Cedarville/Hessel Area

[MDH]

Was up in Cedarville for a wedding and got a chance to fish on Saturday morning for only a few hours. Dad and I caught about 12 perch and 4 pike, with 6 being really nice perch. 2 of them were 13 inches and fat.

Has anyone else fished up here lately? It seems like the fishing is slowly coming back in the area. Whether it was the cormorants, gill nets, over fishing in general, or whatever, the fishing had really declined since about the late 80's. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this region and its fishing, and whether or not it is improving?

Thanks,

MDH

[lazyike]

Was at Drummond Friday - Sunday. Caught a few perch every day.
Numbers not good, but size excellent. Mostly 9" to 12" and very fat.

[2tundras]

It is improving for a variety of reasons. Perch fishing in Northern Huron and the St. Mary's was just outstanding last winter and all this spring-summer-early fall. Little guys are really starting to make a comeback.

Reasons are better cormorant control, although the effortsin the Snows is probably the lowest effort in the EUP, less salmon predation on perch fry, adjusting to the water clarity (i.e. zebra mussels), natural cycles, and adjusting to new spawning grounds due to the low waters of late. Gill nets were never part of the perch problem up here.

Happy their back.

[MDH]

Do you believe the gill nets had an effect on the fishing at all? I have held the belief that they did, but I am not an expert. Just being out in all of the entrances from the Les Cheneaux areas and seeing nets go across most of the entrance had to have some effect in my mind. But...It does seem like the cormorants were more of the problem. The bottom line for me is I just want to be albe to go out and catch some decent fish. No matter what is/was causing the decline in fishing I want it fixed.

Thanks for the insight,

MDH

[buckslayerII]

MDH - where abouts out of Cedarville do you fish the perch? I've always gone all the way out to Drummond, but Cedarville would be closer for a day trip.

[MDH]

My dad and I usually fish in Muskie Bay, in front of Middle Entrance. We also fish over by Hill Island, I think it's called Moscoe Channel? I am not sure on that one. My family has lived up there for years and those spots have been pretty good. Now I am not saying you will catch a ton of them, but the size has been great this year, along with a few decent pike, sm bass, and sunfish.

We have a cabin in Shepards bay, so we are up there a lot. How has the fishing been out by Drummond Island? We fish Detour for salmon a lot.

Keep in touch, I'll let you know how the fishing continues on up there next season.

Thanks,

MDH