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What are you guys doing with the white perch you catch at Jordan and Harris? I've been told numerous times to never throw them back because there are so many. I typically keep the bigger ones because they are good to eat plus I keep a few small ones to use for catfish bait. People probably thought I was keeping a bunch of under-sized crappie this weekend but they were all white perch. Have any of the wildlife studies shown a high population? Just curious.
They are eating machines that can throw the lake off balance and wipe out other fish. I have friends that fertilize the garden with them. I will cut little fillets out of pretty small ones if too small for a fish chip they feed the critters.
Real quickly here is a link to a dissertation done by an NCSU student re: Lake Norman. I think I've seen a more user friendly version of this but don't have time to search it out right now. I beleive there have been several papers done about white perch there as well as possibly other NC lakes
They are indeed eating machines. You can catch a tiny perch on a large bass minnow that barely fits in their mouth. I caught a couple on Sat. that literally had 2 or 3 small crappie minnows in it's mouth plus the one I was fishing with. I plan to start keeping them all and doing just like you and filleting the ones that I can.
I bounce them off the back of the boat for Osprey or eagle food. I don't ever want to throw a live one back in the water.
If you have freezer room they make very good tomato food in the spring. Bury them around the plant when you set them out.
Take a look at the 2014 regs and you will see an addition about white perch - you are allowed to net them now. That's how badly they want them gone. They can be fun if you get into the nicer ones, but they are few and far between. Late summer at Harris when they were blitzing it was hard to hate on them. It's pretty cool to have the water churning around you and haul in a fish on nearly every cast.
Also - I have to echo a previous comment about filleting even fairly small ones. If you just trim the ribs away after the first cut and then just cut the back meat off the skin, you get a couple of fish sticks with very little effort.
I have on occasion filleted the smaller ones but I have also just scaled, cut the head off and removed the insides then deep fried them and I have to say that's pretty easy and get more meat. It's also nice to get into them when you have kids on board. Nothing keeps their attention more than really reeling a lot of fish in but you have a lot of explaining to do when you go and don't even get a bite.
I don't know about other people, but to me they taste great. I fillet them skinless and cut the lateral line out. I imagine in a blind taste test a lot of the haters wouldn't know the difference in white perch and crappie. I've always heard how they can choke a lake out, and I believe it. Sometimes when I reel one up I'll see others chasing it trying to get at the bait. But at Lake Waccamaw they have found a pretty nice balance with the native fish. Probably because they are fished so heavily, everyone around here loves to eat them. White perch are actually the main fishery at Lake Waccamaw.
I am sure most of you know that the SC DNR delisted them as a game fish and now have no limits on them. They are in most all our lakes and I have targeted them in the winter when they ball up under the bait balls. Can catch a ton of them at times bouncing a spoon on the bottom. I agree that when they are skinned and filleted they are as tasty as any other pan fish. Their closest relative is the Striped Bass, they are not actually a perch.
White perch are native there. Down east from tide line across the coastal plain including most of the lakes. Where they were rare to non existent is in the Piedmont. They got stocked for a while and it seems to be a mistake to me. The NC WRC changing the regs last year so you can even net them seems to indicate to me that they agree.Quote:
Originally Posted by friedfish
almost impossible to cast net them to any degree of making it worthwhile. There is one spot on Harris Lake that you can catch a few hundred per throw but it is seasonal thing and does not last long. That spot is the reason the rules changed. Anywhere else it is pretty impractical.
White Perch are an invasive species yet protected as a game fish in Inland waters
Makes no sense at all, that's where the change to the regs should have been made.
I could make a lot of money selling the White Perch on Harris Lake if it were legal to do so and it would definitely impact the population.
I hear all the time that they are the best eating fish in the area from folks that take them home.
Hmm.. Do I only get one guess? Merry Oaks cove, late September. There are a couple of coves further up on the main fork where I have seen blitzes that could be netted, but they are harder to predict.Quote:
There is one spot on Harris Lake that you can catch a few hundred per throw but it is seasonal thing and does not last long
I think the rule change just illustrates their frustration. They made a really bad mistake. I don't think they have done it (stock them) recently, but biding their time waiting for them to disappear isn't working. What's weird is that they didn't do well naturally this far up the rivers. For eons there was nothing but a few rapids in their way and they did not truly establish themselves very far inland. But put up a dam and put them behind it and it is a different story.
I do agree they are very tasty. I ended up catching more perch than crappie today and just finished putting some fillets in the fridge. I will say the perch were rather large today. I caught one that 1-1/2 pounds and a bunch more around 1 pound. It's fun when you troll over an area and 4 rods bend over all once.
I will be out in the kayak next weekend testing my new fish finder looking for bait balls to try jigging a blade deep (someone I know has been cleaning up the last few weeks doing that). If that goes well, I suspect a large number of hookups to be perch. I would whine a lot less about them if I could consistently catch pounders. Nice work!
