Perch by the bucket load.

[Redfrog]

When I lived in Ontario many many years ago we caught lots of perch in the rivers as well as the lakes.

I hear of people catching different species of fish in Alberta rivers, the Peace, NSR, SSr, Red Deer etc. But I don't see or hear of perch being caught. Why not?? Anyone got ideas?

[the local angler]

its a rarity here as there is lots of lakes with perch but very stunted in the 3"-5" range depending on where you go. don't get me wrong there is still big perch to be had in alberta but gotta find them.

[RavYak]

You tell me a good perch lake and I will give you a bucket of perch lol.

[ishootbambi]

Id guess it's because they just aren't targeted. I've caught them in flowing waters here but seldom on purpose.

[pinelakeperch]

I used to catch decent perch by the bucket load in Pine Lake in the late 90s and early 2000s. The odd 12-13 incher as well. Those days seem to be over in that particular lake.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

When I lived in Ontario many many years ago we caught lots of perch in the rivers as well as the lakes.

I hear of people catching different species of fish in Alberta rivers, the Peace, NSR, SSr, Red Deer etc. But I don't see or hear of perch being caught. Why not?? Anyone got ideas?

How big was your bucket?

BW

[Fur]

I miss Ontario for that reason exactly!
Lake Erie perch with 50 limits in a day.
Alberta has the hunting, but the fishing

Originally Posted by Redfrog

When I lived in Ontario many many years ago we caught lots of perch in the rivers as well as the lakes.

I hear of people catching different species of fish in Alberta rivers, the Peace, NSR, SSr, Red Deer etc. But I don't see or hear of perch being caught. Why not?? Anyone got ideas?

[pinelakeperch]

Originally Posted by Fur

I miss Ontario for that reason exactly!
Lake Erie perch with 50 limits in a day.
Alberta has the hunting, but the fishing

Great fishing in Alberta, you just have to know where to go

[3blade]

High flow rate/current speeds in AB. While a perch may migrate up or, more likely, down stream, they are not built for holding or feeding in fast water.

[Fur]

Originally Posted by jhutter

Great fishing in Alberta, you just have to know where to go

True true. But Musky and the Erie walleyes along with bass is hard to beat!

The trout fishing in Alberta is great no doubt though!

[pinelakeperch]

Originally Posted by Fur

True true. But Musky and the Erie walleyes along with bass is hard to beat!

The trout fishing in Alberta is great no doubt though!

I'd love to catch a musky, and I sure love fishing for smallies. There is some terrific walleye fishing in this province!

[Redfrog]

There was no limit on perch and in a few hours we could catch a 5 gallon pail in the spring in the river. We also caught several other species, from catfish to walleye and silver bass, rock bass, smallmouth bass and pike and Musky. St Clair lake also produced some very nice sturgeon.

3 blade, the rivers were as fast as the rivers here, much larger but held the same species as here except perch it seems.

[hillbillyreefer]

Did you try sounding lake?

[Redfrog]

Originally Posted by hillbillyreefer

Did you try sounding lake?

Yep but only in the winter for coyotes.

I know there are some good perch lakes around, but I was curious why they don't seem to be in the rivers

[last minute]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

When I lived in Ontario many many years ago we caught lots of perch in the rivers as well as the lakes.

I hear of people catching different species of fish in Alberta rivers, the Peace, NSR, SSr, Red Deer etc. But I don't see or hear of perch being caught. Why not?? Anyone got ideas?

NO body wants to clean them little bugger's

[Fur]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

There was no limit on perch and in a few hours we could catch a 5 gallon pail in the spring in the river. We also caught several other species, from catfish to walleye and silver bass, rock bass, smallmouth bass and pike and Musky. St Clair lake also produced some very nice sturgeon.

3 blade, the rivers were as fast as the rivers here, much larger but held the same species as here except perch it seems.

Did you ever try fishing for fall musky in the Thames at the mouth of St. Clair?

