Jumbo Perch

We made a trip to Madison on the Lake last weekend to visit friends, and took the opportunity to go out on Lake Erie to go after some perch. The waters in the eastern part of the lake are much deeper than in the Western Basin, and the fish tend to move to the east as the weather cools, so we expected a good catch.

The waters were calm as we set out at 8 o'clock in the morning. Unfortunately, the winds picked up through the morning, so that by about 11 o'clock, we were bouncing around in 3 foot waves. It's very difficult to feel the perch bite in those conditions, so we gave up around noon - but not before we had 30-some perch in the box.

I've fished a lot in the Western Basin, and the rule on my boat was that if the perch wasn't at least 7 inches long, it was to be thrown back in the lake. I know some guys who keep fish as small as 5 inches, and I just don't understand that. Those fish need another year to grow. So a typical catch would be a lot of 7 and 8 inch fish, with a few 9 or 10 inch fish generally n the mix. We've caught some 11 and 12 inch perch, but those are rare in the west.

I'm happy to say that the perch we caught last week were good sized fish. There was probably one 7 incher in the box, but most were in the 10 to 12 inch range. The prize of the day was one I caught - it was slightly over 14 inches in length, and not only is it the largest perch I've ever caught, it is the largest perch I've ever seen. According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the state record is a 2.75 pound, 14 1/2 inch yellow perch taken from Lake Erie by Charles Thomas of Lorain, Ohio on April 17, 1984. We didn't weigh my fish, but that record puts my catch into context.

For comparison, the perch in the lower left of this picture was an 8 incher. We'll plan another trip next fall - perch like this are just too hard to pass up.