Perch

King Midas · #1 09-01-2009, 06:00 PM

Is there any good lakes for perch within a 2 hours drive north of Edmonton? If you want to keep the location a secret, please pm me. Also wondering if anybody has noticed that our perch are becoming extremely small. Thanks!

AxeMan · #2 09-01-2009, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King Midas

Is there any good lakes for perch within a 2 hours drive north of Edmonton? If you want to keep the location a secret, please pm me. Also wondering if anybody has noticed that our perch are becoming extremely small. Thanks!

Within 2 hours north, yes, but just barely and they are hit and miss. I only have them figured out in the winter. PM sent.

Perch1.JPG

Perch2.JPG

Paul C · #3 09-01-2009, 07:50 PM

Nice stripped hogs. The one fish looks like it could have a saddle and ride it.

Cheers

hockey1099 · #4 09-01-2009, 07:56 PM

thats a nice looking catch.

I am looking for my first perch of the year still. i used to always catch a couple of perch when ever i went walleye fishing but it has not happened yet this year. Hopefully its easier in the coming weeks when the water starts clearing up a bit.

King Midas · #5 09-01-2009, 10:16 PM

Nice hogs! Those arent easy to find now a days! I guess i could probably travel 3 hours for a good perch lake, instead of just 2 lol!

baitfisher83 · #6 09-01-2009, 10:43 PM

those sure dwarfed my perch from today..lol biggest was 9 inches

RedHeadedFisherman · #7 09-01-2009, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baitfisher83

those sure dwarfed my perch from today..lol biggest was 9 inches

where did you go,

baitfisher83 · #8 09-01-2009, 10:52 PM

carburn park pond in calgary...didnt even know there was still perch in there..lol

DarkAisling · #9 09-02-2009, 09:27 AM

Wow! Those are a nice size. I'm pretty impressed . . . much bigger than anything I've come home with.

I think a couple of those are around 9", aren't they? They're very plump. How long is the blade on your knife?

romel · #10 09-02-2009, 10:46 AM

wow those are some nice big fat perch ... should be yummy too

King Midas · #11 09-02-2009, 12:01 PM

What about North Buck and Missawawi for perch?

sv650racer · #12 09-02-2009, 12:39 PM

could I get a PM too please.

AxeMan · #13 09-02-2009, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King Midas

What about North Buck and Missawawi for perch?

Missawawi is no good anymore because of the water level; it has dropped incredibly from the old hay days there. North Buck is okay but the perch are spread out it seems. Some days you can get a couple of good ones but nothing consistant.

Your right guys, getting on some good perch is hard to do these days, anywhere. I don't know what it is; the fishing pressure or the predators (walleye and pike). The lake that the perch in the pics came out of this winter has very few walleyes. For example, Beaver Lake used to be great for hog perch but now the walleyes seem to have taken over.

AxeMan · #14 09-02-2009, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkAisling

Wow! Those are a nice size. I'm pretty impressed . . . much bigger than anything I've come home with.

I think a couple of those are around 9", aren't they? They're very plump. How long is the blade on your knife?

There is a tape measure in first pic......bigger than 9"......more like 12 or 13.
Still, these are babies compared to the old days at Beaver, Elinor, Blackett, Ironwood, and Missawawi (Egg Lake).

Paul C · #15 09-02-2009, 02:35 PM

A few years ago Hasse was good for perch. The biggest I pulled out was 12.25 inches. I always went home with six fish but the fishing pressure the last couple of years has made it harder to catch the big ones. There are people who will take fish around 5 inches long and they say they make soup with the whole fish. Whatever!?!

hockey1099 · #16 09-02-2009, 03:04 PM

Im 30 and its pathetic that i remember the good old days when i was 15 and you could catch 40 perch (legal limit) and have a tonne of big ones. I remember one trip were we came back short 1 walleye turns out we had a perch so big we tossed it in with the eyes forgot it was a perch and when we counted the fish in the walleye bucket we figured we had our limit.

I remember throwing back countless small perch but now i cant even find one let alone a school of fish that will just sit under the boat happy to eat whatever you drop in front of them.

fishunter77 · #17 09-02-2009, 03:04 PM

The perch at Hasse are all stunted. They are the same way at spring lake. They will not grow any bigger because they don't have to. They have no predators.

SCRUB · #18 09-02-2009, 03:12 PM

Axeman

Those are some nice looking fish, hopefully i can get a few at touchwood this weekend....I'm not sure how the perch fishing is there but hopefully i can find some.

Scrub

Paul C · #19 09-02-2009, 03:33 PM

Any truth to pike being caught at Hasse ? I heard in the spring somebody caught one off the dock.

pdfish · #20 09-02-2009, 03:41 PM

Axeman...awesome perch. If I were a betting man, I'd guess Island or Long, only two lakes I know within two hours of Edmonton that have perch like that.

Wulfespirit · #21 09-02-2009, 04:48 PM

With the restrictive catch limits on pike and walleye there are a ton of lakes up north now where the perch are getting smothered out. You used to be able to pull decent perch out of Baptiste and Fawcett when they were balanced lakes. Now finding perch in those lakes is rare but they're sure loaded with way more small to medium walleye and pike then the past.

You're right about Beaver too - I remember a May long weekend about 10-12 years ago where we found some massive schools of humpback perch. Haven't seen them since but again - loaded with medium walleyes.

North Buck is North Buck .. not much has changed in that one for as far back as I can remember. It's not hard to catch perch there but - while there are some big ones around - they don't seem to school up there. Lots in the 3-9inch range. I spent a full day ice-fishing it in '07 .. caught about 50 perch that day and I think 7 or 8 were 'keepers'.

I don't think we'll be seeing too many perch fisheries until F&W realizes that perch are also a popular game fish and managing fisheries so that one catches a small pike or walleye on every cast is a little silly.