[Redfrog]

I only fished the Thames once in the spring for walleye. It was very disappointing. Fished Musky in Detroit river/lake St. Clair.

I think the fishing is much better in Erie, St.Clair et. now than when I lived there. I know the water is much clearer due to the zebra mussels. The visibility was less than one foot back in the day. Last time I was back about 15 years ago the visibility was several feet.

[Fur]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

I only fished the Thames once in the spring for walleye. It was very disappointing. Fished Musky in Detroit river/lake St. Clair.

I think the fishing is much better in Erie, St.Clair et. now than when I lived there. I know the water is much clearer due to the zebra mussels. The visibility was less than one foot back in the day. Last time I was back about 15 years ago the visibility was several feet.

Its clearer no doubt. Bottom bouncing for walleyes in spring was always my favourite!

[Waterfowler vmax]

I'm from Ontario, we used to go to Goderich all the time and the one spot by the old elevators by sifti, you could drop a bare hook in and catch your limit of perch in 3 mins. Not even joking. Went back a few years ago and not a bite. No perch in sight

[Rockjockey]

This what I got from the bio's last year when I inquired about the hundreds of perch in Obed creek within a kilometer of the Athabasca.

Thank you for the information regarding yellow perch (YLPR) captured in Obed Creek, I have copied and pasted your original message below for reference.

We know there are populations of YLPR in Obed Lake and have been for some time. These fish were illegally transported to Obed Lake and are firmly established within the lake. Obed Lake is connected to Obed Creek through a series of intermittent channels and wetlands, approximately 10 km from the confluence of Obed Creek and the Athabasca. It is certainly possible that some fish may be able escape from the lake and negotiate these channels and enter the creek. Our provincial database FWMIS (Fish and Wildlife Management Information System) shows records of YLPR within Obed Lake, Obed Creek, and the Athabasca River mainstem in this vicinity. This info is collected over years of fisheries sampling by a variety of different contributors including but not limited to Fisheries Management (Government of Alberta), fisheries consultants, and academia. We are aware of YLPR existing in this system but your records are the first I have seen personally of YLPR within this creek and are quite interesting; would you mind sharing your approximate fishing location, also I am slightly curious of how your fishing was for trout at this location?

In regards to your concern of YLPR spreading into other tributaries of the Athabasca and interfering with native trout stocks, your concerns are noted however this is unlikely to occur for several reasons. In general YLPR do not do well in dynamic river systems such as the Athabasca. YLPR spawn in early spring and typically use sheltered vegetated areas to release sticky strings of eggs on vegetation and/or rocks, eggs hatch very shortly after being laid. These spawning characteristics do not work well in large river systems that are so heavily influenced by snow melt/freshet conditions. There are also relatively very few YLPR within the river and these fish are not very well adapted to migrating large distances in big flowing water, basically they cannot find each other in large enough numbers to spawn effectively in such a large system. While there could be some small populations of YLPR within the river that may spawn successfully there does not appear to be any evidence of these fish being able to colonize tributaries, particularly in streams of the west here where we have quite cold, fast flowing and relatively unproductive water. YLPR are considered to be a cool water species and this area is classified as cold water. One other piece of evidence that may alleviate your concern is the historical presence of YLPR throughout a majority of the Athabasca River Watershed downstream of Whitecourt. Most watersheds within this area have YLPR in lakes and occasionally in streams and have been present for thousands of years however they have not shown any evidence of being able to colonize river systems with any major success and are still more or less found where they always have (with the exception of illegal transferring).

I hope that the above information is useful for you, please contact me if you have any questions/concerns.

Thank you.

Ryan Cox

Fisheries Biologist - Upper Athabasca Region
#203 Provincial Building, 111 54 Street
Edson, AB, Canada T7E 1T2
TEL: 780/ 723-8520 Fax: 780/723-7963

Hope this helps,

RJ

[cube]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

When I lived in Ontario many many years ago we caught lots of perch in the rivers as well as the lakes.

