Theory of small perch this year?

[Bob T]

Hey Guys

Have any of you who fish St Clair have a theory on why the perch are so small this year and why so many of them. I have icefished the lake for many years and it seems that this year people are catching the largest amount of small perch that I can remember. This is from all areas of the lake. You hear of a good catch now and then but for the most part the fish are small. Any ideas?

Bob

[neil duffey]

we meraculousely(spelling?) grew to a super sized portion... and the fish stayed the same... that 28 inch pike i caught friday... was realy a 38... and the gills, realy went about 15 inch... :corkysm55 :p

[Ed Stringer]

Stop neil your killing me, cuz I'm 6'3"

[William H Bonney]

Think about it this way,,, what if everyone had thrown back all those 5, 6, and 7 inchers last year. :rolleyes:

[Joe Archer]

There are probably a lot of small perch this year do to a good hatching of a couple yeras ago. In about 2 - 3 more years the perch fishing in Anchor BAy is gonna be awesome! Also, if you look at a lot of those 4-5 inch perch that we are throwing back you will notice they are carying eggs. That is a TON of spawning this spring as well! I think it all good news for us perch fisherman. The keepers are out there still too. Hang in there. <----<<<

[Ed Michrina]

Due to the cold weather we had the last few years, we had a large shad die off (just ask the cold water huron guys) The Shad love to eat those little perch fry. no Shad then, lot of fry now, lot of little guys. :)

[trout]

I'd say the small fish are a good indication of a healthy yr. class.
Something had to lay all those eggs that hatched as well.
Just a guess but I think you'll find those larger perch near areas that can support them food/forage wise.
Those smaller perch are feeding on smaller food sources found relativly close to shore such as aquatic bugs and larvae.

[salmonslammer]

Whatever the reason.....There's a zillion of them....We were hitting them out of the boat back in late Oct and Nov. I can't recall a slower IF season than the one we are having now. However, I still say the big ones will be here. :rolleyes:


Perch often school with fish of the same size....I too think the bigger ones are still holding in the deeper water, just a matter of time. ( I hope!)

[Banditto]

maybe it's the "might as well keep the small ones" attitude.

I can't fillet well enough to justify keeping a bunch of 8" perch for a meal.

[William H Bonney]

Thats kinda what I was gettin' at too, Banditto. ;)

[Will Work For Fish]

Three of only ten jumbos I caught this winter had a side shaved of scales and raczor-like slashes to the flesh; I wonder if the musky are making sushi out of our pan fried delicacy?

[fish eater]

Perch school with fish of the same size, because Perch school by age. They stay together the best they can from birth, until the last old crusty bastard that's left. 2 to 3 inches of growth a year, tons of 4 to 6 inch dinks, must have been an excellent spawn 2 years ago. Bummer for now, but a sign of healthy crops to come down the road. Hang in there fellas. We'll have jumbozo's again one day.

[rizutto61]

Fisheater hit in right on the head, the Jumbo's will kick the dinks right out of an area. You will see this really soon IMO. Then the dinks will run and hide.

[Big Daddy Benelli]

I agree, the jumbo's will be here soon.... And as long as some all of the "toolsheds" dump back the small perch and NOT KILL THEM :rant: we will be hooked up for years to come.... I been seeing the big ones but their real picky... When the time is right it's going to pop:yikes: .... I know we all would like to think we are that good of fisherman to say we caught them all but SORRRYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:bash: :tsk: :Protest_e :yeahthat: I was at Simcoe 2 weeks ago and the big ones were hard to come by.. Once the weather gets stable they'll pop... I also got nice jumbo's before x-mas, so there out there somewhere, HANG IN THERE!! And keep prayer to the JUMBO PERCH GOD!!

[HemlockNailer]

Can you say "cormorant" ? I think they are to blame for the perch problem. It has been proven that they eat large quantities of perch, look at Cederville and Drummand Island. The larger perch tend to stay in deeper water where they are vunerable to the birds, the small fish stay in close in the weed beds to hide from the pederators. The birds have migrated now and the perch fry have grown some since summer and are now in serch of larger food such as minnows. Next spring they will be the target of the returning cormorant. :help:

[tubejig]

If we had cleaner water this ice season I would be able to judge whats going on with the big fish. But I do know that we have been under an attack of mudd this entire season and the big boys don't really care for those conditions.

[Joe Archer]

If we had cleaner water this ice season I would be able to judge whats going on with the big fish. But I do know that we have been under an attack of mudd this entire season and the big boys don't really care for those conditions.

Also extremely atypical - all the the larger perch I have taken have come 1 - 2 inches off of the bottom. If they are turned off and laying on the bottom, the weather patternss could really have been an issue this year. The lake kind of "turned over" twice by me because of thawing and re-freezing. <----<<<

[Ed Michrina]

I was just down the talking to them :) they said they are hungry due to the dirty water and are forced to go to the clean water (just out of reach of ice fisherman).

So you don't believe me, hear is a photo.. I know, this is a clean site but check the fins on this one :evil: HOT :D

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/47631286edfish-med.jpg

[Banditto]

:) Ed, that picture looks fake.

[Ed Michrina]

It makes me look fat :lol:

[fish eater]

That's because your supposed to wear sweaters with horizontal stripes Ed. Vertical stripes make you look fat.:lol:

[MiketheElder]

Ugliest looking perch I've ever seen.

Back to business. Clean water created HUGE weedbeds. This fall I marked tons of little fish in/above the weeds in front of Gino's. They had miles and miles of great hiding places. I also think that the walleye found it too hard to catch the small perch because there were too many weeds to hide in.

One theory is as good as the next. But I've never seen the weeds as thick and lush as they were this past summer.

Big Mike

[Shoeman]

Here's my theory

Eventhough we're just now getting into "safe ice" mode, consider the time of year. First ice (when we usually find the fish shallower), should have happened a month ago. The big ones are there, but deep and we're not able to venture out to them for safety reasons. I'm thinking this weekend... ;)

[neversunk]

Yes...I have a theory....whatever happed to Lake Huron is happening here. We caught lots of smaller salmon in Huron starting a few years ago....then they got smaller and fewer and their bellies were sunk in. Some of the perch I've seen this year had stomachs nearly sunken in....and me and my fishing buddies noticed last year that the only thing in the stomachs of the perch we caught were the fresh minnows we had just fed them. And that includes fish caught in mid summer....hang on guys....the only thing thats gonna do well in Lake St Clair is muskies from eating all the small perch and bass from eating gobies. I sure hope I'm wrong....but there is a definate similar pattern here (including the poor walleye fishery this summer) :help:

[neversunk]

Oops....I forgot....the cormorants are also going to do well until they finish eating our precious alwives, smelt and perch. Then they'll just move on and the experts will say "see...nature took care of itself" while we sit here with empty freezers catching nothing but gobies and zebra mussels