When Will The White Perch Show Up?

[wmhunts]

Dunno bout you, but a little drama makes it interesting. I guess D$#% heads help make the world go round to 

[Panfish hauler]

   The White Perch have been biting for 2 weeks a few guys have been getting up to 100lbs a day you just have to put you're time in and find them instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you

[dunphy11]

White perch trash fish? Your tastebuds must have died . Best freshwater sushi grade fish period!  Never seen or heard of any worms or parasites on or in whites. Can`t say that for all the other pans.

[cbice]

White perch trash fish? Your tastebuds must have died . Best freshwater sushi grade fish period!  Never seen or heard of any worms or parasites on or in whites. Can`t say that for all the other pans.

Is that true for the majority of white perch people catch?  I realize they are a member of the bass family so maybe that has something to do with it.  Does this meanthey're not actually a panfish?  I'm always finding worms in the yellows out of Fairfield Pond, Carmi and Champlain.  It takes me as long to pick out the worms as it does to fillet them.  Its worth it though.

[VTMatt]

All of the whites I've filleted and eaten have been free of parasites as well no wonder if it's because they dwell in deeper water and have such a tough exterior? 

[troutcrazy]

Of course, the whole idea of "trash fish" is entirely subjective and changes over time.  One decade's "trash" is the next decade's gourmet meal.  That's part of the reason I appreciate them so much:  many people consider them "trash" but they taste great!

Never seen a parasite in a white.  You usually see parasites in fish that hang out in shallow weedy areas-- the parasites have complicated life cycles that involve several hosts:  birds, snails, and fish.  Where the birds go, you find wormy fish.

For the record, I enjoy the good-natured ribbing and disagreement

[wmhunts]

There not bottom feeders like those nasty yellows

[dunphy11]

I have two friends who are great chefs and they turned me onto the white perch sushi.....incredible! Keep em clean, fresh and blood free soak in a little soy sauce. crap people buy fish from the store for sushi and very few have any idea how old or where it came from.

[ice fiend]

   The White Perch have been biting for 2 weeks a few guys have been getting up to 100lbs a day you just have to put you're time in and find them instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you

seems like somebody has found them at least

[troutcrazy]

I have two friends who are great chefs and they turned me onto the white perch sushi.....incredible! Keep em clean, fresh and blood free soak in a little soy sauce. **** people buy fish from the store for sushi and very few have any idea how old or where it came from.

That's kind of dangerous-- I wouldn't eat raw freswater fish at all.

[sonny88]

Ditto on that Trout....i'll sushi striper etc from salt water but never fresh water fish

[BassInVt]

native vermont brook trout sushi, yum

[JMailbox8]

Even sushi grade tuna is at least frozen first to kill parasites: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/08/nyregion/sushi-fresh-from-the-deep-the-deep-freeze.html

[dunphy11]

amazingly I`m stil here after eating all that white perch sushi!  Salmon is a preferred sushi type I don`t believe they are full time salt water species. White perch cleanest fish I know. Fussy eaters at times. Just got back from the Great Rotary Derby and found the whites slow biting , all they were interested in were perfect live smelt.

[dickbaker]

    Had a cousin who took three of the Rotary Derby white perch prizes.  One for biggest white perch of the Derby at a little under five pounds.   Hoping that Champlain will someday grow perch that big!!
Dick

[dunphy11]

  Had a cousin who took three of the Rotary Derby white perch prizes.  One for biggest white perch of the Derby at a little under five pounds.   Hoping that Champlain will someday grow perch that big!!
Dick

Must have hit the wrong key biggest white perch was 3.05#, which is a giant! Caught some over 2.5 yesterday but didn`t make the 14" minimum lenght requirement.

[dickbaker]

  Yup!  I'm wrong.  My cousin just called to let me know that his was just over 3 lbs.  Maybe St. Albans already has white perch that size?
Thanks  Dick

[Troutmagnet]

Hey guys please let me know if the white perch bite turns on cause I still want to take a group of youngsters out for some ice fishing action. Good luck to all. 

