Perch

[5285]

Getting better
8/10-11-12
Started Sat at D can, 2 of us pulled 8 keepers but it took over an hour. Moved over to A can, kept 6 in an hour and a half. Went to B can caught 38 in the next 2 hours, and ran out of bait. The fish we kept were 8 to 10 inches, but we thru back at least as many as we kept that were 4 to 7 inches. Used goldies on spreaders and crappy rigs. Fished by myself Sunday and Monday at B can, about 5 hours each day to catch a limit, of keepers, while throwing back an equal number of shorts, and a bunch of 4 inch walleye.
8/16-17-18-19
2 of us went out Friday and Saturday to B can. fished 5 hours both days, caught 47 Fri and 60 Sat. Again lots of shorts and 4 inch walleyes. Keepers went 8 to 11 inches. Used goldies and crappy rigs.
Sunday and Monday went to B can by myself. Limited both days again about 5 hours with lots of throw backs, on goldies and crappy rigs. I move the boat every hour or so, and try to find some good marks, the fish seem to be scattered and moving a lot more than they have been in past years. All that moving probably wouldn't be worth it if I had to deploy and retrieve an anchor every time. The Ulterra trolling motor and "spot lock" makes relocating quick and easy.

[5285]

9/1&3
It had been almost 2 weeks since I was on the lake, and that caused a lapse in good judgement when I went out Saturday. Watched the OSU game and watched the waves go from 4 feet to 2 and a half on the intake buoy app. There were 3 footers as I came out of the harbor, and when I dropped off a 5 footer at 12 mph and slammed into the next wave I regretted not taking my 30 foot boat. It took 38 minutes to get out to B can, and there was no question in my mind why I was the only one out there. Made a half mile circle and couldn't find any good marks, So I decided to head back in. Monday the lake settled down to 1 footers so I headed out by myself at 9am. Went back to B can and idled around a pack of about 50 boats. Found some decent marks on the west side of the can and set up on them. Fished for 2 hours and caught 8 keepers and had about that many throwbacks. The second time I moved I couldn't find any schools of fish, just scattered marks, so I motored up to West Sister. Found some marks on the west side in 26 fow. Set there about a half hour with no bites. I turned off the spot lock and was going to drift a hundred yards or so and set back up. When I started drifting I was moving slow enough I let out a crappy rig with a 1 oz weight and drug it across the bottom, went about 20 yards and caught a 10 inch perch. I made 3 drifts in the next 2 hours and picked up 11 more keeper perch and no throw backs. Finished the day with 19 (8 to 11 inch) perch. Surface water temp was down to 72, that's 10 degrees cooler than my last trip, I hope that continues. While I was cleaning the fish some guys stopped by and were grumbling that they hope the 2 to 4 hour 30 fish limits get started here pretty soon and i got to thinking about perch fishing over the years. I have been fishing the lake since 1978, and if I average all those years there were a whole lot more trips with 10 perch catch than there ever were with limits. The last 3 years really spoiled us.

[5285]

9/7-8
Pretty windy Sat morning so we didn't head out until after lunch. Went to B can and was surprised no one else was there. Fished an hour and a half got 5, decided to try the picket fence. Fished 4 different places that were marking some fish, caught a bunch of white perch, sheep head and 4" walleye. On the way home stopped at Locust Reef, dropped some bottom bouncers with spinners and crawler, caught 2- 17" walleye, and 2 11" perch. Sunday went out about 8am to Tousant Reef. Fished 4 hours caught 15- 7" perch and 7- 11" perch, also a pair of nice small mouth, and way too many white perch, sheep head, gobies, and 4" walleye.

[xjoex44]

Any News of perch in the west? Very disappointed with this years haul. And the clock is ticking, unfortunately I'm starting to lose hope for this year.

[rkfet]

Sat over some of the best marks I've had in a while for 45 minutes yesterday without so much as a nibble. Wind was picking up so I decided to go back in and watch football.

[Bearcatdave]

Sat over some of the best marks I've had in a while for 45 minutes yesterday without so much as a nibble. Wind was picking up so I decided to go back in and watch football.

Great decision. Everyone i talked to yesterday was catching nothing. We went east of Kelly's in the morning and went west in the afternoon. Mostly fished for walleye. Fished 8am to 8pm. Caught 3 fish. No perch

[rkfet]

I'm done with moving, moving, moving, fishing for 6 hours to get 2. Until the bite starts to pick up, if I can't get them going within the first hour or so, I'm calling it quits.

[Lucky Duck]

I put my boat away. I can get it out, but that long hours of fishing and moving drives me crazy. I have lots of other things I could be doing around the house. But then again, it sounds like I should still be chasing those walleye!

[5285]

9/13-14-15
3 trips, 4 perch total
I am pretty sure no one cares where I caught them, or what I was using, so I figured I would write about what I am thinking. I will start with a little background. I have been fishing Lake Erie since 1976. Mostly out of Wild Wings, and West Harbor, with an 8 year break at Avon when the perch fishing there was to good to ignore. I go after walleye until the perch bite starts in June or July, then I fish for perch most weekends until Thanksgiving. I have fished good population years and poor ones, and I know what that looks like. This is the first time I have ever witnessed the perch not schooling up somewhere. Some years the schools were small and some years they were big, but it always happened. There have been tough years when the schools moved a lot, and you had to look from Toledo to Marble head, but they were always being caught somewhere if you talked to enough guys.

I did catch 1 or more walleye all 3 days drifting a harness over locust on the way back in. Not much of a consolation, I'd rather be catching perch.

[Capt. Ted]

I've had similar experiences this year. In the last month, fishing for perch, using every bait and technique under the sun, 4 trips kept 12 perch. Caught some shorts also.

What baffles me is the marks. I've have anchored over the best marks I've seen for years. They look like yellow perch marks, and still we catch very little trash. This seems to go along with what the dnr is saying about the population being above average. Just no bites....