Yellow Perch

[Panman]

In Lady Fisher's article "In The News" this statement has been extracted: This group was charged in Cuyahoga Country with taking more than their quota of yellow perch, falsifying reports and selling unreported yellow perch - as much as 80,000 pounds over their legal quotas.

Being a westerner I was not aware of a commercial fishery that targeted yellow perch on the Great Lakes.
Could someone elaborate on the specifics of this activity. My main curiosity is to where the fish are shipped, how they are marketed and who buys them.

Thanks, Tim Anderson

[MNFisher]

Tim -

Can't give you a lot of details other than to tell you commercial fishing for perch is primarliy on the lower Great Lakes. I believe Lake Erie is the largest fishery with millions of pounds taken per year. I'm not aware of any commercial operations in Superior or Michigan. Perch are valued primarily for human consumption and are very popular in the upper Midwest. (Some prefer them to walleye) I know there is a large fish market in Chicago where perch are bought/sold/distributed.

Perch are found in most lakes around here - decent fish averaging 1/3 pound or so. I think the MN state record is around 4 lbs. Very popular sport fish especially in winter.

Restaurants feature all you can eat fish fries - often perch...... You can buy them in grocery stores, last time I paid attention they were about $10/lbs.

[J Castwell]

Thanks fisher,,, I am one of those who likes them better than walleye. I ordered them five nights at the 'Fish In' in Michigan this last summer.

[Panman]

Tom, thanks for the response. When I see perch in the store it is ocean perch. I have sure learned a lot from FAOL. JC, I agree that the yellow perch is one of the best eating fish there is.

Thanks Again

Tim

[DShock]

LadyFisher,
I enjoyed your article this week. I had no idea that they fished for Yellow Perch commercially.
I wanted to tell you that I read a related story on the internet news tues. night. The thirty year cleanup plan has run out on the Great Lakes and Canadian and U.S. authorities are calling for a new revised plan.
Doug

[Marco]

Lake Perch here in the Chicago area cost about $12.00 per lb. Many of the local fish fry purveyors don't specify that what they are serving are OCEAN Perch a world of taste difference AND price.
I too never gave it a thought that these fish were fished commercially but then again, what other way would provide the volume needed.


Mark
PS: JC, now I know why the lodge restaurant was ALWAYS out of Perch when I ordered them and I let em know my ire. Out of Perch in Michigan is like outta BEANS in Boston??

[nighthawk]

If you have never caught perch on the fly rod you don't know what you are missing. Lots of fun and very tasty. With the cooler weather the perch will be moving out of the deep and into the shallow waters. Here is a favorite fly for perch:

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytyin ... 1fotw.html

Thank you Al for a great fly.

[Joe Valencic]

In Lady Fisher's article "In The News" this statement has been extracted: This group was charged in Cuyahoga Country with taking more than their quota of yellow perch, falsifying reports and selling unreported yellow perch - as much as 80,000 pounds over their legal quotas.

Being a westerner I was not aware of a commercial fishery that targeted yellow perch on the Great Lakes.
Could someone elaborate on the specifics of this activity. My main curiosity is to where the fish are shipped, how they are marketed and who buys them.

Thanks, Tim Anderson

Tim,

There is a fishmarket on the east side of CLeveland, Ohio that sells Lake Erie Perch over the counter for $14.99 per pound, and will ship them to you for $16.99 per pound. We fish for them on the lake using light spinning gear and emerald shiner minnows. It's relatively easy to get your limit of 40 fish per angler. I prefer them to ANY other fish fillet, and this is the only gamefish that I catch and keep. We fillet them either by conventional fillet knife then skin them, or use electric fillet knife and skin them. With my electric knife I can clean 2-3 fish per minute. Once you've tasted teh sweet flesh, it's a treat you frequently look for when eating out. Here's their website: http://www.euclidfish.com/Merchant2/mer ... sh+seafood

Joe

[Panman]

Joe: Thanks for the info. I find it almost unbelievable that someone would pay that much for a pound of any fish. I hope like hades we don't have a power failure as I would lose about 150 bucks worth of perch fillets at that price. I catch a lot of perch on flies usually when I am fishing for crappie. Some of my fishing partners think I am wacko for keeping them when there are crappie, but any perch over 8 inches is a candidate for the fillet knife. I notice you have a limit on them. Here in Klamath Basin there is no limit on perch or for that matter any warm water fish.

And to Lady Fisher: Thanks for your excellent article.

Tim Anderson

[Avalon]

Dear Panman,

It used to be that Perch could be sold commercially in NY State. Anybody who wanted to could keep a daily limit of 50 and sell them to a processor. I'm not sure if that is still the law.

There used to a pretty significant group of retired gentlemen who would fish Cayuga Lake hard in late March and early April when the perch were massing to spawn. You could tell the perch were running by the number of rowboats bobbing in the water behind the cottages along the lake. Apparently it was a nice way to supplement their income.

Best Wishes,
Avalon