The awesome perch lakes of yesteryear....

[Commander B]

Originally Posted by AK47

Are they talking Nile perch lol. In what world European perch grows over a meter?
Thats the official records:

As of May 2016, the official all tackle world record recognised by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) stands at 2.9 kg (6 lb 6 oz) for a Finnish fish caught September 4, 2010.[6] In January 2010 a perch with a weight of 3.75 kg (8 lb 4 oz) was caught in the River Meuse, Netherlands.

It is a photo and release tournament. 5 fish × 45cm
Equals 2.25 meters . Pretty standard format. Watch the show its pretty good.

B.

[B.O.]

When I was in junior high school, mid to late 80’s, I went on a weekend fishing trip to south buck lake with a friend and his dad. We fished hard all weekend for walleye and only caught small pike. When we beached the boat Saturday night there was another boat coming in. I asked them how the fishing was and they raised a collapsible mesh basket with several fish in it. What I saw were perch but they were so large they didn’t look real. I thought at the time every perch in there was an Alberta record. I had caught many perch but I couldn’t imagine perch could get this large. I asked the elderly couple were they caught them.

So the next day we went out before we had to head home. We headed across the lake to the spot they told us and used the same bait and lures. We did catch many perch but nothing even close in size.

The best perch fishing I remember was Moore lake in the late 80’s and Hastings lake. Also caught many 12” footballs from ironwood casting wally divers and cc shads for walleyes. Long lake near peers had some large perch as well.

[Skoaltender]

Originally Posted by B.O.

When I was in junior high school, mid to late 80’s, I went on a weekend fishing trip to south buck lake with a friend and his dad. We fished hard all weekend for walleye and only caught small pike. When we beached the boat Saturday night there was another boat coming in. I asked them how the fishing was and they raised a collapsible mesh basket with several fish in it. What I saw were perch but they were so large they didn’t look real. I thought at the time every perch in there was an Alberta record. I had caught many perch but I couldn’t imagine perch could get this large. I asked the elderly couple were they caught them.

So the next day we went out before we had to head home. We headed across the lake to the spot they told us and used the same bait and lures. We did catch many perch but nothing even close in size.

The best perch fishing I remember was Moore lake in the late 80’s and Hastings lake. Also caught many 12” footballs from ironwood casting wally divers and cc shads for walleyes. Long lake near peers had some large perch as well.

Grew up at Hastings in the 90’s when it was withering away, sad to see it a dried up slough now. Along with cooking lake.

[dryflyguy]

Fun thread!
Growing up in the 90's our perch factories were Pigeon, Garner and Nakamun.

I've seen pictures of the perch my Grandpa would catch from Missawawi and they were mutants. Had to rub my eyes to believe what I was looking at. Too bad it was before my time.

[bessiedog]

Ah!!
Beaver Lake! Forgot bout that one.

We also got into pigs as Hanmore and Whitefish lake too.

I hate the thought of Hasse lake having perch. What a terrible thing.

Hasse had real 5-7 POUND trout in it.... I have old pics from the ‘70s to prove it...

Well my dad does.... heh.

I hope that lake comes back...... what a place.

[fish99]

beaver lake in the late 80,s the perch were surface feeding , we quit trolling walleye and instead targeted the perch.
travers dam had Hoggs for perch back in the early 90,s ,
1.5 pound males was the norm in the spring real aggressive

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by bessiedog

Ah!!
Beaver Lake! Forgot bout that one.

We also got into pigs as Hanmore and Whitefish lake too.

I hate the thought of Hasse lake having perch. What a terrible thing.

Hasse had real 5-7 POUND trout in it.... I have old pics from the ‘70s to prove it...

Well my dad does.... heh.

I hope that lake comes back...... what a place.

Only thing hasse got is bows and tigers.

[bessiedog]

Yes I know...
I was referring to years ago... people used to say it was a good perch hole.

I’m guessing it got perched in the early ‘90s

[trigger7mm]

Missawawi was a great perch lake back in the day. Early 80’s. I caught one there once that was sky blue in colour. No stripes or orange fins, the whole thing was just one colour. Sky blue. I wish I would have taken a picture of it with the other perch laying beside it, but back then, like all the other good old boys, it just went into the frying pan with the rest.

[elk eater]

Originally Posted by bessiedog

I hate the thought of Hasse lake having perch. What a terrible thing.

Hasse had real 5-7 POUND trout in it.... I have old pics from the ‘70s to prove it...

Well my dad does.... heh.

I hope that lake comes back...... what a place.

