Huge perch, but not for long???

[Bob Jensen]

I joined a group of anglers in the Waubay area of South Dakota last week for some perch fishing. Had been hearing lots about the huge perch in the area and wanted to catch some. We did catch some of the huge 13-15 inchers. Absolutely magnificent fish. They fought well and looked like a super-specie, genetically superior strain of perch. I wish everyone who enjoys ice-fishing or perch-fishing could see and catch these amazing fish. Unfortunately, the opportunity to catch these tremendous perch isn't going to last long. Why? One word: Overharvest.

I don't want to sound negative, just realistic. The knowledgable locals in that corner of northeast South Dakota are already suggesting the best fishing for these beauties is over and probably won't return. Sure, there are still some lakes that have a good number of these perch, but once they're discovered, they will be overharvested also. That's an unfortunate but real fact.

Local anglers told me that one body of water that anglers just got access to this year was fished down in two weeks to the point that it wasn't really worth fishing anymore. Just two weeks!!!

Another larger system of lakes was fished down in the first month of ice-fishing two years ago and still hasn't recovered!!!

There are reports of anglers taking two and three limits of perch, and walleyes in the summer, every day. They're filling their freezers, relative's freezers, and neighbor's freezers. That is illegal, greedy, and unethical.

There is the mentality among some locals that if they don't take the fish, the out-of-staters will.

There is the mentality among some out-of-staters that they don't catch big perch very often, so they're going to take as many as they can.

No one wins with these philosophies.

Once these big perch are gone, I don't believe they will return, ever. Future perch won't be given the chance to grow to these proportions. They will be caught and kept when they reach 9-10 inches, and once we kill them, they quit growing.

I'm not complaining about keeping a few fish for the table, I'm just disappointed that this, and so many other tremendous and special fisheries are going to be a short-term deal. My nephew Sam is 5 years old and just started ice-fishing this week. I wish he could experience the thrill of catching a truly big perch. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the closest he'll get to a 15 inch perch is a picture.

I don't know what the answer is to save the monster perch fishery, or any of the other fisheries that are getting beat up: I will look forward to your thoughts.

By the way, I did catch some of the monsters, and I did put them back in tip-top shape. Maybe someone else will experience the thrill of catching those magnificent perch that I released.

[BD]

I remember perch like those from Winnebago! That was a long time ago. People that didn't live on the lake shore didn't have boats. If you wanted to go fishing you had to rent a boat at Red's or Zach's or Brainard's. The old cedar strip boats that rowed like a dream. If you did use a motor it was a Martin or Scott of about 5hp. You learned the lake by trial and error, putting in a lot of time to triangulate your position so you could find the break in the reef or transition from mud to gravel consistantly. Todays fishermen don't need to learn the lake like the old timers. With the modern electronics the task of finding fish on a consistant basis is no longer a task. Add to that the increased pressure of today. "Everyone" has a boat. The DNR and sportsman's groups droped the ball years ago. Smaller limits together with education early on may have saved the fishery for our grandchildren. In a couple of years my grandkids will be old enough to spend some time on the lake with me. I hope there is more that zebra mussels and sheephead in the lake then

"An angler is a man who spends rainy days sitting around on the muddy banks of rivers doing nothing because his wife won't let him do it at home." --- Irish saying

[Backwater Eddy]

We seen a Gold Rush like that last season on a large slough in SE ND. Perch ran up to 2 1/2 lb's and lot's of 1 3/4-2lb.

The slough is a mile 1/2 long and over a month it was decimated with 100's of vehicles a day working it and leaving with full pails. There are still big perch there but they may never recover?

Slot limits should be applied to perch as well to protect these valuable spawners to pass of there genetic line.

BE...><ND>

[eyewinder]

I'm a non-resident (Nebraskan) who has experienced what Bob is talking about. I don't mean to sound sanctimonious, but I do believe that a 15-fish bag limit & 30-fish possession, coupled with freezer checks of violators on either count could help. Fish hogs are fish hogs, whether they travel and pay nonresident fees, or live just a few miles from the resource.

[eye perch]

Bob,
I completely agree with your statement. I was born and raised and live in NE SD and have witnessed the same scene over and over for the last several years. The lakes are descended on by hundreds, if not thousands, of fishermen. As each lake becomes fished down, you hear the same excuses; nonresidents took them all, residents filled their freezers, bullheads ate them, pelicans ate them, the fish swam away during the last spring run-off, the GF&P netted them all, and "they are just not biting". I have heard all of these excuses over and over. Everyone seems to blame anyone, except the one in the mirror. I would love to see the GF&P manage them on a lake by lake basis similar to walleye. Hopefully something will be done before it is all over.