[JackMoose]

You are right on about salmon, which is why you should only eat frozen salmon raw. Any freshwater fish can carry tape worms or bacteria that is harmful to humans. I love sushi and eat fish that I catch in the ocean raw all the time. You might be still alive, but I'd be careful.

http://www.gourmet.com/foodpolitics/2008/08/raw-salmon-tapeworm

[vtwaterfowler]

The past 3 times I've been out I've gotten on them. You gotta do a lot of hole hopping with a flasher until you find the school, and your machine is lit up. Then its on!

[jbritch]

White perch are white, they prefer the cloudy water for camo.  From my experience I have found that white perch show up when and where the water gets turbid, cloudy from the run off, so they'll start when the first rains or melt comes and start to put some sediment into the rivers.  Expect them first near the mouths of the rivers and then in the direction the currents tend (north for us up here) if you really want them. 

[Troutmagnet]

White perch are white, they prefer the cloudy water for camo.  From my experience I have found that white perch show up when and where the water gets turbid, cloudy from the run off, so they'll start when the first rains or melt comes and start to put some sediment into the rivers.  Expect them first near the mouths of the rivers and then in the direction the currents tend (north for us up here) if you really want them.

Thanks, that is very helpful.

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

White perch are white, they prefer the cloudy water for camo.  From my experience I have found that white perch show up when and where the water gets turbid, cloudy from the run off, so they'll start when the first rains or melt comes and start to put some sediment into the rivers.  Expect them first near the mouths of the rivers and then in the direction the currents tend (north for us up here) if you really want them.

So where do they magically show up from? You are saying that they are as elusive as the Loch Nesh Monster because of their white scales?  This info could be no further from the truth. Interesting theory; but total BS...

[Troutmagnet]

So where do they magically show up from? You are saying that they are as elusive as the Loch Nesh Monster because of their white scales?  This info could be no further from the truth. Interesting theory; but total BS...

Oh Oh, I've been had?

[jbritch]

I ALWAYS enjoy it when an expert fish monger derides a regular fisherman sharing personal experiences and observations with others while avoiding offering any hints or theories of his own (once again).  THAT's so easy.  You'd think that he thinks the advice was pulled out of thin air or somewhere lower without any consultation with other fishermen or experts like the biologists who penned, "They are found in brackish water and in the lower portion of rivers along the coast."  Are those biologists full of BS, too?  Being lord of the perch doesn't mean you're lord of information or civility, obviously.

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

I have never ever claimed to be an expert; therefore I am reluctant to post my own hints our theories.  I am just a guy lucky enough to fish a lot all year long.
In my personal experiences and observations, I have seen White Perch in gin clear water 25-60' having in a total feeding frenzy. They didn't wait until the water clouded up to appear. I have also seen them 5 miles up the Missisquoi River doing the same...
Throwing out generalizations that you have read about in articles that do not apply to Champlain can be a little misleading. The last time I looked, I didn't find any "rivers along the coast" on our east shore! 

 

[srobat]

By the amount of the vehicles located by the green can for the past two days it looks like the bite could have started. 

[mudchuck]

Having lived a better part of my life on the lower eastern shore of Maryland, I can attest to white perch being brackish water dwellers and particularly liking the turbid tidal water over the fresh water up river unless they're spawning or there's a big storm water runoff, they tend to stay in the brackish tidal water.
White perch are an anadromous fish just like stripers and they'll thrive in all fresh water if given the chance, hence the invasion we're experiencing.
They will hang out in gin clear water if the bait is there too, but they do prefer to stay in that zone between clear and turbid water.
always seemed to do best on outgoing tide in the Chesapeake area near the Choptank, Wicomico & Nanticoke rivers.

[Lavman]

Gin gives me a headache, can we use vodka? 

[jbritch]

"White Perch : (Morone americana)  are a relatively new non-native invasive species of increasing concern in the Lake. In 2003, Quebec researchers found that white perch far outnumber native perch in Missisquoi Bay and are now that Bay’s most abundant fish. They may displace native perch by feeding on their larvae and compete for zooplankton which can lead to an increase in algal growth. White perch are also known to prey on walleye eggs along with white crappy, which has contributed to the significant decline in the walleye population."

This article seems to be about Lake Champlain, hmmm...  Wonder where the walleyes spawn...up rivers, last I heard.  I stand by my advice to Troutmagnet.