Hit RP on ice for the first time this season, and has been said in other reports, it is HOT for perch right now, and likely will be as long as we can get on the ice…MW Scott shared my shelter this frigid A.M..Monday, Trump Inauguration Day…easily done, cuz 1 pole was all you could concentrate on with the bite being so fast..Our fish finders must have been on different frequencies, cuz we each used our own by our holes, and there was no “interference” on either, other than the multiple perch marks..Average fish size (at least as of now) could be the problem for now, and maybe future, because of this (as of now) high quantity of perch…we knew there was a very successful spawn the last couple years, because of good water, and trolling during open water season showed huge clouds of (suspect) perch…Perch fillets are a treat..maybe takes awhile to ‘clean’ a bunch, especially in the 8 to 9" range, but worth it when you treat yourself, family, or friends to a perch fry you can easily do, that would rival a “Friday Nite Fish Fry” back in a Bar in Wisconsin…right now we should be taking advantage of this resource, try to reduce some of the numbers here at RP, respect the fish and fishery, clean up the ice after yourself…and bring home the perch…see you on the ice…Guluk…
I had a bunch of my students anglers out there. The amount of perch being caught and harvested was insane. Insane enough I actually am concerned about an over harvest if the bite stays like this. I took home 15. Plenty for my little crew still at home and when I processed them mostly females. We actually caught a large number of bigger ones. +11inches. In our two tents well over 150 were caught. Turned back if they did not show air bladders. 28 ft. East side away from people. Not the normal locations but I don’t think it really mattered as I had students by the dam with families who probably harvested over 300 between all the poles.
Sterile walleye or saugeyes would be better control for perch. Once tigers hit 2-ft size or so they’ll likely chase bows and Kokes and ignore perch. More nutrition in a larger package. Just like lakers tigers will seek out the best and easiest food source.
I could get on board with eyes or saugeyes over Muskie. Fine table fare both of them.
Some new predator fish could be a good thing at RP, but if we’re talking about it too much, some jerk privateer might think it’s time for his ‘Bucket Brigade’…Hope no one is encouraging that..but we could make a suggestion to DNR…in the mean time, I say we should be the predators, and legally take what we can use… Go Fish..
Almost impossible for perch to overpopulate…as long as they maintain good spawning conditions. In many of our perch ponds the big perch make lotsa little perch and that’s about all they have to feed on. Usually very little natural food like aquatic invertebrates or other “minnows” for them in their food chain. However, when there is a couple of bad runoff years in a row…or some other reason for a decline in water levels…exposing the rubble and/or vegetation upon which perch spawn…there will be a poor spawn and a great reduction in food for the bigguns. So water levels are more important to a healthy perch population than mere numbers of adult perch.
**And there are species specific parasites and viruses that sometimes take out large portions of a fish population. This happened both at Jordanelle and a couple of years later at Starvation. Huge dieoffs under the ice with only a few fish left for anglers the following spring. **
In waters like the Yuba of old, large numbers of walleyes and northern pike did reduce the numbers of larger perch…up to 8-10". But again, as long as there was a good spawn each year, the big perch and other predators had plenty to eat. And a study was made back then that estimated that angling pressure alone only accounted for about 30% of perch removed from the system. Natural predation and disease killed far more. The combination of increased water demands by the water users…and several years of deep drought in the early 2000s…resulted in a dieoff of virtually all fish in Yuba. And it has never regained the healthy balance it once had.
So it is great to be able to harvest lots of perch when they are available. But even the heaviest angler pressure is not likely to affect the population as much as drought and water management practices.
**While both crappies and yellow perch are primarily “piscivorous”…dining mainly on smaller fish…they are also omnivorous opportunists. And even in waters where there are seemingly abundant baby perch dinners, these fish will frequently take advantage of other food tidbits…like clouds of zooplankton. **
It’s just a whole food chain thing sometimes. Baby perch search out and feed on the zooplankton, which can be anywhere from on the bottom in deep water to suspended somewhere at mid depth anywhere in the lake. Many of us perch jerkers can attest to catching perch or crappies (or even walleyes) suspended well above bottom…both in open water and beneath the ice. If the big perch are targeting small perch they go where the little ones go for their groceries. But as often as not…if the bitty bites are hanging in the sometimes dense clouds…the bigger perch and crappies are just as likely to swim through the zooplankton “soup” with their mouths open…like feeding humpback whales. And there are times when the green soup is more readily available than perchettes. Fish for perch through the ice and it is likely some of the ones you fillet will have nothing but green goo in their innards.
Bottom line is that a healthy perch pond should have plenty of nutrients and lots of zooplankton to maintain the bottom part of the food chain. After that, there needs to be good spawning and recruitment to keep the bigger perch well fed and capable of big spawns. The circle of life.