[EAGLE EYES]

I strongly agree with you too Bob! I also am very disappointed the SD authorities haven't reconized this problem already, and have a plan to reduce the daily limits for all anglers! This kind of thing happens over and over again. Why? If people would just think a little about what they were doing, this would'nt be such horrible issue. Very good topic Bob! Thank you for bringing this to everyones attention. :-)

[eye perch]

I did talk with a creel survey worker and a bioligist earlier this winter while out fishing. One of the questions they were polling fishermen about was if they would be in favor of reducing the perch limit. We had a long discussion about this topic. One of the difficulties they have is that as soon as they do somthing like that, they must be armed with loads of data to support their descision, or the local "militia" will burn their office down. As a result, it takes a while to set any kind of limit. The GF&P did get the slot limits on Lynn Lake through fairly quickly this winter. I know they are doing their best with what they can. One comment that he made is that most of the " hard core" anglers are in favor of reducing or changing the limits.

[eyewinder]

Enforcement is the key. Word gets around very quickly when violators are caught and prosecuted. I wonder if enforcing existing bag and possession limits would do as much or more to protect the resource than lowering those limits.

Enforcement is often more difficult that changing limits, however, because enforcement requires increased staffing or citizen involvement, or both.

[sib]

Bob,
look at the pictures at the bottom of this link to an ebay page selling a perch fishing pkg.
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1110405909
there is no reason i can think of for 2 people to kill that many perch. you're right, no fishery can survive a gutting like that. what a shame! :-(
"go outside and play"
sib

[EAGLE EYES]

Oh my Lord! This is absolute stupidity! Thanks for showing us Sib! Just think, they probably went back out the next day to give the lake another beating! :-( Too Sad!!

[t.tysver]

Twenty years ago my dad and I would ice fish on West Okoboji right out off the amusement park. There were times in the late afternoon that you couldn't see the botton of the lake in 20 ft of water due to all the perch. God it was fun. Now when my dad calls me down here (atlanta,ga) the news is how many he saw all day. We are probably part of the problem, we brought home several limits, never more, back then. Now I put back 95% of what I catch. I hope the perch come back some day and I hope we have learned a lesson.

[ifishsd]

I live in South Dakota. Have been here for 7 years. I have never taken a limit of perch home. I will take 10 or 15 home at the most. I don't like spending all night cleaning them. I would go for a limit decrease and a slot limit. I know people that think a 25 daily perch limit is to small. I would like to see the limit around 15 a day with 5 a day over 12 inches.

[Fritz]

Lower bag limits, slot limits and higher fines for violators.

I believe strongly in high fines for gross over limit violations. While there are other causes also, look what has happen to the deer population in Wisconsin since they increased fines. It wasn't worth taking a chance anymore.

[Gunga Din]

If perch are the primary forage in the lake, they I'd be more conderned with the walleye population crashing. We've got a lake like that here in Utah. I consistently catch 14" to 15" perch while walleye fishing using bottom bouncers (here's a pic of my buddy this summer, http://www.climbing-guides.com/fish/glenperch.jpg).

These perch are so big because they've passed the size that the walleyes can eat. So people remove the big, reproducing perch from the system and the walleyes remove the small, bite-sized perch from the system. The result is too few perch and a bunch of hungry walleyes. But if the perch go, the walleye won't be too far behind them. So we throw back all the perch and take home our limits of walleye.

[fish bait]

i see the same thing on lake erie in the spring.10-13 lb female walleyes full of eggs kept by the dozens.when you kill the goose that layes the golden eggs soon all the geese are gone.just ones mans thoughts. be safe and good fishing.GLEN

[Don]

How did you get that picture on there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rooster]

You are right, only take what you can eat in 1 or 2 days. They will be there tomorrow if everyone would comply to this scale of measurement.
Rooster

[Eyez]

Thanks for bringing this up Bob. This is a topic that I have been thinking about ever since Dry lake (near Florence, SD) took a dive 2 years ago. We're just taking too many perch out of these lakes. Perch are always viewed as an extra fish. GF&P will let you take a mess of them home, because they're smaller, and don't have as much meat on them. That's a meat hunter mentality. I typically keep 10-12 perch in a day, keeping more than that means a long night at the cleaning table, and I really don't need that many perch. We need to manage our perch more like we manage our walleyes. More restrictive bag limits, size limits, and maybe even slot limits. GF&P seems content to let one lake or another get completely wiped out, and does nothing about it. There is an ever growing list of lakes that were good, but are now almost empty of catchable sized perch. I've always been a supporter of our wildlife management people, but I honestly think that something needs to be done before there's nothing left. If protected, some of these lakes will come back to their former glory, but it won't happen with regulations the way they are now. I'd like to see a couple lakes in the area designated as tropy perch lakes, where you can keep 2 a day, as long as they're over 15 inches. Talk about a lake that would draw tourists. I'd have a place to take my friends when they come in from out of state, and know we could at least have a chance at a monster. Other lakes could be a 10 inch minimum, and only 3 over 12 inches, or something like that. That would definitely reduce the harvest.

