Perch

[5285]

8/9/19
Left Green Cove at 1pm, headed to D can to see if the third hand report I got was accurate. Fished 2 hours and kept (18) 8 to 10" perch. Released (14) 4 to 6" perch. The good news is caught (0) sheephead, made a 500 foot circle before I anchored and marked lots of perch spread out. No heavy concentrations but lots of scattered fish. Bites were really light, I could only use 1 rod, when I tried 2 I was missing fish on both on both rods. Used 3 hook crappy rig with 3/4oz weight, and lip hooked goldies. Miserable 45 minute ride back at 12 miles an hour. Looks like the wind is laying down tomorrow, should be a better ride in the morning.

[PatSea]

Thanks for the detailed report

[sloch24]

Similar story for us. My wife and I fished about 1/2 mile West of A can and picked up 5 keepers, 4 sheephead, and 2 fingerling walleye. Waves were every bit of 2' with 3+ swells. We fished Sunday morning from 8:00 to 11:00 and headed back in to Meinke West. It was a little rougher than what we like to fish in. Hopefully next Sunday will be better.

[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....

[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.

[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!

[daleho10]

We were fishing @1/2 mile west of A can and 4 of us only caught 7 keepers but had lots of 6" perch to throw back along with several white perch. Should have moved but with strong wind was having a hard time getting anchor to hold.

[Randall]

Anyone having any luck in Michgan Waters???

[fishhawk2700]

Run straight out of Bolles Harbor, look for the pack, and fish somewhere else in the area. There are fish all over. You will have to sort through some junk. Fished 3hrs caught 65 keepers 17.5 lbs at the cleaners.

[5285]

7/30
Back to the same spot 2 of us caught a limit in 4 hours. A lot more 6 and 7 inch throw backs, and no shortage of white perch and sheephead. Got a 50/50 mix of shiners and goldies from A and Js, 21 lbs at Shatto's. Taking a group of 6 out in the morning. Looks like a rough ride out, supposed to smooth out as the day goes on.