Addressing the Lake Erie perch problem.

I am concerned about the 30 perch catch/kill limit in Lake Erie. I have witnessed first hand and heard many many reports in my circle of fishing friends and acquaintances about having to catch 2 or 3 fish to get a "keeper". That would mean catching/killing 60 or 90 fish to get 30 "keepers". I say catching/killing because the vast majority of the throw backs die because of deep hooking or fish bladder inflation.  So multiply the mortality figure by 2 to 4 guys in a boat who are too proud, or to lazy to clean a "dinker", by how many hundreds of boats and how many tens of fishing days in a summer. That is a lot of wasted fish (not in the eyes of the sea gulls). Can the fishery sustain that? Are their millions of perch in Lake Erie? To their credit, the Edward John has a self-imposed rule of keeping the first 30 you catch. Should there be a self-imposed rule by us fisherman before the limit gets reduced to 25 or 20? I'm not a biologist, so maybe I'm all wrong. Any thoughts?
 

To their credit, the Edward John has a self-imposed rule of keeping the first 30 you catch
 
 
 
 
 
time = money
 
 
the faster the clients limit, the less fuel EJ burns....

Dont the Canucks commercial fish lake erie? 900 million? Either the fish like this side better or the brothers from the north cant fish.
 
BH

I always encourage my buddies to keep any Perch who's bladder has popped. If you bring them up slow once you realize that they are dinks their chance of being released to grow up big and strong is greatly increased. A fact known by many of you but worth repeating.

Actually there are an estimated 166.511 million yellow perch in Lake Erie (lakewide) age 2 and older according to the latest estimates of the  Lake Erie Yellow Pech Task Group.
 
On a related note - if you "release" those dinks and they die - they do count against your daily limit of 30.  If a Conservation Officer witnesses you doing this you will be cited for exceeding your creel limit.  I realize this may be difficult to enforce, but the WCO's are looking out for this.  I would also mention that from a conservation standpoint - keeping any perch you catch in deep waters is the ethical thing to do.
 
Good Fishing!
 
Chuck Murray, PFBC Lake Erie Biologist.

rod and reel would never touch that population imo

Ken,
 
I know you were just exaggerating that 900 million for effect. Your (and many others on this board) knowledge of fisheries is impressive.    I posted the YP Task Group estimate only to provide some perspective on what the perch population is.
 
The real purpose of my post was to let anglers know that the PFBC does have regulations in place to protect from wanton waste, and appeal to their conservation ethic to “do the right thing”.
 
BTW – thanks for the heads-up on the fish die-off last weekend.
 
Chuck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jug88dsXQfg
 
Lake Erie Canadian commercial fishing

I'd venture to say at least 90% of my throwbacks live. When I catch 2 and 3 at a time, I release the dinks 1st. Always crank em up slow.
 
BH

or just wind them up slow

Yeah. It's a decompression thing. When you haul them from down deep, their air bladder must readjust to the lower pressure of shallower depths. When they come up slowly, this isn't a problem. When they come up too quickly, their bladders can over-inflate and even pop. Did you know that if you take a balloon and only blow it up a little ways, then take it up in and airplane (one without a pressurized cabin), the balloon will swell up all on its own and possibly pop? It's because the air is thinner, the higher up you go. The same holds true for in the water. The fish that you release that are swimming back down quickly are ones that are fine. If you release one and it floats while trying to swim, you have a goner. The only way to save the fish is to "fizz" it. This includes inserting a hypodermic needle into the fish's air bladder to equalize the pressure in it's swim bladder. I've never done it, but it is commonly done on bass in tournaments that were caught deep and dragged up to the surface very quickly. I hope this helps.
 
And no, the bladder isn't a breathing apparatus. It is like a built in life jacket. It helps to keep the fish afloat and able to stay at different depths without having to fight the natural bouyancy or density of the rest of it's body.

hey ironhed do you guys do much perch fishing? i have always read your post and been on the buckets website but never reallyheard you say anything about it.

Interesting video about Erie commercial fishing in Canada on you tube, thanks fish hard 79! That's alot of little fishies with some nice ones mixed in. As akitadog, Bloodyhand, Pie and slabdaddy suggested, reel them up slow. It really is the easiest way to decompress the swim bladder.

i have a perch problem, im running out. i need more.

Went to go see for myself if there was a perch problem today.
 
My sister begged me to take her out. Wasnt hard to twist my arm to go fishing. So we found some in 52 fow. Caught fish all morning long till we ran out of bait. We were picky in keeping them. Everything under 9" went back in the water. All swam back down when released. Because we reeled em up slowly only one blew out a bladder so it went in the box. 40 went in the box but we must have caught 60-70 perch. 
 
With that being said , reeling them up slowly wont burst their bubble and if its too small for your liking releasing them with 100% survival is not a problem.