Perch Report - 8-20-11 - Fairport Harbor

The best day of perch fishing that I've ever had. They were picking 'em at 46 feet and we were picking them at 52 feet with 3 to 5 cranks off the bottom. We were out of Fairport Harbor just east of the hump. Must have been 200 boats out there.

I've never seen so many bait fish near the top of the water. In fact I was listening to a radio show this morning and the shiners were up near the surface all the way into Cleveland.

3 fishermen - 11:00 to 5:00 and got 90 perch. Only about 6 or 7 jumbos, but were picking them good all day.

We got out about 4:30 Friday (P.M.) Started in 41 FOW (nothing) then moved to 46 FOW started picking a few, moved to 52 FOW and got our limit (60) back at dock about 9:00. 2 cracks off the bottom only a few jumbos. threw back a lot of small ones. I also noticed all the bait fish near the surface (seemed like millions)

I agree there had to be at least 200 boats out along the hump. We were on the west side of the pack in 46 fow at 7:40 with 5 guys and by 9:15 we had 85 in the box. Unfortunately we ran out of minnows because this captain didn't buy enough. We ran back in to get more and Steve's was out. The only thing he had was salted minnows. We went back out and only caught 2 in the next hour and a half. So we finished with 87 total.

Word to the wise, always buy more than you think you'll need, or carry the frozen ones from earlier in the year when the perch weren't hitting as good.

Side note I freeze my extra minnows in cornmeal. They don't dry out and the perch seem to like them better than salted ones.

Plus if you get hungry they're already breaded. :D

Exactly where is the "hump"?

If you come out of Fairport and head at 330 on your compass for about 3 miles watch your depth finder. It will go from 39/40 fow to 52 fow in about 100 yards. That is the hump. You'll also see a lot of boats. The hump is actually quite long so there is plenty of room for all.

Good luck the perch fishing is only going to get better from here on out.