On clear, brisk fall days, when Lake Erie lays down, thousands of boats school up to take advantage of the North Coast’s bounty of yellow gold. Find the flotilla of boats, put out the anchor, and jig up some of the best-tasting fish you’ll ever fry in a pan — the yellow perch.
Or, at least, that’s how it used to be.
A combination of factors over recent years, most notably poor hatches, has decimated the Lake Erie perch population, especially in the central basin, from Huron east to Fairport Harbor.
While avid perch fishermen also blame commercial netting and the proliferation of walleye in the lake right now, whatever the case, the numbers of perch just are not there. So much so, the Ohio Division of Wildlife lowered the central basin perch limits to 10 per angler per day. If you fish west of Huron, the daily limit is 30.
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Charter boat captains who used to supplement their walleye season with fall perch trips can’t book clients with a 10-perch limit, and one captain who I recently spoke with, even said if he could sell a charter, he doubts he could find 10 perch per fisherman.
What’s the answer, and will perch fishing in Lake Erie ever return to its glory days?
According to Lake Erie Fisheries Program Administrator Travis Hartman, poor hatches over the last eight years is the key factor in the central basin perch decline.
“We’ve had good hatches in the west, but people confuse that with thinking that means lake-wide,” said Hartman. “You have to look at the perch population by region. The western basin perch numbers are pretty good, but it’s a very different scenario in the central basin. We’re not getting the good hatches to support good perch fishing.”
Perch spawns are driven by time of the year (mid to late May in the central basin), and not by conditions, a key to why central basin spawns have been poor in the recent years.
And, unlike walleye, which migrate across the north shore, perch are pretty much home bodies, staying relatively close to where they hatched. In fact, the Division of Wildlife has put trackers on perch, and in general, the farthest away that they have gone from where they were tagged is 25 miles.
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“That supports our regional management,” explained Hartman.
In Ohio waters, Lake Erie is broken up into three management units. Management unit 1 is west of Huron, MU2 is Huron to Fairport Harbor, and MU 3 is from Fairport Harbor east into Pennsylvania. There is also a fourth unit in mostly New York waters.
“For perch, what’s happening in the west doesn’t affect perch in Lorain, Cleveland or Conneaut,” said Hartman.
Early ’90s are measuring stick for the basin
This isn’t the first time the perch numbers in Lake Erie have dipped. It happened in the 1990s, and in that case, it was lake-wide.
“The early ’90s are the measuring stick,” said Hartman. “If you compare that to now in the central basin, we’re approaching that level, which is the low point.”
All sport fish in Lake Erie are managed by the five-member Lake Erie Committee, which consists of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario.
As a group, they set Total Allowable Catch rates based on shared sustainable, science-based data. Not only did the committee, which Hartman is the Ohio representative for, as well as the Ohio Division of Wildlife, reduce the central basin perch limit to 10 fish, but the LEC also cut the central basin commercial fishing quota 70% this year, as well as the eastern basin trap net quota by 20%.
However, because the western basin perch population is much better, the trap net quota in the west was raised 20%.
In general, commercial netting is only ever allowed to account for 35% of the Total Allowable Catch.
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Don’t blame the walleye
As for the question of the large population of walleye affecting the current perch population, Hartman said they have little bearing on perch recruitment.
“A walleye’s diet is 10 to 15% yellow perch,” he said. “That’s a minor component. They prefer bait fish species, but sure, walleye are part of the story.”
Another factor to consider is the life span of a perch. It takes two to three years for a perch to reach a catchable size, and then its lifespan is roughly eight to nine years.
“Compared to a walleye, perch are short-lived,” said Hartman, noting walleye routinely live up to 15 years. “If you have only a five-year window to harvest (perch), then if you go threefive years without a good hatch, it’s going to impact the fishing. It’s a different dynamic with perch, where one good year class of walleye can last years.”
Hartman realizes the low numbers of central basin perch has affected charter boat captains and bait shops, but says there still are perch in Lake Erie.
To make a catch, ‘stay in tune with fishing reports’
“There are opportunities to catch perch,” he said. “We’re seeing it in Ashtabula and Conneaut. You just have to stay in tune with fishing reports, and when you hear about a good day, go out and try.”
You may want to change your tactics, though, as studies are showing Lake Erie perch are changing their diets from shiners to invertebrates.
“They’re filling their guts at will,” said Hartman. “You better be where the perch are when they’re feeding.”
The old adage of not leaving fish to catch fish may never be more true than it is now with central basin perch. If you find them, stay on them, try different baits and different levels. Hartman said he’s heard of perch anglers going to tiny fly fishing flies to better match the invertebrates the perch are eating, and fishing off the bottom much more.
Long story short, it’ll be a couple years at the least before the central basin perch population rebounds, and that’s only if the hatch is good. It’s a cycle, and right now it’s on a downward trend, but Mother Nature has a way of bouncing back.
Outdoor correspondent Art Holden can be reached at letsplabal@yahoo.com.
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