04-13-2014, 01:15 AM
[quote StacyR][quote 66Birdman]first off, you obviously missed the winter of 2012-2013. I walked all the way from black sands to the opposite end of the narrows on the ice. I would call that the majority of the lake. Secondly, you said moist people aren't fishing for perch? Are you sure you have been fishing the same lake as everybody else? On the ice u never once meet anybody that wasn't fishing perch and on open water I usually see a few boats out looking for bass and even fewer trolling for trout I would say the majority of the people are indeed looking for perch out crappie. Thirdly, we weren't saying that there are no perch. Read back through all of the posts and you will see that we are saying they are ask small because their main predator, big perch, have been all but cleaned out.[/quote]
CJ perch are NOT getting hit hard in the winter because most years it doesn't freeze over. In another post someone said thousands of anglers a day flock to Devil's Lake to ice fish for big perch. Do you really think there's that kind of fishing pressure on CJ in the winter when the water is open 99% of the time? I fish it regularly at all times of the year, and in the winter you may see a handful of boats out.
Before 2012, when was the last time CJ's main basin froze over? One guy I spoke with said he'd lived in the area for 30 years and it was the first time he'd ever seen it happen. Hell, most years the Bruneau arm doesn't even freeze.
Why don't you read what I wrote more carefully before jumping all over something I never said? I said people weren't ice fishing or targeting perch BELOW THE DAM. Most anglers there are targeting sturgeon or bass, and I imagine if you'd tried to ice fish there you'd sink pretty damn quick. And yet there are still zillions of perch exactly the same size as there are in the reservoir.
Big perch are A predator of small perch but hardly the only one. Crappie, bass, squawfish and trout also eat them by the thousands. There's also a limit on how big of a baby perch a big perch can eat. Once they get larger than a couple of inches, perch are off another perch's menu no matter what size.
I could point scientific studies on perch management, but why bother because you've made up your mind with zero actual evidence beyond "I saw a bunch of people keeping more fish than I thought they should one week in the year and I know better than those fancy shmancy biologists." People blame overharvest because they're looking for an easy solution to a complex problem.[/quote]
I would like to appologize for my post last night. I was a tad under the influence of a bottle of whiskey and I will admit that I didnt read the prior post very carefully. That being said I still wont stray very far from the majority of my comments. I guess Idaho is the only state that has self regulating panfish populations. Thats cool, Im just gonna move back to North Dakota anyways. That way I can catch good fish every year and not every 3 or 4 years.
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CJ perch are NOT getting hit hard in the winter because most years it doesn't freeze over. In another post someone said thousands of anglers a day flock to Devil's Lake to ice fish for big perch. Do you really think there's that kind of fishing pressure on CJ in the winter when the water is open 99% of the time? I fish it regularly at all times of the year, and in the winter you may see a handful of boats out.
Before 2012, when was the last time CJ's main basin froze over? One guy I spoke with said he'd lived in the area for 30 years and it was the first time he'd ever seen it happen. Hell, most years the Bruneau arm doesn't even freeze.
Why don't you read what I wrote more carefully before jumping all over something I never said? I said people weren't ice fishing or targeting perch BELOW THE DAM. Most anglers there are targeting sturgeon or bass, and I imagine if you'd tried to ice fish there you'd sink pretty damn quick. And yet there are still zillions of perch exactly the same size as there are in the reservoir.
Big perch are A predator of small perch but hardly the only one. Crappie, bass, squawfish and trout also eat them by the thousands. There's also a limit on how big of a baby perch a big perch can eat. Once they get larger than a couple of inches, perch are off another perch's menu no matter what size.
I could point scientific studies on perch management, but why bother because you've made up your mind with zero actual evidence beyond "I saw a bunch of people keeping more fish than I thought they should one week in the year and I know better than those fancy shmancy biologists." People blame overharvest because they're looking for an easy solution to a complex problem.[/quote]
I would like to appologize for my post last night. I was a tad under the influence of a bottle of whiskey and I will admit that I didnt read the prior post very carefully. That being said I still wont stray very far from the majority of my comments. I guess Idaho is the only state that has self regulating panfish populations. Thats cool, Im just gonna move back to North Dakota anyways. That way I can catch good fish every year and not every 3 or 4 years.
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