The last I heard the population was at its lowest. How have you been doing out there?

The perch fishing on the big lake has not been good Stumpjumper.

Back in the 80's we used to go down and reel in one after the next. If a man wanted to catch a limit of 50, it was no problem. I preferred to keep enough for a meal or two and put the rest back.

Over time, the fishery became almost nonexistent. The DNR closed the season for a while. The current limit has dropped to just five fish per day.

About a year ago I read an article about a study that the DNR conducted on the lakes perch population. The amazing thing was the ratio of males to females. The female population was something like less than 5% of the total population, which in turn led to a very low reproduction rate. They could not explain the reason for the low number of females in the population.

I doubt the perch fishing in the big lake will ever be what it used to. Hopefully with proper management and possibly stocking, we will see the perch population rise to it's old numbers.

Wow, a limit of 5? I wonder if it's caused by, commercial fishermen, years of no limits, predator fish or maybe a disease in the perch population?

Shortly after I posted this morning Stumpjumper, my new issue of Wisconsin Sportsman arrived.

There is a very short article about perch fishing in the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. The perch limit in the Bay will be 10, twice that of the rest of the lake. The ENTIRE commercial perch harvest will be limited to no more than 20,000 pounds a year.

Wow, can you imagine what people would've said 20 years ago, if you told them that the limit would be 5 or 10 perch! That's crazy.

Indiana is now studying the perch situation and have stock reproduction fish to restock the big lake. There are several little lakes that are now test lake for the big lake repopulation.

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All you really need is worms hooks and time.

That's good news!

As long as we have commercial fishing in the Great lakes without a very good way to check these commercial fishermen, don't count on good fishing stocks.

Our great lakes have unbelievible potential. Just look at Lake Erie. No one fished it back in the 60's. It was so polluted that parts of it would sometimes catch on fire. Then we started to clean it up, and the fishing got better and better until it was fantistic and there was no commercial fishing.

Now commercial fishing is making a comeback and already the stocks have started to decline. Commercial greed is even fishing out the oceans of the world. They can blame everything else from alwifes to lamprey eels to zebra mussles as the bad guys.

Just my opinion!

Splitshot,

From what I have read, I thought the Zebra Mussels actually helped clean the water. How can the Commercial guys get by with claiming they hurt the fishery.

The same thing in saltwater? Sure it happens, but where is the enforcement? In Mexico, it is illegal for Mexican tuna boats to seine within 50 miles (others are illegal within 200 miles) of shore. Even when the authorities are presented with Video/gps proof, they turn their heads.

I guess is that the WHOLE WORLD is possessed with GREED!

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If a day goes by and you don't learn something - it was a Total Loss!!

Oldguy-2

IF i remember Zebra mussels do raise the quality of the accual Water in the lakes if certian heavy metals and Unkind polutants are already present in the area but once an area is infested with high numbers they consume the same stuff that the just hatched fish fry consume thus compeating for the same prey in different ways, they can also remove desolved oxygen in smaller lakes thus compeating with fish for oxygen in the water, The great lakes won't have this problem but small lakes highly infested will.

Then again i am just an unpaid mairine biologist. (He HE.)

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All you really need is worms hooks and time.

I think the jury is still out on the overall effect the zebra mussels have on fish populations. They are just something to blame the demise of our fish stocks on.

Old guy, the reasons the government turns their collective head is for political reasons. I don't even want to get into the Indian issue, but suffice to say and this is just my opinion, that commercial fishing in its current format is not good for the rest of us fishermen.