White Perch

I'll get to the point, does anybody eat these things? We always catch them and last Saturday we were catching them one after the other. I've always heard and seen there are too many of them and they need to be either eradicated or reduced drastically because they eat the crappie eggs. I've been throwing them back and go to thinking after sitting there freezing last weekend and only catching them that they might be good eating. I'll eat just about anything as long as it doesn't move too fast and if I've been throwing away good meat, I'll start keeping them.

Their very very good fish to eat. Some people even prefer them over crappie which says something. With no limit on them they can make an entire day fun

i just started keeping them .i eat the bigger ones and the small one go out with the crappie guts or get used to make catfish bait.

I think they are much better filleted and skinned. They are a close kin to the Striper and can have a strong taste if cooled whole. I hear people say they are not big enough to fillet. We fillet perch that are smaller than the 8" size limit of a crappie(SC).
Sure it is a small piece, but it beats wasting the perch or throwing it back to spawn a million more.
A lot of folks also prefer them for catfish bait.

I eat a lot of fish, and i will tell you, they are far better then a crappie.

I do save a few bags full of smaller ones for bottom bait at the beach. Been known to catch seabass, snapper, and a grouper or 3 on them ;)

We eat them, they do have a stronger taste the longer they have been in the freezer, fresh they are great. I filet and skin them. We enjoy them on the grill, place them in an aluminum pie pan, throw in some small pieces of bell peppers, little tomato and salt and pepper and lemon. May the Lord bless all your days whether you are fishing or not.

Eat them with my crappie fillets all the time. Can't tell the difference when you cook them together. Bounce them off the side of your boat if small.

Eat them all the time. I recently caught the largest white perch I've ever seen. It was just a little over 15". That girl was loaded with eggs. I use a lot of them catfishing too.

Eat the big ones and grow tomatoes with the small ones.

My wife and I will keep a few larger ones on occasion for something different to eat. They have a slightly stronger taste to me than do crappie, but they aren't bad.

They eat good. I grew up on them. My Granddad used to set a net for them . we ate them all the time.

Eat 'em, you'll like 'em.

I keep all my family can eat. I skin them, but then I skin all my fish.

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White Perch are a fine eating fish, but do need heavy controls in place to keep the populations from getting any more out of hand than they already are.
If you haven't tried eating some... I can almost guarantee you that when you do... you will hate you ever threw one back.

I have always thrown them back until the consensus on this forum was they are bad for the reasons you cite. It is even legal to cast net for them. It is quite fortunate that they are good to eat! I saw a program last night on the lionfish that are taking over the Atlantic. The females lay about 30,000 eggs at a time and can lay eggs every 3or 4 days!!! They eat everything and have no predators due to their poisonous spines. But, they taste good. So, we can consider ourselves lucky in regards to the perch.

The white perch are reported to be great catfish bait, too. I would guess striper bait, too.

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Originally Posted by Crewmax42

I have always thrown them back until the consensus on this forum was they are bad for the reasons you cite. It is even legal to cast net for them. It is quite fortunate that they are good to eat! I saw a program last night on the lionfish that are taking over the Atlantic. The females lay about 30,000 eggs at a time and can lay eggs every 3or 4 days!!! They eat everything and have no predators due to their poisonous spines. But, they taste good. So, we can consider ourselves lucky in regards to the perch.

The white perch are reported to be great catfish bait, too. I would guess striper bait, too.

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I seen that too, Bizarre Foods. I will start keeping them. We did cut one up and caught a nice channel cat on it. I've used them for bait before but now I'll start eating them. Thanks for all the replies guys.

They are good eating, better than crappie. Do whatever you want to them, just don't throw them back or they will take over the whole fishery. I am not sure if NC regulation specifies that one CANNOT throw it back alive, if it don't, we need such regulation.

They are very good to eat and you mentioned striper bait. I have never tried them for stripers, but have heard to take scissors and cut off the top fin if using for striper bait. They have those top fins that they flair out and stripers don't like that I have been told.

I think their just as good as crappie, if not better, my wife prefers crappie, but we eat them.

I would much rather eat crappie .

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Originally Posted by Rdrunner

I would much rather eat crappie .

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Me too.

I grew up fishing Lake Waccamaw which has a large population of White Perch. I now live in the sandhills and fish Tillery quite a bit and find it funny that most folks up that way call them "Waccamaw's". Great on light tackle and can really save a trip when others species are not so willing to cooperate. Also great for kids especially when they are schooling on top. My family prefers crappie but will not turn down a mess of white perch if that is what is biting. I do keep or help out the osprey with all I catch now due to info shared on this board.

Fillet, flip and fillet the skin off, then cut red line out. Taste like any other Morone species, actually not as strong as White Bass. I love them.

Goooood to me!!!! Big or small. Filleted or whole!!! Im with Jordan limit, mix them in the bunch with crappie and you probably won't see the difference! !