perchin lake michigan

went out with footdoc yesterday from wahala...whiting...north wind was a bit rough but we made it to the wall and caught about 20+ perch...fished a bit over 2 hrs...steve

I ran into some guys on a charter last year saying it was nothing to get 16in perch out of Lake Michigan. Is that true or BS?

Brian........I have fished Lake Michigan for Perch for over 40 years and have never seen a 16 inch Perch and 99.99% of people that talk about 16 inch Perch are full of you know what. Fifteen inchers are pretty common but sixteens are a different story. I had a sign in a bait shop for 6 years stating I would pay $100.00 to the first person to show me a Perch 16 inches long........guess what......never happened! Can you tell I get a little worked up about this subject?

[Erie Guy]

Hey Seagull, you are letting all those 15 inchers go aren`t you? Those big perch are our spawning stock for the future. I hate to see when people keep those big perch for the table.In a few years everyone will know why perch fishing is bad on Lake Michigan.Let those big ones go . They don`t taste as good as the smaller ones anyway.
Erie Guy

i catch 13 and occasional 14 inchers...i did see one that a fellow said was 17 inches this yr...it looked huge to me...don't know if it was that big but it was probably 16 inches...never saw one that big before...the 13 inchers go about a pound...and taste very good...i am not upset by those who eat perch...any size...there is a 15 limit...used to be no limit and even when there was no limit and guys took lots of five gal buckets of fish, the commercial guys ended up getting something like 95% of the yearly haul...we were literally a drop in the bucket then and are basically nothing now...the perch fishery was hurt by commercial fishing...period....the zebras, and gobies and other invaders are doing more harm than any 15 limits will ever do...putting a guilt trip on a guy for taking a legal limit of panfish in a body of water like lake michigan is ridiculous...like fishing out a bluegill hole when it just has small gills....a 15 limit is not going to dent the perch population...check out the history of lake michigan perch populations...the ebb and flow...and the commercial guys have been taking the vast majority of perch...they are out of the picture..hopefully for good...the invaders are here for good...i will eat my fish and enjoy every bite...steve heckler

Hey guys,
RE: the gobys, I know they tear up eggs but this fall we have caught a bunch of perch spitting up good sized gobys. I also know the other fish in Erie are eating them as well but unfortunately not faster than they are reproducing.

Erie Guy,

I think he uses the 15 inch perch along with musky and smallmouth fillets to stuff the large walleyes he likes to bake and eat. Forget about the future of fishing just keep all of the big fish.