# Perching the west



## Wildcat720 (Feb 11, 2014)

Fished B can and several other spots nearby ( north of and around the reefs) that had given up good numbers of fish over the years ...
2 5 hrs fishing .I caught 4 total perch and only 1 over 8"..The other three were dinks ..I did however catch 4 or 5 tiny little 4" walleye. 
Very very slow fishing...Frustrating to say the least .. . But a gorgeous afternoon to be out on Erie.. Anyone else have better luck ..?


----------



## die4irish (Jun 8, 2004)

pretty much the same as you


----------



## hydrasportbill (Sep 11, 2012)

Wildcat720 said:


> Fished B can and several other spots nearby ( north of and around the reefs) that had given up good numbers of fish over the years ...
> 2 5 hrs fishing .I caught 4 total perch and only 1 over 8"..The other three were dinks ..I did however catch 4 or 5 tiny little 4" walleye.
> Very very slow fishing...Frustrating to say the least .. . But a gorgeous afternoon to be out on Erie.. Anyone else have better luck ..?


IT IS THE WORST YEAR FOR PERCH IN 50 YRS.


----------



## captainshotgun (Jul 8, 2009)

hydrasportbill said:


> IT IS THE WORST YEAR FOR PERCH IN 50 YRS.


No way! 4 yrs ago we could catch a limit but they were only 3-5” long. There are plenty of perch. We have been catching nice size perch all year long while fishing for eyes. The water temp has went down about 10*. I think as soon as the lake settles down we will have a good perch bite. This may still be a while if the ‘cane swings up this way. Pray for cold temps!


----------



## capt Hamilton (Sep 3, 2013)

captainshotgun said:


> No way! 4 yrs ago we could catch a limit but they were only 3-5” long. There are plenty of perch. We have been catching nice size perch all year long while fishing for eyes. The water temp has went down about 10*. I think as soon as the lake settles down we will have a good perch bite. This may still be a while if the ‘cane swings up this way. Pray for cold temps!


Don’t count on it


----------



## rnewman (Mar 25, 2013)

The last two seasons,reports of mostly bigger perch with very few smaller(dinks) fish being caught.The warning then was not enough younger fish in the mix to replace fish in upcoming years.Looks like we may have those warnings coming true.Add to that large schools of hungry walleye and perch eating those water flees.Not looking good for perching in lake Erie.


----------



## hydrasportbill (Sep 11, 2012)

rnewman said:


> The last two seasons,reports of mostly bigger perch with very few smaller(dinks) fish being caught.The warning then was not enough younger fish in the mix to replace fish in upcoming years.Looks like we may have those warnings coming true.Add to that large schools of hungry walleye and perch eating those water flees.Not looking good for perching in lake Erie.


YEP,TAKES A LONG TIME FOR A PERCH TO REACH 8INS.


----------



## Had a Bite (Apr 15, 2012)

I blame the commercial netters. Just my opinion.


----------



## captainshotgun (Jul 8, 2009)

Netters don't help, thats for sure! About 3 weeks ago fishing h can, we took as many 2-4” perch as big ones. But that was only about 15 of each.


----------



## brad crappie (Sep 29, 2015)

Do your part guys and kill the white perch how ever u can! Studies said they eat **** out of perch eggs


----------



## BFG (Mar 29, 2006)

LOL @ it taking a long time for yellows to reach 8". Those fish live like 5-6 years max. They grow FAST...just like their walleye cousins.


----------



## stampman60 (Jan 12, 2015)

hydrasportbill said:


> YEP,TAKES A LONG TIME FOR A PERCH TO REACH 8INS.





hydrasportbill said:


> YEP,TAKES A LONG TIME FOR A PERCH TO REACH 8INS.


dnr : 3 to 4 yrs.


----------



## stampman60 (Jan 12, 2015)

Had a Bite said:


> I blame the commercial netters. Just my opinion.


I agree but to many people if it has an eye balls and a a-hole it goes in the bucket. lets not forget are lovely cormorants.


----------



## rnewman (Mar 25, 2013)

Do you think it is a coincidence that the emerald shiners are in short supply,and the perch that forage for them are also in short supply?The shiners have been gone for 3 yrs now.The minnow guys would always seam to have an unlimited supply of shiners they got out of lake.For a few bucks you could get so many shiners,you could never use them all.We used to drift and cast on the east side of Pelee regularly.I would be standing on the bow and would frequently see schools of minnows following the boat.We would catch walleye there casting from june through October.About 4yrs ago,same time the shiners disappeared,those walleye would not hang around those reefs anymore till Sept.


