Record Idaho perch

[dubob]

Probably close to a pound of eggs in that fish. Good reason not to harvest jumbo perch IMO. I understand keeping a record fish but my general rule is let the big ones go to spawn and keep the population going. I have fished Cascade several times and have caught quite a few over 12" biggest was 15". Did not keep any perch over 10".

I appreciate your philosophy regarding what you choose to keep and what you choose to not keep.  I have a slightly different philosophy on perch.  I will keep any and all perch over 8” in length up to a maximum personal limit of 20 unless there is a state limit for that water that is less.  Perch is the #1 choice in our home for eating, bar none.

But if you study the facts about yellow perch, you will find that the AVERAGE life span across its full range is about 7 years.  There are some that will live up to 11 years, but those are the exception, not the rule.  You will also find that – on average – it takes about 5 years to reach a length of 10”.  So releasing those fish longer than 10” will only get you 1 or 2 more spawns from that specific fish.  And since the female  doesn’t reach sexual maturity (the capability of an organism to reproduce until 3 or 4 years, they only get 3 or 4 spawn cycles.  Eliminating 1 or 2 of those spawn cycles isn’t that significant in the big picture.

Utah increased its statewide limit on yellow perch to 50 per day.  Idaho doesn’t have a limit on perch, even on Lake Cascade.  I take that as an indication that the fish professionals in either state understand that fishing has very little, if any, real impact on the overall health of the perch population.  The real-life controlling factors for perch are the food & spawning structure in the lake.

I can see the restrictions placed on some fish species with very long lives (like Lake Trout – average is about 20 years but can be as long as 50).  They reach sexual maturity in 6-7 years, so can offer 13 to 40 years plus of catching as a trophy species.  And as Utah does, several states place size restrictions on what you can and cannot keep with regard to Lake Trout.

Please continue to keep those perch that meet your needs.  They make excellent table fare in any length.