Perch near Edmonton

Buckshot82 · #1 12-19-2019, 10:57 AM

Looking to get in some perch this coming week. Any tips on location/strategies?

HuyFishin · #2 12-19-2019, 11:04 AM

yes

338Bluff · #3 12-19-2019, 11:54 AM

1/16 ounce jig + 1" yellow twister tail + tip with maggot or mealworm. 4 lbs fluorocarbon line.

Check out Alberta Fishing Guide for local perch lakes and have at it. I doubt anyone is going to provide GPS coordinates to the "perch lake".

Talking moose · #4 12-19-2019, 12:51 PM

Laclanonne.

Sundancefisher · #5 12-19-2019, 01:39 PM

Cardiff Park pond
Morinville Res
Mink Lake
Hasse Lake
Wizard Lake
Pigeon Lake
Wabamun Lake

338Bluff · #6 12-19-2019, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Cardiff Park pond
Morinville Res
Mink Lake
Hasse Lake
Wizard Lake
Pigeon Lake
Wabamun Lake

Hasse and Wizard? Might as well have him check out Hastings while he is at it....

338Bluff · #7 12-19-2019, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Laclanonne.

Not a bad suggestion. Little hit and miss though. Fish are deep and you will kill a lot of small ones the pressure difference.

MooseRiverTrapper · #8 12-19-2019, 06:35 PM

Wiau

Etownpaul · #9 12-19-2019, 07:11 PM

Last time I hit up Half Moon Lake near Bon Accord I caught 50 perch... maybe a couple over 2" but whatever. As long as I outfished my buddies that's all that counts

Talking moose · #10 12-19-2019, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 338Bluff

Hasse and Wizard? Might as well have him check out Hastings while he is at it....

Pigeon too. Pretty rare sight. Guessing he just looked in the fishing guide and named some lakes near Edmonton.

Sundancefisher · #11 12-19-2019, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 338Bluff

Hasse and Wizard? Might as well have him check out Hastings while he is at it....

What happened to the perch illegally stocked in Hasse? Ruined the trout fishing.

Buddy live near Wizard and has invited me to come fish for perch and pike. I haven’t fished there myself. The other lakes I have.

Do you have a better suggestion?

Sundancefisher · #12 12-19-2019, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Pigeon too. Pretty rare sight. Guessing he just looked in the fishing guide and named some lakes near Edmonton.

I have had great perch fishing at Pigeon. 25 feet of water. I drill tons holes spaced widely in a large X pattern.

I then start fishing...drop and give it 5 min for a bite. Catch one and you catch lots and buddy drills another hole next to the producer.

If I had a flasher or fish finder one can watch for perch rising off the bottom.

Cheers

Sun

Talking moose · #13 12-19-2019, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

I have had great perch fishing at Pigeon. 25 feet of water. I drill tons holes spaced widely in a large X pattern.

I then start fishing...drop and give it 5 min for a bite. Catch one and you catch lots and buddy drills another hole next to the producer.

If I had a flasher or fish finder one can watch for perch rising off the bottom.

Cheers

Sun

In the 1980’s? Pretty much non exist for some years.

Talking moose · #14 12-19-2019, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

What happened to the perch illegally stocked in Hasse? Ruined the trout fishing.

Buddy live near Wizard and has invited me to come fish for perch and pike. I haven’t fished there myself. The other lakes I have.

Do you have a better suggestion?

Hassie is dead. For many years. I fish wizard sometimes. Was there Sunday. The perch are to small to get a wire worm into their mouths. Bout 3” long. No bigger ones on camera. They could be there but my guess is a massive stunting.

338Bluff · #15 12-19-2019, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

What happened to the perch illegally stocked in Hasse? Ruined the trout fishing.

Buddy live near Wizard and has invited me to come fish for perch and pike. I haven’t fished there myself. The other lakes I have.

Do you have a better suggestion?

Talking Moose had the best suggestion.

pikeman06 · #16 12-19-2019, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talking moose

In the 1980’s? Pretty much non exist for some years.

Agreed, the last fall netting they did I believe it was 5 pike and 309 walleye and 44 whitefish and zero perch. Horrible imbalance there. Like looking for a needle in a haystack on a lake the size of pigeon.

Smoky buck · #17 12-19-2019, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pikeman06

Agreed, the last fall netting they did I believe it was 5 pike and 309 walleye and 44 whitefish and zero perch. Horrible imbalance there. Like looking for a needle in a haystack on a lake the size of pigeon.

When I see post like this I really wonder who thinks it’s a smart idea to an imbalance of walleye like this?

Also who is representing fishermen and lobbying for the interest of fishermen?

PerchBuster · #18 12-19-2019, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

When I see post like this I really wonder who thinks it’s a smart idea to an imbalance of walleye like this?

Also who is representing fishermen and lobbying for the interest of fishermen?

The Next Step Team from Lac Bellevue is one group that is. They have been engaging the Gov and Fisheries Bios for past few years on all these key issues. Ray Mackowicki, forgive me for possible misspelling, has been leading the charge. Get on the email distribution list and he will send out updates periodically. Believe it or not behind the scenes good work is being done. Good luck!

bessiedog · #19 12-19-2019, 08:28 PM

So what about:

Cache lake
Brodeck lake
Mons lake
Bellis beach
Kaduk lake
Sandy lake

A couple of them lakes used to have monsters

Hanmore lake used to have nice perch.