----------



## captainshotgun (Jul 8, 2009)

“The minnow guys” say there are plenty of minnows, they just cant catch them. I have averaged 3 days a week on the lake since jigging season & have seen a lot of minnows when the water has been clean, which has not been often this year.


----------



## aquaholic2 (Feb 17, 2010)

captainshotgun said:


> “The minnow guys” say there are plenty of minnows, they just cant catch them. I have averaged 3 days a week on the lake since jigging season & have seen a lot of minnows when the water has been clean, which has not been often this year.


 If emeralds were available the commercial netters would be bringing them in for us. What a shame on us/ our appointed odnr guys that they don't have a clue as to why we don't have the forage emeralds and perch....? Someone is asleep at the wheel boys...


----------



## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

Wellllll..... I'd go easy on ODNR. You are complaining about one piece of a ginormous puzzel. Algae, Big Head Carp, water levels and impending wind turbines. I'd say their plates are pretty full. We have had a few years of record breaking walleye hatches and continued commercial netting. That could have something to do with less bait and perch.
Anyway, I'm just glad there are countless eyes in the system, I won't go hungry.


----------



## texasrig (Apr 11, 2013)

What exactly does ODNR do to shape the lake Erie fishery........ They're just like the rest of us, all they can do is stand around and watch the show. They have no answers and no solutions. Ask them, why is no one catching perch.......crickets or we don't know what it is, but it's not because the walleye are eating them. Or like the last dribble they came out with, "What, the perch. They are in a great position, it is just as good as in the past". Why are the shiners numbers down.......crickets. Can you do anything about the Gobies........crickets. Can you help with water flies, zebra mussels, whatever............crickets.


----------



## GRW (Aug 31, 2006)

I’ve got a nice size pkg of shiners in my freezer. Prob 3 yrs old. Wish I would have split them into smaller pkgs . Didn’t treat them with anything. Just froze em in water.


----------



## KaGee (Sep 8, 2006)

Gotta love the internet. Everyone is an expert and those who really are, get treated like buffoons.

There was a day you could actually converse with a few from DNR and Wildlife here. No more.
Gee, I wonder why.


----------



## Gringo Loco (Mar 5, 2005)

Wildcat720 said:


> Fished B can and several other spots nearby ( north of and around the reefs) that had given up good numbers of fish over the years ...
> 2 5 hrs fishing .I caught 4 total perch and only 1 over 8"..The other three were dinks ..I did however catch 4 or 5 tiny little 4" walleye.
> Very very slow fishing...Frustrating to say the least .. . But a gorgeous afternoon to be out on Erie.. Anyone else have better luck ..?


OK here is my theory. There were so many excellent walleye hatches the last couple of years that all those walleyes ate big numbers of perch fry and tiny perch. We tend to celebrate all these walleyes and do not harvest them the first two years when they are feeding on the young perch' Personally I would take a 14 inch walleye over a 21 inch walleye any day. Further when the walleyes get to 18 inches they go east very early in the season where only the trollers harvest them bigtime in deeper water. Consider that last year in the Western basin we were catching plenty of keeper perch over 8 inches and almost no throwbacks which was very unusual, so I am not surprised that there are few perch. I don't claim to be an expert but this is exactly what I thought would happen


----------



## russh (Feb 12, 2007)

I think the huge hatches of walleyes the past 3 years is the problem with shiners and perch. All of those walleye have to be eating something. I predicted right after we knew the walleye hatch was massive that they would be eating up everything in the lake. Someone posted awhile ago pictures of the perch they found in the walleye bellies when they filleted the walleye. I can't count how many walleye I have filleted and it was rare to find a perch in the belly. Used to be that I would find gizzard shad in just about every walleye, I haven't seen a shad in a walleye belly in 4+ years. 

In my mind it's as simple as supply and demand, massive walleye hatches are the demand and the supply is the perch and shiners. I don't blame commercial fishing very much, I can remember the days when you almost couldn't find a way around the nets and we were still catching perch. The only nets I've seen in recent years have been around the mouth of East Harbor. The only way the commercial fishing would be at fault would be if Canada has increased their allotment of perch.


----------



## russh (Feb 12, 2007)

Looks ****** has the same opinion, we must have been posting at the same time.


----------



## Scum_Frog (Apr 3, 2009)

Ive never seen so many cormorant in our area now than ever. I think thats a huge problem as well....you cant go anywhere and not see them. Go out north of kellys near middle island and you will be digusted the pack of them.....especially SE of Pelee....seen hundreds of them. Theres your issue.