Yeah, they're Morones. To me they taste exactly like a White Bass.Quote:
Originally Posted by SeaRay
Hi Hockey86,Quote:
Originally Posted by hockey86
Banjo Mo and I spoke to you late Sunday afternoon. We kept 14 crappie and 14 white perch all nice fish. Banjo thinks he doesn't like white perch so I kept the perch and gave him the crappie. I ended up with a gallon bag of filets from the 14 fish. we ate half of them last night and they were as good as any fried fish I've ever eaten. I kill the real small ones and throw them back in the water and eat the larger ones. They remind of salt water whiting. Easy to clean, not a lot of waste and taste great.
Are you sure that is legal? I am not questioning whether or not it makes sense; I actually think it does as long as they aren't washing up all over the place. Plenty of catfish and turtles appreciate it. But it might be a ticketable offense. I am kind of torn about what to do with the little ones.Quote:
I kill the real small ones and throw them back in the water
It was good to talk to you guys too. I ended up catching a few decent crappie right at dark. You can send Banjo some crappie fillets and have him send you striper fillets from Tennessee.
Not sure about the legal thing or not but as soon as they hit the water the Herons are right there to snatch them up. Usually they are flying to the boat before you even get them off the hook. I've filleted some pretty small ones and still get decent meat from them.
It is legal and is recommended by the Biologist working for Duke Energy. Kill all that you catch. I don't but then again, I have an interest in catching them often and help fill coolers with the bigger ones all year. I figure if I turn the little ones loose, they will get a cooler ride the next year anyway from someone.
For some reason, the White Perch in Harris only bite lures every now and then. I always catch the biggest ones - 1.5 - 2.5 pounds on cut bait. Shad is the best, but cut perch works too.
I think white perch will eat just about anything. I do know this, if I buy 10-12 dozen minnows and I'm trolling 8 to 12 rods, through a school of white perch I move on, because they will clean out a minnow bucket real quick!!! But like Greg is saying, the big ones at Harris are fun to catch!!
www.sinclairsguideservice.com
In late summer to early fall I had a couple of trips where I would get one on every cast more than 5 casts in a row with a small lipless crank. I also catch a lot on curly tailed grubs.
The next time I troll thru some perch I'm gonna throw a jig or 2 out and see what happens. They can put up a good fight.
I really thought I had a monster crappie this weekend. Maybe one of those 3 pounders you guys encounter often. I had a hard time identifying this crappie though. No scales, whiskers and kept grunting at me.
Hey wait a minute did you say whiskers? ������
I have caught channel cats at Harris on spinners, jigs and cranks. Oh yeah, they hit bait pretty readily also...Quote:
Originally Posted by hockey86
He had whiskers but didn't meow. I've been averaging 2 or 3 per trip. Another fun fish to catch but can make a mess of your lines if you're not planning for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by hunter
Attachment 186020
I caught the white perch below on Harris about three years ago. It was right after the spring crappie season was over, so it was probably May or June. I was in an area that is about 8'-10' deep and had tried long-lining jigs with very little success. I put out four crankbaits and trolled them. These fish and a number more jumped right on the crankbaits. I didn't catch any crappie, but it was fun catching these guys. The board is 14.25" long, so they were good size ones. Definitely went into the frying pan.
Attachment 186074
Those are some real nice ones.
Those of you who catch them on spoons what type do you use and how do you fish it? Do you tip it with live or cut bait? Ever since I read this post I have been wanting to get back out to Shearon Harriss with a jigging spoon. Thanks for any info.Quote:
Originally Posted by SeaRay
They never go to waste or pollute the water when you throw dead ones back. The birds and catfish are waiting in line for them. I even had an eagle get one I threw back at Harriss few years ago
I catch loads of perch on Kast-master spoons. Either casting to breaking fish or jigging it off the bottom. I use mostly the 1/4 and 1/8 oz depending on the size bait they are keyed in on. I also catch a lot on the shad spoons that I make that is basically a gold hook soldered on to a size 3 willow leaf blade. It is practically weightless so I fish it behind a jig catch doubles often with this rig.
This weekend I will be using a blade bait like this:
http://www.fishsenselures.com/Site/i...insky_gold.png
based on input from someone I know that has been jigging up a lot of them as well as bass and crappie. I have been using little grubs and those also work reasonably well if you can get them down there.
I once saw a disturbance on the surface of a pond I lived on. Took my canoe out and discovered two bass locked together. The larger one - about 7 inches long had the head of another bass - about 5 inches long in his mouth and they were locked by the gill plates. I was able to separate them and the smaller one had wear marks across his head from the teeth of the other. Strange, but true!Quote:
Originally Posted by hockey86
Anyone know where to look on Falls Lake for white perch this time of year? I want to catch some for catfish bait, so they don't have to be that large. Just need to find where there are high numbers so I can get plenty for bait.
I know where to cast net gizzards shad on falls this time of year if that would help. We catch perch everywhere we go on falls does not seem to matter the time of year.
If there are shad there are always perch below them. Net the shad, hook one and drop it below the bait ball - boom. Or just drop a small jig through the bait ball.
fliesforall, I would be interested in where the abundance of gizzards are. I have castnetted 1000s of shad out of falls, but most of them are normally little peanut shad that I toss back. Would love to be able to get on some decent sized shad.
message sent
I did that one year and got bony tomatoes.Quote:
Originally Posted by SEA DANCER
I got Raccoons:Doh:Quote:
Originally Posted by chief