Lil farther out

Moose
Ironwood
Island
Mann lakes

Ironwood used to have pigs!

Man I miss big perch

bsmitty27 · #20 12-19-2019, 08:29 PM

Anyone been to Veg trout pond this year?

338Bluff · #21 12-19-2019, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bessiedog

So what about:

Cache lake
Brodeck lake
Mons lake
Bellis beach
Kaduk lake
Sandy lake

A couple of them lakes used to have monsters

Hanmore lake used to have nice perch.

Lil farther out

Moose
Ironwood
Island
Mann lakes

Ironwood used to have pigs!

Man I miss big perch

You been away for awhile haven't you?

bessiedog · #22 12-19-2019, 08:46 PM

Yuuup

Best perch years for me the were 84-91

Wasent hard to grab big ones with a little effort.

I’d love someone to pm me and honestly tell me the date of some of these lakes.

I’ll never really fish that area again.

Some fabulous memories. Great feeds

I’m sure I could still speed fillet perch boneless if I had to.

wind drift · #23 12-19-2019, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

When I see post like this I really wonder who thinks it’s a smart idea to an imbalance of walleye like this?

Also who is representing fishermen and lobbying for the interest of fishermen?

Until the shoreline habitat in Pigeon Lake is restored, there’s little potential for a recovery in the pike population. Unless anglers lobby all levels of govt for stronger water and shoreline law enforcement, the aversion to undo the degradation won’t be overcome.

pikeman06 · #24 12-19-2019, 09:34 PM

Pike and perch and whites were doing just fine until the massive stocking of walleye that were protected way too long. All the people fishing for walleye they couldn't keep would whack the pike and perch so they could have a fish dinner. Used to be plenty of big pike and perch not to mention a nice structured whitefish population for decades. They will never recover to fishable populations without stocking. I guess someone decided walleyes were the way to go at the expense of other species. It's happening in gull right now and sylvan is a couple years away from being a runty walleye lake too.

RACKER · #25 12-19-2019, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wind drift

Until the shoreline habitat in Pigeon Lake is restored, there’s little potential for a recovery in the pike population. Unless anglers lobby all levels of govt for stronger water and shoreline law enforcement, the aversion to undo the degradation won’t be overcome.

What part of the lake are the shorelines ruined or have been disturbed?The northwest corner and southeast corner have great shorelines.If there are houses right up to the shore i wouldnt want nothing in front if I was an owner.Sad but true residential development and taxes derived from that will be more important than a healthy pike population.Its not just Pigeon-Hundreds of lakes in Alberta dont have healthy populations of fish anymore.As long as people want to own lake front homes lakes and the fish in them will take a beating.

wind drift · #26 12-19-2019, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pikeman06

All the people fishing for walleye they couldn't keep would whack the pike and perch so they could have a fish dinner.

So...I think you answered your question about what happened to the pike and perch. Doesn’t sound like a “too many walleye” problem. Walleye and pike have been getting along just fine for millennia.

Now that pike are protected from harvest, whether they recover or not is going to depend on what spawning and nursery habitat is left.

EZM · #27 12-19-2019, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Cardiff Park pond
Morinville Res
Mink Lake
Hasse Lake
Wizard Lake
Pigeon Lake
Wabamun Lake

None of those would make my top 20 list - don't know about Morinville, only been there twice years ago and it was mediocre. Wabamun, Wizard are stunted. Pigeon they are few and far between. Mink and Hasse are potholes.

I'd say South Buck, Gull, Devil's for decent numbers and some good sizes and you will find them everywhere (don't need any particular honey hole).

There are quite a few much better perch lakes, but you need to know where to find them on the lake AND ......... no one up here is going to talk about which lakes those are anyways.

Good perch lakes are very tight secrets and the guys on here who I see there, and fish these lakes with, don't post anything about them.

Isopod · #28 12-20-2019, 01:35 AM

Caught a bunch of perch through the ice at Wizard in March of this year... all under 6 inches....

Red Bullets · #29 12-20-2019, 09:28 AM

I saw some nice yellow perch at superstore a while back. Instead of wasting 20 bucks on gas to hope for a 6 inch perch spend the money to buy some perch.

Biggest perch I ever caught at Wizard was 8 inches but that was over 40 years ago. I also noticed that lots of the perch at Wizard had growths and lesions. Yuck. Pigeon still has a few big perch but rare to find. Caught a few 11 inchers about 5 years ago in the fall. Coal lake used to have big perch too but I don't know if there are any left.

3blade · #30 12-20-2019, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Cardiff Park pond - no
Morinville Res - no
Mink Lake - doubt it
Hasse Lake - no
Wizard Lake - maybe
Pigeon Lake - haha
Wabamun Lake - no

Updated. I used to hammer them and cook up plenty of 6-7 inchers from Cardiff, Nak and Morinville most weekends, no harm as they needed to be culled.

Had some bad winters about 10 years ago and all the little perch spots got killed off, and have not recovered. Nakamun hasn’t either. Cross (along with most of the lakes around there) and garner got fished out. Haven’t seen a perch at moose or fawcett since the walleye regs - stupid policy that wrecked way more than it fixed.

Honestly don’t have the slightest idea where you would find perch south of slave.