I got a decent sized perch today at Deer Creek. It was a football and 12 inches.
Forgot the pic, old age.
Nice, was it the only one you caught? I know the perch catching there use to be great.
It was the only perch. I also got an 18 inch brown. I thought the perch was a walleye the way it slowly approached my spoon on the finder. I was near the island and the water under the ice was murky. Lucky to catch anything today. The access was best parking near the island at the state park. Too soft to get on near the boat ramp. I was fishing 48 ft deep.
Thanks for the added info, I hear the perch catching is tough there this year but they are there.
Yes the good old days.. Is that Rick in the back ground??
Got these recently in Utah. No jumbos but all 9.5-12.5
**Yes, indeed. As you well know, Rick Johnson caught some of the biggest perch to ever come out of Yuba…including a couple that would have been state records. But, unlike another guy named Johnson he never cared much about the notoriety.
Heres a pic of him holding one over 14". For those who don’t know Rick, he is well over 6’ tall, so the fish doesn’t look as large as it really is.
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That’s where all the perch went, and I thought they went over the spillway in 83! [:p]
**Nay…not so. As usual, anglers had minimal impact on the fluctuating (declining) fish population. It was the severe drawdowns of drought and water user dewatering.
But you brought up old memories of fishing below the spillway…before vandalism got it closed to the public. Used to be one of my favorite fishing holes. Here’s a pic of a 37" northern and a bucket of nice walleyes taken from the spillway hole…about 1982.
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Yes Rick is one of the better fisherman and he would have held or still hold the record if he would have just weighed the fish..
You are right for sure Tubedude, the water fluctuations of Yuba is what gets that lake’s fish, I don’t blame the DWR. I have only been back down there once and that was for the northern pike, I didn’t catch anything but my brother in law did. I think it is a losing battle for Yuba with the need for water as bad as it is. I also believe they need another lake down that way to take the pressure off but that probably isn’t going to happen.
It is too bad Utah doesn’t have the quality of perch, I really enjoy catching and eating them. I am no biologist, I have enough things I worry about rather than second guessing the DWR, they have their hands full already, I’m just glad they are trying to provide this state with some recreation.
There are a lot of lakes that use to be great for perch, seems they all went into a down cycle at the same time where they just produced so fast that they have stunted themselves. I’m just a simple fisherman that wants to go out and relax, recharge the ole batteries in order to handle the next week of horrors.
Ah the good ol’ days at Yuba. One of the other folks in that picture is Shawn Tripp ( guy on the left of the pic) ranger at Palisades State Park. He was the assistant Ranger at Yuba back the to Ranger Pat Jerome. I always felt a bit intimidated when fishing with TD and Rick because they both are 6’4" - 6’5", 240 or so. I am a measly 6’ and about 250. Good to see that photo !!!
**It’s no secret that I am a perch addict. Don’t care about rehab. No 12 cast program for me. Love 'em.
I have been fishing all the Utah perch ponds going back to the early 1960’s…when perch was still “trash fish” that was tossed up on the bank. Got better in the 70’s and by the 80’s there were more and more folks that discovered perch were fun to catch and better eating than trout. What? Sacrilege!
I keep a fishing log of all trips…and keep track annually of the number and size of the fish I catch of all species. My poor old heart suffers whenever I look back at what used to was and what is now. But the cause of decline in most perch lakes is often different.
Yuba…mainly the prolonged droughts that leave the perch with no flooded brush or aquatic vegetation upon which to spawn. Also no cover for the baby perch so the predators vacuum up both the eggs and the young before they ever get big enough. And since large adult perch rely heavily on their own young as forage…poor spawn and recruitment means poor feeding for the bigger ones…and there is a sudden drop in population.
Deer Creek…some problems with water fluctuation but the big perch reduction happened after smallmouths were introduced into the food chain. For many years Deer Creek was overrun with perch. You could fish anywhere around the lake, at almost any depth, and you could catch perch of all sizes…up to 14 inches. Some folks blame walleyes for eating the perch. Yeah, they eat some, but not in the same way the smallies do.
The smallmouths first decimated the crawdad population and took over the former largemouth habitat…greatly reducing the once great largie fishery. Next they started patterning on perch. First it was the yearlings. Then the hordes of small smallmouths began forming wolf packs to slurp up the newly hatched perch fry before they ever got big enough to feed any other species. Again, the big perch had less and less to eat so their numbers began dropping. Combine that with high water and good spawns only about once every 4 to 5 years and you can see the pattern.
Jordanelle…once a great perch pond. Then, several things happened in quick succession. The smallmouths and perch together wiped out all the small chubs…leaving only the big spawners. So the smallies had to feed on perch. The smallies grew big and plentiful. Then, one winter there was a big perch dieoff…worms or virus or something. A few survived but not enough to feed all the predators. Big smallmouths disappeared and perch were difficult to find anywhere in the lake. They have come back a bit but not anywhere near their peak years.
Rockport…another big winter dieoff and slow recovery.
Echo…Major problem with dewatering. Almost destroyed the perch population. But thankfully enough water remained and enough perch remained that they are on the way back.
Starvation…another perch dieoff about two years ago. Before that…gangbusters. Again, enough perch survived and spawned to get the population back up. But it will be a while before we see lots of 13 to 14 inchers again.
Bottom line is that the fluctuating perch populations are nothing that DWR can do much about. The best they can do is monitor it and set regulations to help the populations recover. The only problem is that the changes happen fast…and DWR regulations don’t. By the time a problem is recognized it is either taking care of itself or is not manageable at all. Thanks Mama Nature.
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Great reads TD thank you for the insight. This same exact thing happened with Lake Cascade in the 80s predation from the Pikeminnow and low water decimated the Perch population.
We did a lot of research on that body of water 4-5 years ago. The state stepped in and set traps for the Pikeminnow and then regulated the water that it won’t fall below a certain elevation then reintroduced adult Perch and now its a blue ribbon fishery for real Jumbos.
Yes Utah may have some big Perch but hate to say it nothing like Lake Cascade on consistency of big Perch. It will take several years or more for Utah IMO and until water fluctuations are regulated well consistency in big Utah perch will not happen IMHO. It could happen but how long will one wait…
So those of us who want big Perch and have the ways and means will plan our yearly trips to Lake Cascade as there is consistency in catching big Perch…its a very fun trip and if one plans sets aside funds during the year has friends to go with it isn’t as expensive as some may lead others to believe.
So those of you that have Perch Envy like us…Lake Cascade is where you’ll satisfy the envy hands down and its no secret location that can’t be shared…them jumbos are all over that huge body of water.