Perch in Sylvan Lake

[Springer]

Somehow through my ageing years i have become interested in targeting Perch again. I live fairly close to Sylvan lake and have been fishing the areas with 500 meters from shore like most others.
I got to reminiscing the other day in the tent as i was jigging for walleye...
Its got to be 30 plus years anyway since i fished it and the Hot spot for perch was way out in the middle where it was quite deep. People drove out from lakeshore to access it.
I recall the retired fellas filling up their plastic milk crates with their limit and heading home....

Has anyone else here targeted this area of the lake. Im sure with a map from anglers atlas or something it would quicken the process of the deep parts of the lake. If we ever get thick enough ice this winter i will plan on a searching mission to find some Perch out there.....

[Coiloil37]

I’ve fished them in 50-60’ of water on the pin. You’ll be steady pulling fish up but most of the perch are to small to eat and you’ll get a lot of small walleye as well. The downside is everything comes out of the hole with its air bladder hanging out it’s mouth. I’ve done it twice and once I started getting walleye I quite because I didn’t want them all dying.

A guy needs to find a place to get them in less water.

[fish99]

that's where we used to get 1.5 lbers all day
I now fish shallower in 30-35 feet and bring them up slower, most smaller ones do go back down .

[huntsfurfish]

Originally Posted by fish99

that's where we used to get 1.5 lbers all day
I now fish shallower in 30-35 feet and bring them up slower, most smaller ones do go back down .

In 30 - 35' you are still killing most of the fish. You wont bring them up slow enough.

[Gdg]

Hey buddy, it kind of upsets me saying that you were catching perch in deep water and that was ok. Then you say you caught a couple of walleye and their air bladders were presumably I'm their mouths and that you decided to quite because you were afraid of killing them. Man, the reason our lakes are such a mess is that the damn walleye have taken over. Our regulations have to change! The perch used to be prolific, now they are the amomily due to the predatory walleye. Thanks western walleye council from the late 70's and 80's you finally got your wish and have destroyed our fishery.

[wind drift]

Originally Posted by Gdg

Hey buddy, it kind of upsets me saying that you were catching perch in deep water and that was ok. Then you say you caught a couple of walleye and their air bladders were presumably I'm their mouths and that you decided to quite because you were afraid of killing them. Man, the reason our lakes are such a mess is that the damn walleye have taken over. Our regulations have to change! The perch used to be prolific, now they are the amomily due to the predatory walleye. Thanks western walleye council from the late 70's and 80's you finally got your wish and have destroyed our fishery.

Perch, pike and walleye have been getting along just fine for thousands of years. Walleye don’t “take over”. There are plenty of historical records and remote lakes with low fishing pressure and lots of all three species that are testament to this. Walleye have recovered due to protective regs, while perch have suffered from chronic management neglect and regs that don’t protect adults. Nor do perch “stunt”. They grow slow and many get killed before they get big. That looks like stunting until you count the growth rings on those “stunted” perch and see that they’re not old enough to be mature. Any perch fishery that rises above the others gets knocked down quickly once the word gets out and the crowd gathers. If we and the govt stopped fixating on walleye and bit the bullet and actually focused on a perch management plan, we might get somewhere in a few years. My view, anyway.

[Zip-in-Z]

If you guys wish to target deep water Perch in Sylvan, use a camera, they're attracted to it and then cherry pick the larger one's, if you can find them, they've been hiding or over harvested over the past number of years. Those days of filling up plastic milk crates with their limit and heading home .... are distant memories.

D.

[Gdg]

Yes all species coexisted together for many years, however the govt decided based on some stupid questionnaires back in the 80's on what fish people were targeting. The result was "walleye". Growing up in northeast Alberta and having fished for over 55 years, the walleye were a very difficult fish to catch. They are a very voracious predator. You would very seldom catch them on a small perch or walleye lure. I fish with hooks based on chironomid patterns and I catch 3 - 4 lb eyes on them, big question is why? It's easier to catch a walleye now than a pike, again why? Our govt along with bioligists have to take a more realistic look on these situations, listen to the people that have been around for a while. By the way, filling gunny sacks are gone, it's not about that it's about common sense. Predatory fish such as walleye being left the way it is will destroy our lakes. Fishery management involves ALL species, not just a favoured specie such as the walleye, common sense has to hopefully prevail.

