Yellow Perch - what's going on?

[West Basin]

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.

[EyeSquaredR]

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.

so, is your hypothesis that the perch are too well-fed to bite? or that they've lost their appetites for shiners, for example? (the emeralds have also been largely absent this year)

[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.

[GRINGO LOCO]

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.

The idiots are those that want us to become socialists. Sorry could not let that go as I realize this is no place for politics

[ttinman23]

No, you are good it needed to be said. Thanks.

[bobd47fish]

No, you are good it needed to be said. Thanks.

worst year ever for catching yellow perch.
lots of theories: spiny water fleas, algae, commercial fishing excess, water temperature.
i vote for high water temperatures. with the lake wide surface temps in the 70’s, the perch are not coming into the mi waters of the western basin as usual this time of year. my records show thta i catch big perch when water temps hit 67.
with the highest june, july, august temperatures world wide ever recorded, it must play some role.
what do you folks say?
thanks.
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Offline Tory Gabriel, Ohio Sea Grant
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Re: yellow perch
« Reply #1 on: 09/27/19, 13:00 »
Hi BobD,

Sorry to hear about the yellow perch woes. Interesting that you've kept detailed records, sounds like a cool potential data source.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be one great answer. There are a lot of yellow perch out there, so that's even more frustrating that they are hard to catch. They are growing fast too, according to a blurb in this article, which means they are eating a lot of something. Of the issues you mentioned, the least likely to have an effect is the commercial fishing. It is highly regulated and dependent upon a high enough population size, so it's highly unlikely to be effecting the catchability of yellow perch. The other issues could very well all being playing roles, and maybe even compounding each other.

We do know that they eat spiny water fleas, and they seem to be eating them more in the fall than in the past. ODNR data from past years shows a shift to a more forage fish dominated diet in the fall, but they seem to still be focused on the invasive water fleas and other invertebrates in recent years. Those invasive water fleas aren't schooled up near the bottom, so if the yellow perch are trained in on them their behavior is going to be different. There have been reports of folks having success using wax worms instead of minnows, and targeting suspended fish instead of sinking the bait to the bottom. You can read one such report here, though I've heard that from multiple anglers going back to last year.

We're not exactly sure how the harmful algal blooms effect the bigger perch. In the central basin the dying algae contributes to the hypoxic "dead zone" that is low in oxygen, and drives the yellow perch away. Depending on currents, there can be small, intermittent hypoxic areas in the western basin as well, though they don't hang around all season like in the central basin.

Your water temperature question is a good one. One of our big uncertainties with climate change in Lake Erie is how the cool water species like walleye, yellow perch, smallmouth bass, etc. will respond as temperatures continue to warm. That said, when looking at the Stone Lab data buoy it appears this years water temperatures are in line with last years so far at this date. Last year did not record consistently under 70* F until the end of September, and it's right at 70* F now. With the cool evenings in the forecast, you should be able to find out pretty quick here if your 67* holds true this year.

Hopefully it does and you'll be filling your cooler soon!
Lo

[ttinman23]

They have been in the western basin but just not biting IMHO, had to use a lot of lifting of the rod just to entice them. Caught some but the effort wasn't worth the time the few we did catch. The last couple years I had my best perch fishing in July in the western basin. Just saying.

[Eyezcrazy]

The idiots are those that want us to become socialists. Sorry could not let that go as I realize this is no place for politics

Many on here receive social security. We already have socialist programs.

[rscotfish]

so i heard a story that the dnr said that the spiny water flea is a very large hatch this year and the perch are full easy food but the water flea does not stay on the bottom they go the middle of the water and the perch are chasing them so they are not in schools on the bottom but are scattered through the water column thats why we catch one here or there but the fish are there and plenty of them what i would like to know is when do they hatch and how long do they hatch last year it was good fishing till the 2nd week of august around wards and intake area a can where we fish we would go out and pick at them it was like a light switch one day we got them the next day we only got 1 limit of 30 for 4 guys and we finally started to pick at them and getting limits but out a lot farther we traveled 15 miles from shore. but the netters are getting some be cause i bought a hundred pounds live weight. and so did my fishing buddys we have not gave up yet but ill have some fish in the freezer. went out monday got 6 perch came home and ordered fish

[itsbob]

Yes,this has been the worst perch catching season in memory.Seams like the balance in Erie is out of whack.The perch catching has been terrible all over lake past 3yrs and now the western basin has poor perching also.The past two seasons in the western basin,guys had remarked about the good size perch they were catching and hardly any dinks.Well,those dinks were the next age class we needed to catch this year.There has also been hardly any emerald shiners to use for fishing.The number one preferred bait to catch walleye and for them to eat out in lake.Some guys are blaming commercial netting.But we have had netters for quite some time.Some are blaming all the walleye in the lake eating young perch and chasing perch to prevent them from schooling up.We had large walleye population in the 80s and still had plenty of perch to catch.But we did not have all the invasive species in Erie in the 80s,like we do now.Now the ODNR is telling us that the perch population is fine and the reason nobody can catch perch on rod and reel is due to perch eating the spiny flees in our lake.I can imagine the perch eating whatever is available,but having an unlimited amount of one food source so you are not hungry to eat goldie minnows or other bait is difficult reason to accept.If the perch numbers are in fact healthy,i would expect the commercial guys to catch the same amount perch as in past years.Will be interesting on how this plays out.I do think the emerald shiner population will rebound but not sure if that will affect the perch catching in the future.