Edward John Perch Boat

The perch fishing is bad!!! Was on the Edward john week and half ago full boat 40 people only 12 perch caught many skunks on boarde one fellow said only one (1) perch caught!!!!!!!

Going out of Conneaut this weekend for perch. May even try for eyes. Will post results, good or bad.

CAPTAIN HOOK
Kind of figured that was the case. Nobody bragging about big catches this year. Usually the Erie forums are buzzing with reports by now . Seems the Walleye are running on the small size also when they are being caught. I don't think the Western Basin was super hot this Spring either. Had a friend go up on a local Walleye charter boat early last month with two other guys on board and they got ZERO !!  Not one fish all day , expensive boat ride !  

I haven't caught a ton of eyes this year, but the ones I have were pretty sizable. This year the smallest was 5#, largest 15#. One thing I might add, though, is almost all of them were caught trolling for steelhead, so faster speeds and more aggressive presentations. Or in the case of the ones caught Laker fishing, VERY large lures and short leaders. Bigger lures bigger fish maybe? Just an observation. I don't fish for perch so nothing to add there.

CAPTAIN HOOK
Yea there's something not right.....Perch schools should be stacked all along Ohio /Pa. waters by now.......not good ! Wonder what charter boat captains are saying ?

Any ideas on why? Seems like the past two years the perch reports overall haven't been the best.

I always jump to my opinion that a 30 fish limit is way too high for the amount of Perch fishermen out there daily, but the GLFC seems to think the stocks are doing okay as of now, so that's PROBABLY not it, but something is going on.

Similarly, so far the Steelhead I've caught this year have all been much smaller, on average, than last year, so something is changing with that fishery too.

Even the Drum fishing has been slow for me this year with only 4 total fish. They were all a nice size but I'm not seeing many of them this year, sadly.

Fortunately, the Lakers, White Bass, and resident Walleye all seem to be doing fine this year, at least in my experience.

Just for the record, the O Danny O has yet to run this year. So he would not had been out that day.

Capt John Nekoloff
Just for the record, the O Danny O has yet to run this year. So he would not had been out that day.

Well, that was interesting.  Capt John N, am I wrong in saying you're the ex-owner of the Edward John?  Not that it makes any difference.  But after your post I called the number for the Danny O on the FishErie charters link and talked to the NEW owner of the Danny O.  Seems the Danny was sold this year too and now goes by the name of The Perch Pirate. Won't be going out for at least 2 weeks.  Interesting that both perch head boats were sold this year.  And for everyone's information, the numbers and email listed on the FishErie Charters link under the O Danny O is the same contact info for the Perch Pirate.  The new owner wasn't able to change the phone number.  And oh, I still think think the customers on the EJ that morning should have received a refund, whether the Danny O went out or not.

This is Captain Brian of the Edward John Perch Boat.  I am the full time captain running about 6-8 trips per week.
 
This season has definitely been a tough year.  Numbers have been low and large schools have been hard to find.  When we have had success, its been short lived (2-3 days at best).  I've noticed substantial currents this year that could* be a cause as to the daily fish movements, I've also never seen so much baitfish in the "perch grounds" in my life.  Not saying these are the reasons for tough fishing, just observations.
 
I would like all customers and fisherman to know that myself and all our captains and deckhands take pride in our jobs, and try our absolute hardest every trip to get the costumers as many fish as possible.  There's been some complaints out there that we aren't trying, that we drive around too much, etc. and nothing could be further from the truth.  I want to see every single person onboard to have the best experience possible, and I am doing everything in my power to make that happen.  I will not anchor up if there is no fish in an area or on my screen, I promise you that. 
 
With all that being said, we are staying positive and hopeful.  Its been a rough start, much like last year.  And hopefully just like last year, the late summer & early fall bite is soon upon us.  Myself and many other local anglers had a tremendous fall catch last season, lets keep our fingers crossed that it happens again!
 
Tight lines and good luck out there!
Captain Brian