Adult Yellow Perch Abundance Remains Low, Second Year of Perch Recruitment Detected

Catches of adult yellow perch (total catch = 35 perch) remained low at our two annual sampling sites similar to the low catches in 2014 and 2015. We like to see a yellow perch population comprised of multiple year classes including older, larger individuals that anglers prefer and that may have higher reproductive success.

Yellow perch seining in 2016 yielded a good catch of young-of-year. While not as strong as the record number of age-0 yellow perch sampled in 2015, this is a significant change from the relatively poor recruitment that we had seen over the previous 4 years (2011-2014) and during the 1990s.

These results are encouraging; however, additional strong year classes will be needed for a recovered and stabilized yellow perch population and fishery. Additionally, these young perch will need to find adequate food, survive and grow over the next few years before they reach a harvestable size and contribute to the angler harvest.

Source: GREAT LAKES BASIN REPORT

Yellow Perch Summit update

The Illinois DNR and Great Lakes Fishery Commission recently hosted a Yellow Perch Summit at the U of Illinois Chicago campus to consider that question.

The natural resources agencies, organizations, and individuals who were there are committed to working together on lakewide efforts to sustain the perch fishery in the lake. Lake Michigan fish populations know no state or other boundaries. Their management requires cooperation among all of us. Presentations by invited experts at the summit detailed the status of yellow perch in Lake Michigan, and why fewer perch than decades ago may be the new “normal.”

Offshore productivity in Lake Michigan is much lower today than it was during the last “heyday” for perch fishing in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Productivity is now very similar to Lake Superior, the larger and colder Great Lake to the north. The food web for yellow perch in Lake Michigan also has changed due to the presence of invasive mussels, spiny water fleas and round gobies. Changes in productivity and the food web mean less food is available, which affects perch recruitment, or the number of fish reaching reproductive age. Low or inconsistent recruitment means fewer perch are available for anglers to catch. Clearer water in the lake also may mean adult perch spend less time near-shore in the summer, another factor that can affect perch fishing success.

Since the early 1990s, when yellow perch populations declined rapidly in Lake Michigan, fisheries managers have closed commercial fishing, and implemented restrictions to protect yellow perch from further declines. For sport fishing in Illinois, those restrictions include a 15-fish daily limit, and a closure for perch fishing during July (except for youth under age 16, who can catch up to 10 perch a day during the July closure.

These management efforts may have prevented a total collapse of the perch fishery, but data presented at the summit show lakewide perch abundance remains low. The option of stocking perch was discussed, but is likely impractical because stocking larger fingerlings that could survive in today’s Lake Michigan would be incredibly expensive. There is also a danger that stocking might introduce new diseases or poorly adaptive genetic traits to existing perch stocks.

We heard calls from Illinois anglers for easing or eliminating the July closure of perch fishing in the Illinois waters of Lake Michigan, and instead closing fishing during the spring spawning season. These changes in management are under consideration.

Though easy fixes may be elusive, IDNR remains dedicated to the pursuit of management efforts we hope will lead to recovery of yellow perch in Lake Michigan. That means using sound science, sharing data, and working toward consensus among all partners on coordinated management goals and strategies to improve perch fishing and other Lake Michigan fishing for future generations.

If you missed the summit, the presentations and other information are archived online at this link: http://www.glfc.org/lakecom/lmc/yellow_perch_videos.html.

Source: Great Lakes Basin Report

Beatons Lake, a Gogebic County hidden gem

Beatons Lake in Gogebic County is a textbook case in the difficulties in modern fish management.

"It has always been a very nice trout lake," explained Michigan Department of Natural Resources senior fisheries biologist George Madison. "However the yellow perch population became problematic."

The problem? The yellow perch were cropping the zooplankton abundance, of which the stocked rainbow trout depend on for forage.

The DNR responded by stocking walleye to thin the perch population. While walleye were helping to control the perch, they were also preying on the bluegill fishery. Local residents want to preserve their shallow-water oriented fishery, which they can access from boat docks and shore. The DNR wants to make sure the bluegill/bass populations can provide the hook-and-bobber fishery that is popular for families who live along the lake.

The DNR tried another approach: splake. These brook trout/lake trout hybrids utilize yellow perch as forage, so they were stocked to help control the yellow perch numbers. That management tool, which is showing some good signs, needed some adjustment.