Yeah Hasse had some big trout in it. I remember fishing it as a kid and catching some real nice ones. For a while they figured the Alberta record was gonna come out of that lake. I know that the Nait biology students used to Electro fish the lake as part of their learning and that’s when the rumours started that they had brought up fish that would be Alberta records. Then along comes some wiener and dumps perch in it. Such a shame.

[elk eater]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

Missawawi was a great perch lake back in the day. Early 80’s. I caught one there once that was sky blue in colour. No stripes or orange fins, the whole thing was just one colour. Sky blue. I wish I would have taken a picture of it with the other perch laying beside it, but back then, like all the other good old boys, it just went into the frying pan with the rest.

Haha. You ate a blue perch !!! No harm done I guess. Can’t say I would eat an orange whitefish or a purple walleye.

[GrillBoss]

Originally Posted by Moe

Best perch fishing of my life was the winter of 1987/88 at Angling Lake by Bonnyville. Big fatties one after the other that whole winter. It's been a long time and I have no idea what it's like now.

Angling Lake perch fishing sucks now. I had my camera down there all day last week and didn't see a perch over 4 inches. I talked to a local and he said only tiny ones left now. I won't be going back.

[trigger7mm]

Originally Posted by elk eater

Haha. You ate a blue perch !!! No harm done I guess. Can’t say I would eat an orange whitefish or a purple walleye.

Probably a one in 10 million, and it let the way of the filleting knife. Old school ways back then.

[sureshot]

We used to catch lots of perch in the 80’s out of Lake Eden

[goku88]

Originally Posted by sureshot

We used to catch lots of perch in the 80’s out of Lake Eden

did lake eden change name? we fished it in 80s. lots of 8 to 9 inchers with rare 13 inchers every 200 or 300 fish. every time there is a 11 incher. back then no one talked conservation

[3blade]

Was just griping about this today...no good perch lakes left. Nakamun never recovered. Mann didn’t either. Stupid walleye regs wiped out lac la nonne, Garner, fawcett and moose. Last time I was at island the water started about 150 yards past the end of the ramp. No idea what happened at devils, but I suspect the one 5 lb walleye I caught all day had something to do with it.

Regarding size....two biggest factors are walleye predation and presence (or absence) of fresh water shrimp. Perch sleep at night, walleye feed at night, not hard to figure out.

There needs to be enough forage for perch to keep growing, and that pretty much means shrimp. No shrimp, no big perch.

[OL_JR]

Interesting thread. Lots of the lakes mentioned I haven't fished and some mentioned still have big perch but you better be willing to pop some holes and put some work in.

Hard to beat a big humpy coming up to the hole and that's why a fellow keeps at it.

[Jays toyz]

Cutbank lake in the early 80's. Giants from shore. One of the many places my mom delivered me to when I was 14. Left me with Food, a tent, a lake or river and my rods and pick me up in 4 or 5 days. I was still alive every time. How many 14 year olds are left alone at a lake for near a week these days? Sometimes alone and sometimes with a buddy. Moonshine, sturgeon, swan and one Island Lake were all on the hit lis
cutbank became overpopulated with perch and the they removed the catch limit (or changed it to a crazy number). Groups of people filling their boats. It dropped and winter killed like most other shallow lakes.

[sureshot]

Another lake I used to catch tons of perch in was Muir lake, that was back when it still had pike in it.

[curtis_rak]

Originally Posted by OL_JR

Interesting thread. Lots of the lakes mentioned I haven't fished and some mentioned still have big perch but you better be willing to pop some holes and put some work in.

Hard to beat a big humpy coming up to the hole and that's why a fellow keeps at it.

Exactly.. I chuckled at a few of the lakes mentioned. Yes things have changed since the 80’s/early 90’s but the perch are still around in some of the old haunts, just no freebie jumbos anymore.

I find, at least in the perch lakes where walleye exist, is to downsize my walleye setup and move a lot. Big perch take minnows just like walleye do and if it’s a smaller presentation you will catch the walleye and the perch if you stumble into them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pikeman06]

A hook in the water sure helps too. Put in your time on most of these lakes mentioned, minus a couple that are truly toast, and you might be surprised. Like the fellow above said they aren't easy anymore for the most part.

[trigger7mm]

Another one that we used to catch some beauty perch in back in the late 70’s was Floatingstone. We would catch the jumbos right in the bulrushes, using a Russian hook and a perch eye.

[bubba300]

A friend of mine and myself got into a school ice fishing at Pine about 10 years ago,they were a little under a pound,not monsters but decent.

[EZM]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

I used to fish 2 lakes exclusively for perch in the 80,s and 90’s.
Joker lake east of peace river.
Goosegrass out by gods lake.
Was incredible. Haven’t been to either in 20 years.
Anyone been?

