Question about Mainers

[gofish22]

I have met multiple people from Maine since I moved to VT and every single one of them is under the impression that perch are a "trash-fish". They are blown away that I eat them.

Everywhere else I have lived perch are a preferred eating gamefish, and it seems that the rest of new england enjoys them.

Is this common or am I missing something about the perch up in Maine? I just think it is an interesting.

[JDK]

As a Mainer that fishes Maine, yellow perch compete heavily with brook trout at times and have hurt native populations of both trout and smelt.  Where I live, YP populations are skyrocketing and make it difficult to icefish for other cold water species.  Many of our perch also have grubs in their flesh, while not harmful are unappealing.  That said, I keep a few "clean" ones each year and they are very good.

If you are talking about white perch, we don't normally consider them trash fish.

[lingcod]

My experience has been that some Maine fisherman tend to view yellow perch as Champlain fisherman view white perch : that  they aggessively follow gamefish to the spawning grounds and eat the eggs & fry (no pun intended!)

[gofish22]

Thanks for the input Ling & JDK. I guess in other places we have had other fish to blame for decreasing coldwater species, so it never occurred to me that given the right situation perch would be detrimental.

[Light liner]

Because they don't have the healthy yellows like do, 90% are full of worms and small.
That's what I've been told by several people who fish in Maine.

[pikeaddict]

Because they don't have the healthy yellows like do, 90% are full of worms and small.
That's what I've been told by several people who fish in Maine.

Friend of ours lives in Windham and said the same thing.

[hockeynut12]

I am from Maine. Speaking from my own experience, most of the yellow perch my family catches have worms. It seems worse during the warmer months than during ice fishing season. They can be fileted and are harmless if you cook them thoroughly (I believe) - but it looks bad. Most people I know throw them back or feed them to the eagles. White perch are great eaters and personally I have never seen a worm in a white perch. It is some form of parasite. I don't know where it came from and I don't know why it seems to thrive in yellow perch but not white. There are also those that feel yellow perch are an invasive species and are harmful to trout populations. I can't speak for everyone, but I personally don't target yellow perch for those reasons. However, in some bodies of water there seems to be millions of yellow perch. I know people who have caught 300-400 in one day. Hopefully that helps explain it a little. Everyone is different and this parasite doesn't seem to be in every body of water. But if you were raised thinking yellow perch are junk fish, I assume you would have that same belief no matter where you fished. At least until someone taught you otherwise.

[Chris338378]

That's a shame that the Perch in Maine have worms in them, down here in Pennsylvania there are lots of guys, me included, who fish for them specifically.  They are lots of fun to catch and taste great but I won't eat any with worms or parasites in them.  I wonder why the Perch in Maine have them, it's not very common for our Perch to have them.

[gofish22]

That's a shame that the Perch in Maine have worms in them, down here in Pennsylvania there are lots of guys, me included, who fish for them specifically.  They are lots of fun to catch and taste great but I won't eat any with worms or parasites in them.  I wonder why the Perch in Maine have them, it's not very common for our Perch to have them.

I never really had to worry about worms in the midwest, but there were a few lakes you had to watch for them. Seems to be the same here in VT. It is interesting that it is so common in Maine, but this is absolutely answering my original question. If I fished my whole life knowing that a certain panfish had parasites, it would probably change my view of that fish too.

[Chris338378]

I agree with you, as much as I like eating Perch I wouldn't waste my time keeping them if they all had parasites in them.  I wonder what's causing that.

[chillywillie]

Native Mainer here - I eat lots of perch both yellow and white.  For some reason a lot of Mainers have a negative attitude about perch and like their "native" trout and salmon much better.  Of course, the majority of the trout and salmon caught are stocked and if they weren't stocked there would be extremely limited fishing for these species outside of some of the northern regions.  As far as the quality of the flesh, yes I have caught some full of worms but the vast majority are perfectly fine and taste wonderful.

[vtcountrychamp]

I use to see guys from Maine leave perch on the ice and always wondered that too. Than in Vermont you got people who think the yellows are being over fished on Champlain by commercial fisherman.

[Light liner]

Darn maineiacs

[JMailbox8]

That's a shame that the Perch in Maine have worms in them, down here in Pennsylvania there are lots of guys, me included, who fish for them specifically.  They are lots of fun to catch and taste great but I won't eat any with worms or parasites in them.  I wonder why the Perch in Maine have them, it's not very common for our Perch to have them.

The grubs are introduced by infected birds crapping in the water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinostomum_marginatum It could be that Maine is a flyway for more fish eating birds than other places?

[troutcrazy]

I remember coming across an old thread on this forum about this same thing.  I think I remember that opinions were quite strong on the matter.  Mainers really thought yellows were nasty.  I know a lot of Vermonters think whites are nasty.  To me it was a brilliant illustration of the fact:  the fish we prize for food is a cultural phenomenon. 

I do wonder if the whites in Maine taste different than the whites in Vermont.  I find that the dark muscle of the white perch is quite strong tasting, even after take some effort to trim it off.

To shed a little more light on the parasites in yellow perch, the grubs are carried by fish-eating birds like herons.  I believe there is a specific snail involved in the life-cycle, too.  Conditions in the lake have to be right for herons and the snail.  The perch that live in deep water generally don't have worms.  Those that live in the shallows, where the herons wade, tend to be wormier.