I think it's kind of funny, actually. All the time I fished perch on the potholes, days that there were hundreds of trucks parked on a small lake, I never saw a wildlife officer ticket anyone. I'm not saying it didn't happen, because I know it did, but there wasn't a presence like there should be. As soon as the walleyes started biting on Dry lake (north of willow lake, SD), there were GF&P trucks all over the place, driving around, making their presence felt, and writing tickets to game hogs.

I'm going to catch flak, but I think the limit should be 10 fish daily, and 20 in posession. When the perch are 10 inches or better, you don't need any more than 10 fish. We're not fishing so that we can feed our families and friends, if they want to eat fish, they can get out there and catch some. I know that the tourism association doesn't like the idea of reduced limits, but they should. We need to protect these fish while we still have them. We're doing a great job of protecting the walleyes, and we need to do the same with the perch.


Sorry for the long post, I'll get down off my soapbox now. :)

Dusty Wilkens
Watertown, SD

[Dave]

I live in WI and fish the Winibago system, and all i hear from the old timers is that they used to take home huge perch by the pail fulls, and now theirs none left and they wonder why. They over harvest and it hasnt recoverd , and it never will. you can still catch them but not anything over 12 inches.

[Gunga Din]

>How did you get that picture on there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post the picture to the web and place the URL here on the board, which interprets it as a hyperlink.

[tim-wi]

It's the same here on Green Bay. The limit is 25 but you are lucky to catch any perch with size. The Wis DNR is now talking about lowering the limit to 5 and maybe closing it for a few years. I am all for whatever they want to help the perch recover. But it may be to late and the zebra muscles are not any help.

[MIke]

I live in Wisconsin and I know of many groups that go west to catch as many perch as possible. They used to go to Winnibigosh, but since the limit was lowered, they go to Devils Lake. I also know of huge goups of guys that go to Erie because of the 10 fish limit. At Kelly's Island or South Bass Island in April or May about 95% of the people you see are from Wisconsin. The word is that the Ohio DNR raised the limit to 10 because they want the fish taken. I know that the limit has been dropped to 6 now. Does Ohio really want that kind of harvest?

[Ya the DNR]

If you wait for the DNR (Do Nothing Right) to step in and impliment a plan to save something, the species in question is always doomed. Bunch of knee jerk politically motivated burocratic dullards.

[Rick]

Mike, the perch limit on erie is 30. Has been for a couple years now .Before that there was no limit.The walleye limit has been dropped from 10 to 6. In the spring it is 4. Good fishing.

[Gary K]

Over harvest has killed the numbers and size of the perch in Lake Simcoe which used to be the numder one lake in the world for perch. Watch out the greedy have heard and they wont be far behind. So enjoy what you have cause probably it will be gone tomorrow. Dont just speak up scream at the top of your lungs before its too late

[Make some sense]

I bet you'd be the first person calling the DNR "##### Near Russia" if they put some protective regulations in effect. Lighten up, will ya?

[Joshuatreewi]

The problem with over harvest is going on all over the country wisconsin anglers are saying the same thing about walleyes and perch. But one thing to remember is the DNR is struggling with keeping bag limits high enough to keep out of state anglers coming to fish and inturn spending large amounts of money on lic. bait and hotel rooms I agree somthing needs to be done. I read an article in which they study the affects of harvest on panfish size their findings show those large fish are the genticly superior or the fastest growing fish in the lake so when those were removed the average size gose down and never recovers

[bob oh]

Mike, Ohio anglers have not taken their quota of Lake Erie walleyes in any year in my memory. Ohio anglers were well below their quota last year and the limit was dropped to 6 this year (4 in March and April) so Ohio's catch will be down again this year. Hopefully the entire quota for Erie will be cut 40 to 50 % this year.
Bob

[saskfish]

This is a problem here in Saskatchewan as well. People are keeping everything they catch and few practice catch and release. It won't be long until there isn't a quality fishery here.