One of my earliest "big fishing trips" was up to Goosegrass. Would have been 35 years ago (I was a kid) . Not sure how it is today - but the road in was a trail really. OHV and 4x4 in only and it was not easy getting gear in.

The lake was full of reasonably large Pike and Perch and even us kids would paddle out in front of camp and land pike after pike just tossing a spoon around.

I can't be 100% sure (as I'm going from memory) but the perch were likely all in that 10"-12" size as "average". Very big perch and very willing to bite a small spoon or rubber tail jig. I don't recall using bait.

There was a report in 2006 aby SRD that showed exactly ZERO perch over 10" found or netted over the entire course of the study. Largest Pike in study were under 40" as well - so nothing spectacular.

Good memories - not sure of this is another casualty of over fishing due to better access ...

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by EZM

One of my earliest "big fishing trips" was up to Goosegrass. Would have been 35 years ago (I was a kid) . Not sure how it is today - but the road in was a trail really. OHV and 4x4 in only and it was not easy getting gear in.

The lake was full of reasonably large Pike and Perch and even us kids would paddle out in front of camp and land pike after pike just tossing a spoon around.

I can't be 100% sure (as I'm going from memory) but the perch were likely all in that 10"-12" size as "average". Very big perch and very willing to bite a small spoon or rubber tail jig. I don't recall using bait.

There was a report in 2006 aby SRD that showed exactly ZERO perch over 10" found or netted over the entire course of the study. Largest Pike in study were under 40" as well - so nothing spectacular.

Good memories - not sure of this is another casualty of over fishing due to better access ...

Last I went in to goosegrass was a trail as well. Even way up there, perch lakes find a way to get fished hard......so I’m not surprised.

[EZM]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

Probably a one in 10 million, and it let the way of the filleting knife. Old school ways back then.

YUP .... LOL ....That was the way it went ...........

As a teenager, I remember going on a trip (multiple families) out to McGregor Lake. We went to fish the canal one evening and one of the old timers caught a absolute MONSTER burbot. I'm guessing high teens even 20lb maybe. He didn't weigh it, but it may have been one large enough to legitimately make the provincial record.

I was excited and told him he should weigh it and enter it for the record .... he laughed and proceeded to skin it up mumbling something about not being able to "eat a record".

Still think about that to this day.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by EZM

YUP .... LOL ....That was the way it went ...........

As a teenager, I remember going on a trip (multiple families) out to McGregor Lake. We went to fish the canal one evening and one of the old timers caught a absolute MONSTER burbot. I'm guessing high teens even 20lb maybe. He didn't weigh it, but it may have been one large enough to legitimately make the provincial record.

I was excited and told him he should weigh it and enter it for the record .... he laughed and proceeded to skin it up mumbling something about not being able to "eat a record".

Still think about that to this day.

There is probably more record fish that were released or became dinner without the angler realizing then people would expect. I know of a few that were definitely contenders but had no idea what the records were even. Black bullhead I have seen beat multiple times by 1/2-2lbs

I have heard lots of stories of burbot caught in northern BC that were contenders for record status but they are viewed as fish & chips not game fish. Most in northern BC have no clue there is even a record for burbot

[Jays toyz]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

There is probably more record fish that were released or became dinner without the angler realizing then people would expect. I know of a few that were definitely contenders but had no idea what the records were even. Black bullhead I have seen beat multiple times by 1/2-2lbs

I have heard lots of stories of burbot caught in northern BC that were contenders for record status but they are viewed as fish & chips not game fish. Most in northern BC have no clue there is even a record for burbot

I caught and ate a greyling out of the ponton river in the 90's that unbeknownst to me was likely a record that may have been 24”. It was an amazing shore lunch though. A huge greyling up against dozens of 15 pound Slough Sharks still seems small...

[shawn]

When I was a kid and living in Bonnyville I remember we would come home with a 5 gal pail of perch and dad would be filleting forever. I think the limit was 30 or 40 a person back then. Mmmmm and I wonder why they are no longer around, kinda like everyone shooting supplemental wt does. Hopefully people are more educated and learn to conserve now, I know I learned my lesson.

[abhunter8]

Missawawi, North Buck, upper and lower Mann, Baptiste and Calling lake were all good. My best day was at Thunder lake watching a dozen perch down the hole and moving your hook to catch the biggest. Would sit on a 5 gallon pail open side up and before you got your limit they were slapping you in the butt, All around 1 pound. Slave had some real big ones but you would only catch a couple while fishing for walleye. The good ole days.