I hear of people catching different species of fish in Alberta rivers, the Peace, NSR, SSr, Red Deer etc. But I don't see or hear of perch being caught. Why not?? Anyone got ideas?

There are a number of reasons that have contributed to the lack of perch and consequently the lack of talk about perch fishing.

One reason was the long drought we had not long ago. The drought lasted a very long time and many lake levels dropped quite drastically having a major effect on spawning and habitat. eg Mann Lakes used to be a very good perch lake but basically became just a slough. This happened to many of our perch lakes as they were smaller and shallower.

Another reason we have poor perch populations is the management of our lakes for walleye. A good number if not just about every deeper lake was stocked and/or managed for walleye. If you look at the FWIN data you will see that shortly there after the perch numbers plummet. Fact is perch is the walleyes preferred food source. An example here would be Pigeon Lake. It was always known for it's perch fishing and it was nothing to catch a few hundred off any dock on the lake. A lass now we have many walleye but no perch.

We have also had a couple of years were we had a number of lakes winter kill due to early ice up with snow cover. Given our lakes are not shield lakes but rather small nutrient rich eutrophic lakes it does not take much for a winter kill to happen in the perch lakes.

This leaves the situation we have today ie lots if fishermen that would love to catch perch but few good perch fishing lakes. Hence when word gets out about a good lake it is set upon with a vengeance and in short order fished out. This is why so many are tight lipped about perching locations.

I believe the perch in the rivers that your speaking of probably came out of the lakes containing perch that we don't have and the few that do get gobbled up by the walleye.

At least that is my perspective on it.

[the11fisherman]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

Yep but only in the winter for coyotes.

I know there are some good perch lakes around, but I was curious why they don't seem to be in the rivers

I have never actually caught any perch in the rivers here. I have had some get caught in some of my minnow traps thought (Of course released back to the river right away). So they are there, it is just a matter of why they don't seem to be caught much. I know of lots of places where you can catch over 100 perch in just a few hours, but none are over 8 inches long. Just a bunch of stunted fish. There are also good places to go for larger perch, but I have never seen them caught in the numbers that I have in Northern Ontario.

[ontario gunner]

I hate too tell you.. but we've been smashing the jumbos out of leamington and picking up about 4-5 walleye each while perch fishing for the last month or so. Thames river has been ok for musky,, I've got a buddy that takes his golf cart down too the mouth too cast bulldawgs every day.

If you really want too get into absolutely insane perch fishing,, numbers and especially size,, the eastern basin of Erie is where it's at now.. port burwell and an 18 mile run too the Sandhills in 45-55 feet come July is incredible.

I fished perch anywhere from 8 to 72 feet of water this year... if they only fought like the rainbows do out of erieau.. I'm glad they taste the way they do..

5 more months give or take until 45 straight days of jigging the mighty Detroit for old marble eyes.

I tell you I miss the waterfowl hunting really bad in Alberta,, but I could never leave this fishing ever again!

[Fur]

Originally Posted by ontario gunner

I hate too tell you.. but we've been smashing the jumbos out of leamington and picking up about 4-5 walleye each while perch fishing for the last month or so. Thames river has been ok for musky,, I've got a buddy that takes his golf cart down too the mouth too cast bulldawgs every day.

If you really want too get into absolutely insane perch fishing,, numbers and especially size,, the eastern basin of Erie is where it's at now.. port burwell and an 18 mile run too the Sandhills in 45-55 feet come July is incredible.

I fished perch anywhere from 8 to 72 feet of water this year... if they only fought like the rainbows do out of erieau.. I'm glad they taste the way they do..

5 more months give or take until 45 straight days of jigging the mighty Detroit for old marble eyes.

I tell you I miss the waterfowl hunting really bad in Alberta,, but I could never leave this fishing ever again!

Best is Colchester late June bouncing for eyes and perch at Port Stanley near the water intake. Always did great there.

[waterninja]

I have never seen or heard of a Perch being caught in a river in AB.