where the perch went

Went back out today to try for another limit of perch. Went to same spot as Monday when the fishing was excellent, but today not much. We were between the intake and little cedar point in 18-20 fow. After not getting many bites while the screen was full of fish we started looking closer at the few we did catch......another mayfly hatch??? Yep some of the perch had their mouths full of mayflies and after carefull watching in the water we began to see very small amounts of mayflys coming to the surface. we even managed to catch a couple to confirm....Anyone else ever saw a mayfly hatch this late in the season? Now I know why we were getting so few bites and it also explains the black blobs of the depth finder.

Happens almost every year at this time. Not big hatches but hatches all the same.

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Originally Posted by wakina

Happens almost every year at this time. Not big hatches but hatches all the same.

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Well thanks for confirming that, been around the lake most of my life and never realized they had a late hatch before....learned something new everyday!!

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Originally Posted by airshot

Went back out today to try for another limit of perch. Went to same spot as Monday when the fishing was excellent, but today not much. We were between the intake and little cedar point in 18-20 fow. After not getting many bites while the screen was full of fish we started looking closer at the few we did catch......another mayfly hatch??? Yep some of the perch had their mouths full of mayflies and after carefull watching in the water we began to see very small amounts of mayflys coming to the surface. we even managed to catch a couple to confirm....Anyone else ever saw a mayfly hatch this late in the season? Now I know why we were getting so few bites and it also explains the black blobs of the depth finder.

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Yup. Same here. Went to same area Thurs. Only picked up about 20 fishes. I heard limits being picked up further out.

There are mayfly hatches all season long in Lake Erie, as well as other emergent aquatic insects. As soon as the water temperatures warm in the early spring (on the bottom) until they cool way down in the mid to late fall there are hatches going on. Since most of them are not anywhere near as big as the main June mayfly hatch, most of them tend to go unnoticed. Lots of species of mayflies and other aquatic insects with differing life cycle timing. That's what the perch and other fish species eat throughout the year. It changes week-to-week, month-to-month, along with zooplankton. The menu changes just like our seasonal harvest changes.