’s awesome subs, some fries and some minnows thinking we’d get bigger fish. That worked out, we ended up handling over 100 perch to get 23 keepers. First time in my life I’ve seen 2 doubles taken on mosquito perch, sun was brutal and welcome after the spring we’ve had.. oh yea, I’ve way-pointed that spot 😆


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## snag (Dec 27, 2005)

Good job Tom, bet you baked out there today ,I cooked just wading , plus wearing neoprene waders. Is that your good luck doll in the first picture .


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

Jerry, that’s Kimberly and she was having a blast too..


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## westbranchbob (Jan 1, 2011)

I gotta say that is putting in some serious work for some perch...great job...I hate to think that's how I'd have to do it ice fishing that lake...and a nice eye to boot...now let's see ya do that on westbranch..lmao!!

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## milkdud (Apr 26, 2015)

Wow Triscuits are on sale 2 for $5


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## cueman (May 28, 2019)

ezbite said:


> went to mosquito with a buddy today with a plan to troll for walleye, I lost one at the net, we got his in the boat, just over 5# on a deep firetiger hj14. Couldn’t keep the weeds off the lines and as we were trolling and I noticed a large school of something on the side scan on a drop off from 10’ down to 18’ so we switched up to 1/4 oz jig and 1/2 a night crawler. Handled over 60+ perch to get 12 keepers, it was lunch time so we headed back to the marina and got a couple of joe’s awesome subs, some fries and some minnows thinking we’d get bigger fish. That worked out, we ended up handling over 100 perch to get 23 keepers. First time in my life I’ve seen 2 doubles taken on mosquito perch, sun was brutal and welcome after the spring we’ve had.. oh yea, I’ve way-pointed that spot 😆
> View attachment 488236
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Nice walleye! Good job on the perch! Maybe Mosquito will become like how Lake Erie used to be for perch.


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## chaunc (Apr 11, 2004)

Good day on the lake Tom. Did good on those perch last week but Tuesday was a different ball game for me. Had perch for breakfast yesterday morning.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

chaunc said:


> Good day on the lake Tom. Did good on those perch last week but Tuesday was a different ball game for me. Had perch for breakfast yesterday morning.


we’ve always caught them but not like this year, you got to root thru a lot of small ones but the keeper will come.


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## BigDaddy300 (Nov 1, 2004)

ezbite said:


> we’ve always caught them but not like this year, you got to root thru a lot of small ones but the keeper will come.


Lots of perch in there because not enough walleye to eat them.

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## jiggerman (Nov 2, 2009)

What a great fishery you all have up there. Great day on the water.


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

Get Kim some clothing! Mosquito is a “Family Friendly” lake!


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

BigDaddy300 said:


> Lots of perch in there because not enough walleye to eat them.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


And perch spawn on Weeds! Really ideal conditions for good spawns-And hiding places for the babies!


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## BigDaddy300 (Nov 1, 2004)

c. j. stone said:


> And perch spawn on Weeds! Really ideal conditions for good spawns-And hiding places for the babies!


That is true.

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## westbranchbob (Jan 1, 2011)

Also the zebra muscles...perch eat an insane amount of small snails and muscles...that lake has become a great habitat for them...I wonder how long before they start hurting the gill population as they predate heavily on eggs from gills in the beds.

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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

westbranchbob said:


> Also the zebra muscles...perch eat an insane amount of small snails and muscles...that lake has become a great habitat for them...I wonder how long before they start hurting the gill population as they predate heavily on eggs from gills in the beds.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk


we caught probably 20 gills and pumpkin seeds


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## landin hawgs (Jan 27, 2008)

She's top less and hair flowing in the breeze! She's a perch magnet! Lol


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

Right on, WB Bob! Smart anglers looking for perch this time of year are finding gill/crappie bedding sites and fishing the outer edges of such sites. Perch are “opportunists“ and they're just waiting for their chance at the bounty of eggs(and the hatched out little fry of other species)! Inland lake perch are constantly moving and foraging, this is one time of the year where “schools” just might be stationary/catchable! Frequently guys targeting bedding gills or crappie get a couple of these perch and most write it off to “chance” or “good luck”!I


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## cueman (May 28, 2019)

c. j. stone said:


> Right on, WB Bob! Smart anglers looking for perch this time of year are finding gill/crappie bedding sites and fishing the outer edges of such sites. Perch are “opportunists“ and they're just waiting for their chance at the bounty of eggs(and the hatched out little fry of other species)! Inland lake perch are constantly moving and foraging, this is one time of the year where “schools” just might be stationary/catchable! Frequently guys targeting bedding gills or crappie get a couple of these perch and most write it off to “chance” or “good luck”!I


Makes you wonder how many walleye fry, the perch are eating?


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## westbranchbob (Jan 1, 2011)

From everything I've ever heard on inland lakes mature panfish like gills, crappie, and perch are twice the eating machine of juvenile bass, eyes, muskie..etc...I've always heard you can have a trophy panfish lake or a trophy bass lake but you can't have both at the same time.

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

Fish eating other fish is Nature’s way of keeping everything fed, and a two-way street. Balancing all this out is one big thing making Marine Biology a really difficult job! I don’t envy what they do, and try not to second guess their programs.


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## matticito (Jul 17, 2012)

ezbite said:


> Jerry, that’s Kimberly and she was having a blast too..
> View attachment 488238


I like it.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

westbranchbob said:


> Also the zebra muscles...perch eat an insane amount of small snails and muscles...that lake has become a great habitat for them...I wonder how long before they start hurting the gill population as they predate heavily on eggs from gills in the beds.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk


I hope it's true that perch are eating those zebra mussels. Maybe the inland perch will be bigger in the future. The redeared sunfish are gorging themselves on zebra mussels at the portage lakes. The average size keeps getting bigger every year. We caught a basket of 35 this weekend that had an average size of 9 inches!!! One was 10-3/4"!!! There are as many redear in the portage lakes as there are bluegill now.


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## westbranchbob (Jan 1, 2011)

That would be why they call them shellcrackers, those redears eat small muscles by the pound! 

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