[BomoBrown]

Whites tast the same in Maine. It is a better fillet then a yellow but no where near as sweet.

[thefishingweatherman]

I am from Maine originally and came to Vermont first for college. I remember we had a small pond on campus, and one day while fishing it the head of security came over and asked if we were having any luck. We hadn't. He said "Well, keep at it, there's some nice eater sized perch in here." I remember looking at him like he had three heads. "Who the hell eats perch?" I thought. It seemed like only someone without the chops to catch trout or salmon would be desperate enough to catch perch to eat to me... Right up there with eating chubs or fall fish. But, after thinking about it a while, I wondered why not eat perch? They are everywhere in good numbers. So I ate a few, and found them surprisingly good. This is when I changed my tune.

I don't know why historically they are considered a junk fish in Maine. It could be their reputation for being wormy. It could be that Maine has world class trout and salmon fishing, and those are therefore nobler targets. It could be, with easy access to the ocean's bounty, Mainers are just pickier about fish. Who knows.

I do think it's interesting though that as much as some Mainers revile yellow perch, some Vermonters equally revile white perch. BOTH are great table fare, in my opinion. I have never found a grub in a white perch though, so this may explain why they are widely eaten in Maine.

[Light liner]

Same here grew up in a trout fishing family being taught that anything besides trout or salmon weren't worth eating.
Never even thought perch were that good.
My opinion now is walleye perch crappie and pike are the best eating.
Still enjoy trout though.

[OldSailor]

I was stationed at NAS Brunswick for several years in the late 80's and found that to be true about trout and salmon being the only fish worth catching. All the while sitting on some of the best bass fishing in the Northeast!!! (both large and smallmouth!) My PB largemouth came from Pleasant Pond off of 201 near Gardiner. It went just over 9#'s I think the military people were the only ones really fishing bass in those days! I also fished trout and salmon, but bass was my favorite!!

[gofish22]

I am from Maine originally and came to Vermont first for college. I remember we had a small pond on campus, and one day while fishing it the head of security came over and asked if we were having any luck. We hadn't. He said "Well, keep at it, there's some nice eater sized perch in here." I remember looking at him like he had three heads. "Who the hell eats perch?" I thought. It seemed like only someone without the chops to catch trout or salmon would be desperate enough to catch perch to eat to me... Right up there with eating chubs or fall fish. But, after thinking about it a while, I wondered why not eat perch? They are everywhere in good numbers. So I ate a few, and found them surprisingly good. This is when I changed my tune.

I don't know why historically they are considered a junk fish in Maine. It could be their reputation for being wormy. It could be that Maine has world class trout and salmon fishing, and those are therefore nobler targets. It could be, with easy access to the ocean's bounty, Mainers are just pickier about fish. Who knows.

I do think it's interesting though that as much as some Mainers revile yellow perch, some Vermonters equally revile white perch. BOTH are great table fare, in my opinion. I have never found a grub in a white perch though, so this may explain why they are widely eaten in Maine.

This is a good point. After leaving Alaska I thought I would never live somewhere with that quality of seafood again. But Maine gives it a run for it's money. Some of the best seafood I have ever had.

[bootstrap]

 ever been deep sea fishing in maine and see all the worms in the fish. and there are microscopic parasites in most meats.

[marabou]

I thought they were retarded asking how the toads were biting and how many we got

.         Tundra you sound a little bitter to the Maine crew what happened? Someone steal your girl?

[StevenB]

Sounds like some Mainah made tundra their gurl

[Coffin Dodger]

Hang on guys, lobster used to be eaten just by poor people and prisoners.
Perceptions do change over time.   

[dickbaker]

I was born in Maine.  Yellow perch is one of my favorite fish!!
Dick

[mudchuck]

Growing up and living on DelMarVa for almost 2/3's of my life, I took great pleasure in catching & eating both species of perch.
Whites are anadromous.
Catching them in brackish waters they're stronger tasting that what we pull from Lake Champlain.
Yellows hang in the tidal rivers too, but stick to the upper reaches and don't tolerate the brackish waters as well.
Never had worms in the yellows down there, must be the Heron/snail issues up here are specific to our region to make those parasites.
Never, ever found a worm in any white perch, here or there...
The ponds down there don't hold yellows, need to head towards Susquehanna or upper area ponds/lakes to find them...most are small anyways.
Whites are larger up here too...average sizes are in the 6-8" range for both species down there. Catching those larger whites thru the ice up here is such a thrill though, I like taking people new to ice fishing out when they start stacking up and can catch buckets full of them...now that's a thrill seeing a kid grin ear to ear pulling in large whites hand over fist and getting all excited about it!
I've grown to enjoy catching both up here now, and both are good in the deep fryer!

[spot]

I eat a lot of perch, but I usually try to go for them in deeper water where there are fewer grubs. If a fillet has only a few specks in it, you can usually push them out with the point of your knife.

I know they're not dangerous if cooked, but I don't like them being there.

[dickbaker]

blue gill fishing friend showed me a time ago that the fish taken in shallows have lot more
grubs (trematodes)   Than those taken in deeper water.   The grubs are spread by birds feeding in the shallow water so I guess that makes sense!
Dick

[flagfishon]

Do bluegills and pumpkinseeds get the grubs too?

[spot]

Do bluegills and pumpkinseeds get the grubs too?

They do in VT. Just about every fish in Colchester Pond has them.