----------



## ress (Jan 1, 2008)

There is a pair of them on the Findlay reservoir.


----------



## captainshotgun (Jul 8, 2009)

ress said:


> There is a pair of them on the Findlay reservoir.


They wont be only a pair for long!


----------



## bustedrod (May 13, 2015)

yeah and cormorants love perch, those birds have become a problem. when they set up camp in the trees on the local lakes they devastate the area, their mass numbers eating the fish in the shallows and crapping in the water destroy an area.. they stink and are worse than the geese. open season on these suckers is the way to go, thin them out, a case of 12 ga #4 s would work great... just my 5 $ worth hahahah


----------



## kdn (Apr 27, 2015)

There was a picture posted somewhere a while back of a cormorant that was dissected. It had like 150-200 young 3" up to 5" perch in it's stomach. Cormorants are bad. They are moving everywhere. I have seen them at our place 3 hours north of Toronto Ontario last year. Never before seen but they are hanging around at different lakes. Bad news.


----------



## s.a.m (Feb 22, 2016)

Canada did open season on them!


bustedrod said:


> yeah and cormorants love perch, those birds have become a problem. when they set up camp in the trees on the local lakes they devastate the area, their mass numbers eating the fish in the shallows and crapping in the water destroy an area.. they stink and are worse than the geese. open season on these suckers is the way to go, thin them out, a case of 12 ga #4 s would work great... just my 5 $ worth hahahah


----------



## kdn (Apr 27, 2015)

Yes I did see that. This is the first year we are not duck hunting in Canada. In fact we are not doing any hunting in Ontario at all. We have seen few grouse in the last 24 months. Rabbits are like non-existent. Deer have vacated the area due to the high numbers of coyotes, wolves and black beer. We hunted black bear last year and got one. WE split up the meat and still have some left. Lots of Ohio deer in the freezers and ducks. I wish I could be up there to peck off a few cormorants. Perhaps next year.


----------



## bustedrod (May 13, 2015)

kinda like the days when blasting prairie dogs was fun, blasting corms all day would hurt my shoulder hahah bring em on .


----------



## captainshotgun (Jul 8, 2009)

s.a.m said:


> Canada did open season on them!


Boy is that good news! I sure hope they open a season here asap!


----------



## captainshotgun (Jul 8, 2009)

Scum_Frog said:


> Ive never seen so many cormorant in our area now than ever. I think thats a huge problem as well....you cant go anywhere and not see them. Go out north of kellys near middle island and you will be digusted the pack of them.....especially SE of Pelee....seen hundreds of them. Theres your issue.


A few years ago there was no foliage at w sister because of the thousands of cormorants. Now I see that there is a little. They must have spread to other areas.


----------



## Scum_Frog (Apr 3, 2009)

captainshotgun said:


> A few years ago there was no foliage at w sister because of the thousands of cormorants. Now I see that there is a little. They must have spread to other areas.


Yea they are now literally everywhere.....in the rivers, harbors, around the islands. You name it. Go into portage river and go under the bridge and look to the left.....tree's along shore are all dead because theirs hundreds of them in the tree crapping everywhere. Why there isnt a season opened up on them ill never understand.


----------



## Scum_Frog (Apr 3, 2009)

Also Canada proposed a hunting season on Cormorants its not yet passed I do believe.


----------



## BFG (Mar 29, 2006)

There are a LOT less cormorants around now than there were in the late 2000's. We would see flocks that were 300 yards long flying by us in a single line. I don't think you can blame them for the lack of perch or emeralds at the current time. Yes, they eat a lot of small gamefish every day, but simply put there are not nearly as many around as there once were in the Western basin. 

The emerald problem has been going on since at least 2012, as many point to what the remnants of Hurricane Sandy (remember the one that hit NYC) did here that October. While I am inclined to believe that something like that could have an effect for a year or two, I am less inclined to believe it could have an influence for going on 7 years now. 

I don't have any solutions other than the walleye ate all the shiners and baby perch.


----------



## set-the-drag (Jan 13, 2013)

A big part of the problem is the algae blooms. Just because they are mostly in the west doesn't mean they don't affect the rest of the lake. When it dies it sinks and drifts throughout the lake and creates toxic dead zones on the bottom of the lake where perch generally stay. Its contributed to keeping them from being able to school and breed like they used to cuz the lack of oxygen and lack of there typical forage like emeralds


----------



## aquaholic2 (Feb 17, 2010)

set-the-drag said:


> A big part of the problem is the algae blooms. Just because they are mostly in the west doesn't mean they don't affect the rest of the lake. When it dies it sinks and drifts throughout the lake and creates toxic dead zones on the bottom of the lake where perch generally stay. Its contributed to keeping them from being able to school and breed like they used to cuz the lack of oxygen and lack of there typical forage like emeralds


I agree totally...but we are just disgruntled fishermen... wouldn't it be nice to have one of the smart Dow boys come on here and explain the extensive studies they have conducted to prove to us the algae has no play in these fish specie's demise....him?


