Yellow Perch - what's going on?

[bobd47fish]

Here's something to ponder, and the Lake researchers are looking at it. The Spiny Water Flea has been in Lake Erie since the mid 1980's. But large populations haven't been seen until recently. They are voracious feeders on other zooplankton, such as Daphnia (another "water flea" common in Lake Erie). Daphnia feed on algae. Spiny Water Fleas reproduce rapidly once the water temperature gets warm - late summer. Lots of fisherfolks have been finding the Spiny Water Fleas in Yellow Perch stomachs. Stomachs full of them. This hasn't been seen in the past. Maybe the larger algae blooms in recent years are at least partly accountable to the Spiny Water Flea. And the poor Yellow Perch fishing this year in August and so far in September.

I think the main reason is water temperature. currently, lake wide surface temperatures are around 70. in the 90’s, this time of year the surface temps were in the mid 60’s (most years). with those temperatures wee would catch big perch (10-12”) in 12’ of water just off bolles harbor.
last few years,worldwide, hottest temperatures on record. of course the idiot in office disagrees, to our detriment.