[Isopod]

Ahhhh, Sylvan perch. I recall fishing for them in the bay near the marina, 10 or 15 years ago. If the whites were slow, if the pike were slow, move out to 20-25 feet of water and the perch action was pretty much non-stop. Not a lot of keepers, but some, and at least at that depth the smaller ones could swim back down without air bladder issues.

More recently, they seemed to disappear from the marina bay, and the ones out in the deeper west parts of the lake are mostly tiny, plus they are 40 feet deep so any fish brought to the surface probably stay at the surface.

Too bad, Sylvan was once a fun perch fishery. IMO, that ended about 10 years ago. I hope it returns some year...

[Coiloil37]

Originally Posted by Gdg

Hey buddy, it kind of upsets me saying that you were catching perch in deep water and that was ok. Then you say you caught a couple of walleye and their air bladders were presumably I'm their mouths and that you decided to quite because you were afraid of killing them. Man, the reason our lakes are such a mess is that the damn walleye have taken over. Our regulations have to change! The perch used to be prolific, now they are the amomily due to the predatory walleye. Thanks western walleye council from the late 70's and 80's you finally got your wish and have destroyed our fishery.

Your reading comprehension must be poor. I can’t type this slow so your just going to have to read the OP again, my first post, your self righteous BS response and then this... in order.

Yea you can get perch in sylvan out deep, most aren’t big enough to want to keep and every fish you pull up is getting a one way trip so big or small the perch are going to count against your limit and your going to be eating it anyway. I tried it twice and both times I got a few perch then walleye and stopped because I wasn’t interested in killing a bunch of fish I can’t keep. I then finished by suggesting a guy should find a shallow location to catch them so you wouldn’t have to deal with that problem.

[Gdg]

Coaloil37, you're being very insulting! I can read very well thanks perhaps you read the following VERY SLOWLY "The downside is everything comes out of the hole with its air bladder hanging out it’s mouth. I’ve done it twice and once I started getting walleye I quite because I didn’t want them all dying". Please look at these few sentences. The end.

[Foonus]

Originally Posted by Gdg

Coaloil37, you're being very insulting! I can read very well thanks perhaps you read the following VERY SLOWLY "The downside is everything comes out of the hole with its air bladder hanging out it’s mouth. I’ve done it twice and once I started getting walleye I quite because I didn’t want them all dying". Please look at these few sentences. The end.

This type of pulling apart every word of someone's post on these forums to try and slander them with it has to stop, moderators have already alluded to the fact that its a wonder anyone registers to post at all with this type of nonsense.

Bad enough with this liberal callout generation and media, we don't need (or want) the same mess on here as well.

The guy literally gave you a tip on where to fish along with a location marker and you go on to slander them for it in an attempt at some sort of self gratifying virtue signaling.

If you are as mature as you suggest in your post you should be well above forum games...

[Fishin' Fool]

Originally Posted by Foonus

This type of pulling apart every word of someone's post on these forums to try and slander them with it has to stop, moderators have already alluded to the fact that its a wonder anyone registers to post at all with this type of nonsense.

Bad enough with this liberal callout generation and media, we don't need (or want) the same mess on here as well.

The guy literally gave you a tip on where to fish along with a location marker and you go on to slander them for it in an attempt at some sort of self gratifying virtue signaling.

If you are as mature as you suggest in your post you should be well above forum games...

And you, instead of just addressing this person and what they did, have to bring an entire generation, a political affiliation, PLUS the media into a discussion they have no place being. You don't think that is feeding the fire?

[srs123]

Typical AO thread derailment. Just go out and enjoy catching fish

[goatskin]

Would a appropriately sized deep water release device as has been implemented of the coast of BC for rock fish work for those fish caught from depths deeper than they recover from on their own?