----------



## LEfriend (Jun 14, 2009)

aquaholic2 said:


> I agree totally...but we are just disgruntled fishermen... wouldn't it be nice to have one of the smart Dow boys come on here and explain the extensive studies they have conducted to prove to us the algae has no play in these fish specie's demise....him?


I have heard a lot of ODNR, OEPA, and DOW presentations and have never once heard them say the algal bloom doesn’t impact the dead zone and the dead zone the perch. In fact they have said just the opposite. I do agree however they are a lot smarter than many of us


----------



## KaGee (Sep 8, 2006)

aquaholic2 said:


> I agree totally...but we are just disgruntled fishermen... wouldn't it be nice to have one of the smart Dow boys come on here and explain the extensive studies they have conducted to prove to us the algae has no play in these fish specie's demise....him?


A few of your all-knowing, LEO fearing brethren chased them off long ago.


----------



## gravy10 (Mar 18, 2015)

BFG said:


> There are a LOT less cormorants around now than there were in the late 2000's. We would see flocks that were 300 yards long flying by us in a single line. I don't think you can blame them for the lack of perch or emeralds at the current time. Yes, they eat a lot of small gamefish every day, but simply put there are not nearly as many around as there once were in the Western basin.
> 
> The emerald problem has been going on since at least 2012, as many point to what the remnants of Hurricane Sandy (remember the one that hit NYC) did here that October. While I am inclined to believe that something like that could have an effect for a year or two, I am less inclined to believe it could have an influence for going on 7 years now.
> 
> I don't have any solutions other than the walleye ate all the shiners and baby perch.


Are you sure the flocks of birds back then were not black ducks.


----------



## captainshotgun (Jul 8, 2009)

gravy10 said:


> Are you sure the flocks of birds back then were not black ducks.


100% positive


----------



## BFG (Mar 29, 2006)

gravy10 said:


> Are you sure the flocks of birds back then were not black ducks.


I'm pretty sure.


----------



## texasrig (Apr 11, 2013)

KaGee said:


> Gotta love the internet. Everyone is an expert and those who really are, get treated like buffoons.
> 
> There was a day you could actually converse with a few from DNR and Wildlife here. No more.
> Gee, I wonder why.


Most likely because they were tired of being made fools of. In this day and age, with the information resources everyone has at their finger tips, I'm sure they don't want to put much in writing that can be fact checked. Just ask the NYT about fact checkers.


----------



## beach5 (May 27, 2008)

Back to fishing reports. Sunday 9-15, first time out. Between Toledo Lighthouse and Luna Pier. 2 guys, 7-8 hours, moved 4 times. 11 keeper perch >8". Threw back double that, 20 or so 3"-12" walleye, a few white perch and a couple of sheepies...sheesh ^^^^^


----------



## loomis82 (Nov 27, 2012)

Heres something I was thinking about bait for perch. Has anyone tried wigglers open water. Everyone is saying perch are there and are full of larvae and bugs. We've smoked the perch on wigglers icefishing. I know knutsons sells them for$8.50 for 50 which is not too bad considering spending all that money in fuel and other expenses. Might be worth a shot taking those as well as minnows


----------



## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

what are wigglers?


----------



## ress (Jan 1, 2008)

rickerd said:


> what are wigglers?


Live bait used while ice fishing.


----------



## Monkey Bubbles (Apr 20, 2010)

rickerd said:


> what are wigglers?


Mayfly larva. 
*Hexagenia limbata - Wikipedia*

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Hexagenia_limbata
(Serville, 1829) _Hexagenia limbata_, the giant mayfly, is a species of mayfly in the family Ephemeridae. It is native to North America where it is distributed widely near lakes and slow-moving rivers. The larvae, known as nymphs, are aquatic and burrow in mud and the adult insects have brief lives.


----------



## loomis82 (Nov 27, 2012)

Wigglers


----------



## captainshotgun (Jul 8, 2009)

loomis82 said:


> Wigglers


One of the boats at drawbridge took 104 perch yesterday. I didn't ask how many folks were on the boat


----------



## justbobber (Oct 13, 2008)

Fisherman’s wharf said they got 269 on Tuesday


----------

