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they breed like cockroaches..if you don't harvest they will become over populated and stunted.
I think perch populations can be overfished to the point where it takes a number of years to get the population of large perch back to where it was. I think Bitter Lake in NESD is a shining example of this. All it takes is a look at the G,F&P test net surveys to see this lake has been pounded for years because it was populated with jumbo perch. Not the perch numbers there now that there used to be so another "hot lake or slough" will get pounded now.
Bitter lake is roughly 19,000 acres or nearly 30 square miles in size.
19,000 acres in 2013 and floods more land every year. It is growing every year like Devils Lake in ND.
Devil's Lake is still growing? Or does it wax and wane? I organized an ice fishing trip there at least a decade ago and it was getting bigger then.
Because some fishermen think that they breed like cockroaches and will take over if not removed. Which explains why low pressure lakes have the most big perch, because fewer are taken out every year. Ignorance is bliss
All I am saying is Perch tacos were great!
I don't know about anywhere else but here in the Saginaw Bay area the perch come in and spawn twice a year, both spring and fall.
I'm not a fisheries biologist and I haven't been properly schooled on perch behavior, but when you catch perch in the fall that are so full of eggs they are literally busting out of the fish, I'd say they are spawning. Again, I just go by what I've seen.