Let me preface this,that i am not an avid perch fisherman and i only occasionally perch fish.These are observations and opinions regarding what has happened to the yellow perch fishing on lake erie, based mostly on what i have read here and on Ohio Game and Fish.I could be exaggerating the problems and be wrong on some of my opinions on this controversial topic.
I had planned to perch fish this past monday with 3 other friends on a head boat.I stopped at two places sunday when the boats came in to see how they did.I went to Tibbles at 2:30 as their two boats came in.While i was waiting,talked to John Tibbles who is a 4th generation owner of the business.He said his perch fishing head boats and charters are way down for the past 5yrs due to lack of perch.The two boats came in and i talked to a couple guys from each boat.They fished north of Kellies and the size was not that big and the average catch was around 10 perch per person.
I then drove over to the Sassy Sal at 3pm to see how they did.The investigator had a total of 60 fish and the Sal had 150 for 15 guys.Size was small.Went into the cleaners at the Sal and watched a guy cleaning a bucket of 6-7" perch.Told my buddies what i saw so decided on the Sassy Sal.
We left the dock at 8am monday and headed to G can.Was a beautifull calm day.Had a full boat of 15 people and i sat next to captain Andy and 1st mate Mark. Had an enjoyable conversation with them both.Great guys and they seemed to really know their fishing on our lake.Unfortunately the fishing was slow again.The boat total was 200 perch, and the size was not very good.Everyone was keeping even 6" fish.The 4 of us caught like 40 fish that weighed 13lbs.The other head boats did not catch any better either.
Now we were fishing the end of October.Traditionally a very good time for perch fishing in the western basin.The numbers and size of fish seem to be way down the last 5yrs.The ODNR took drastic measures and lowered the perch limit to 10 in the central zone. Essentially closing down the sportman quota for perch there.It seems the perch stocks are in serious trouble.I am not sure how much the quotas have been reduced for the commercial guys either.But i do know that they stopped all commercial netting in the western basin for 3yrs several years ago to help bring back more perch.
I have heard other opinions as to why the perch numbers are down.Too many walleye,invasive species like the spiney water flee,too many cormorants,poor hatches and commercial overfishing. I know the great lakes commission will survey our lake and determine the total allowable catch for yellow perch and will divide that up to all the states and Ontario that border Erie.Then our ODNR will take our quota and determine how much the sportsman and commercial netters will get.I do hope the numbers of perch do improve.Would be a shame if our agencies allow the perch population to crash.