Lake Erie Perch

[rw6788]

The perch are every where in 62 to 70 ft. Of water. They will hit in live salted minnows

[Xxx]

wonder why the erie perch go so deep.Our perch in ontario stay shallow.Caught a bunch of 13 in.plus ten feet ot water last week.

id like to go for erie walleye this year .i have a good boat set up but never went and would be better with a someone experienced more in walleye.

Thirty plus years trout and salmon on Ontario.

We've been talking about it for years. Then a real bad experience at the Canadian border, we said lets keep our money in the states and tried the western basin in the spring, What a trip of a life time. If you never fished Erie for walleye do yourself a favor and try it you will ask yourself why didn't I do this sooner. 30-40 fish a day 3.5# to 6# are common with the 8.5-10# possible. Been out 5 years now. I would like to try the eastern end of Erie, which I'm working on now, hope it pans out!!!

[Pequod1]

Combat perch fishing in Erie right now. Straight out of the Cat in 62'

[jimski2]

Every day the perch seem to change depths where they are concentrated. Use your fishfinder to find the fuller schools or watch for boats where everyone is pulling the perch over the gunwales.

[Xxx]

We've been talking about it for years. Then a real bad experience at the Canadian border, we said lets keep our money in the states and tried the western basin in the spring, What a trip of a life time. If you never fished Erie for walleye do yourself a favor and try it you will ask yourself why didn't I do this sooner. 30-40 fish a day 3.5# to 6# are common with the 8.5-10# possible. Been out 5 years now. I would like to try the eastern end of Erie, which I'm working on now, hope it pans out!!!

Got dates and charter set up!!!  Charter 1 day and fish the rest of the week out of my boat, then up to the BRBC. Home base for 1 worm. Then fish for walleye another time.

[peas247]

Headin out in the morning

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[Carpetbagger]

You know nothing of perch fishing...lol

[Pequod1]

Three man limit yesterday and released a lot. A little deeper 66'.

[fitz67]

Went out this afternoon 65ft in front of Catt went through 150 emeralds in about 2 hrs. 2 guys ended up with 80 keepers. Great fishing hope it keeps up for awhile.

[sabonation]

The past couple days a couple boats came in with 50+ boxes of large perch, mostly spawned out females over 12 inches. They were taken in 54 feet of water off Sturgeon Point in the mud bottom with emerald shiners. Moving in closer on the shale banks yielded a lot of gobies and bass. The bite seemed to stop arfter 11:00 AM.

I believe perch spawn in march/April like walleyes. Don't think they could be "spawned out" right now.

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[jimski2]

Yes, they are usually finished spawning when the lake temperature reaches 48 degrees F.

[sabonation]

Hmm everything I've seen tells me that they spawn in early spring, right after the freeze, not in September.

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[daker1979]

Look at the date of jimski's note

[sabonation]

Ahh okay! Ha this is a long thread!

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[Pequod1]

I stayed in close yesterday (out of Silver Creek) when the humminbird began to light up at 44' slowed down and got into some real nice jumbos in 52' Water temp was 65.

[RD9]

Fished straight out off Dunkirk 54 ft of water. Me and my four yr old son. 40 no throw backs probably 10 right around a pound. This past month and a half has been great out of Dunkirk.

[jimski2]

This year has been the most tremendous year in my lifetime for perch fishing on Lake Erie. It is not that there are a lot of perch out there, it is because we have changed our ways of finding them and communicating with others as to what is going on. Our electronic fishfinders are the most important thing we use now since we have learned how to use them better and have faith that when they say there are no fish down there, we move on and look more. One day I counted sixty five boats in sight all perch fishing. Numbers like that I have not seen in our area for years. Boats fishing for perch in deeper waters over fifty five feet was unheard of years ago.

 

On another point, yesterday three guys in a boat came in with their eighteen fish walleye limit at 10:00AM at Sturgeon Point.

[Xxx]

This year has been the most tremendous year in my lifetime for perch fishing on Lake Erie. It is not that there are a lot of perch out there, it is because we have changed our ways of finding them and communicating with others as to what is going on. Our electronic fishfinders are the most important thing we use now since we have learned how to use them better and have faith that when they say there are no fish down there, we move on and look more. One day I counted sixty five boats in sight all perch fishing. Numbers like that I have not seen in our area for years. Boats fishing for perch in deeper waters over fifty five feet was unheard of years ago.

 

On another point, yesterday three guys in a boat came in with their eighteen fish walleye limit at 10:00AM at Sturgeon Point.

Jimski2 no other words could have said it better, if you have guys willing to communicate is a wonderful way of gaining knowledge, and our electronic have come a long way, I know I said to my fish finder, that can't possible be right and left a situation or I can't believe there's no fish here? when there actually was, fish finders couldn't locate fish tight to the bottom or even off a few inches. The more powerful units are way better than the used to be. I know my uncle used to have a trailer in the BRCG. and he and his wife would go out in the Black River Bay and look for 50+ feet of water and in no time have a cooler half full. They lived there in the summer month so no need for limits or a full cooler, they just went back out for more, but yea 50+ we couldn't believe it! 

[Pequod1]

I am missing Erie allready. The reports did put me on the perch this year but I always managed more fish away from the fleets and used the fish finder to locate them. It is a real trick to see them when they are hugging the bottom, but if you know your machine's quirks, you can figure it out. I have caught them in the summer and the fall now but I have not made a spring trip yet. Hope I get some help with that when March arrives. Also, the last trip out, a few guys picked up some steelhead off the breakwall heading out of the Cat. One guy told me ,he caught a few on a glow/blue cleo as I passed by.

[jimski2]

When the currents in the lake are high,   i notice the perch are hugging the bottom and do not appear on the screen. After a good blow the waters return to regular levels and you will notice your lines at an angle to the boat. Caused by currents the perch seem to find depresions to shelter them to maintain their locations.

[Draggin Ballz]

Are the perch still being caught out front of Dunkirk are has the water temps dropped enough to stop the bite?

[jimski2]

The perchin will go on to Thanksgiving if you need them. As the water temperature drops, they move closer to shore. With the cold temperatures lifejacket wearing is needed and mandatory.

[mostlymuskies]

Yesterday while trolling the 4ft waves for muskies out by the Mid-Channel Bouey infront of Buffalo I marked perch on bottom in 43 ft of water.

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[mostlymuskies]

I marked perch on the bottom on the little hump just inside the center gap of the long break wall infront of Buffalo on Wednseday. I was trolling for muskies, did not have perch gear along or I would have dropped a line to them.

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[lineman49]

  Fished out of Sturg. Pt today(11/20/13) in 45 fow.  3 guys kept 50 nice size ones 10"-13.75".  Still had 2 docks in at SP.

Edited November 21, 2013 by lineman49