"We learned that where we were stocking the rainbow trout and splake, the fish had to swim through a narrow point of the lake to get out to deeper water. Common loons would frequent that narrow area and feed on both the rainbow trout and splake as they migrated to deeper water. Based on that, we moved the stocking site to the central portion of the lake so they will not get preyed upon by the loons," explained Madison.

Ideally, the splake will keep the perch population in check, leave the bluegills alone, and help maintain the plankton level that allows the Eagle Lake-strain rainbow trout to thrive.

"That's been working well," Madison said. "We're letting the natural balance of the panfishery prevail. The bluegill fishery seems to have rebounded. We meet with the lake residents regularly and they report the bluegill and bass fishing has come back. This lake is a nice fishery for panfish."

Beatons Lake has a long history of fisheries management. As far back as the 1920s, fisheries managers stocked the lake with landlocked salmon, though they failed to bear fruit. Rainbow trout, which were first stocked in 1942 and biologists have observed spawning on the gravel shoals, have filled that niche nicely.

The 330-acre lake is located about 12 miles northwest of Watersmeet. It reaches a maximum depth of 90 feet with sparse aquatic vegetation, though there is an almost continuous gravel shoal area around the lake that should provide adequate spawning habitat for smallmouth bass. The lake has no inlet and forms the headwaters of Two Mile Creek, which supports native brook trout, and drains into the Cisco Branch of the Ontonagon River.

Madison said Beatons Lake hosts a U.S. Forest Service boating access site and is an ideal place to enjoy a peaceful day. Good primitive camping is available at the nearby Ottawa National Forest and there are some nearby developed campgrounds as well.

"There is no human development in this area, therefore this lake has beautiful night skies for watching northern lights and meteor showers," he said. "People who have never experienced night-fishing with lanterns for rainbow trout will find this a great place to do so!"

Lake Michigan Yellow Perch Summit March 22

CHICAGO - A yellow perch summit for Lake Michigan anglers and other interested stakeholders is set for March 22 as state agencies and tribes seek to improve management of the fish fry favorite. Two decades of cooperative actions by state management agencies have prevented a complete collapse of yellow perch but have been unable to reverse the species' decline in Lake Michigan, state fisheries officials say.

"Despite a complete closure of commercial fishing and restrictive angling regulations by all the management agencies around Lake Michigan, the yellow perch population has not recovered," says Mike Staggs, Wisconsin's fisheries director. "This workshop will be a forum to update the public on what we've learned and discuss what direction we should go in the future on yellow perch management."

The summit, hosted by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, will be held at the UIC Forum, at 725 W. Roosevelt Road in Chicago. It will feature invited experts presenting the latest research on Lake Michigan ecology, yellow perch populations, fishing and management. The afternoon session will consist of small group breakout sessions where participants can comment on the information presented and provide input to Lake Michigan fishery managers.

Registration is free Great Lakes Fisheries Commission (exit DNR) website until March 15, after which a $20 fee will be charged. People also can participate via the web at a link provided them after they register.

Brad Eggold, DNR southern Lake Michigan fisheries supervisor and chair of the Lake Michigan Committee of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, encourages Wisconsin anglers to attend the summit in person or via the web and to weigh in.

"This yellow perch summit will give Wisconsin stakeholders the chance to listen to the latest information on not only yellow perch but on all aspects of the Lake Michigan ecosystem," Eggold says.

"In addition, breakout sessions will provide an avenue for stakeholder comment and input into future management actions. This should be a very informative summit and I hope stakeholders will plan to attend or view the meeting via our webinar link."

Eggold says that possible steps by the management jurisdictions may include changes to yellow perch management, assessment and/or research.

Twenty years ago, a yellow perch summit was convened by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to respond to what at that time was a rapid, lake-wide decline in abundance of yellow perch. Significant numbers of yellow perch were not surviving their first year, which meant the aging adult populations were not being replaced readily by new generations of perch in Lake Michigan.

A yellow perch task group was created and developed and implemented a research strategy to explore the causes of declining yellow perch populations. Wisconsin and other states closed the commercial perch fisheries in their waters and adopted restrictive bag limits and closed seasons to help preserve spawning age adults.

At the March 22 meeting in Chicago, participants will learn about research results and management information resulting from those actions, Eggold says.

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission was established in 1955 by the Canadian-U.S. Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries. The commission coordinates fisheries research, controls the invasive sea lamprey and facilitates cooperative fishery management among the state, provincial, tribal and federal management agencies.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Brad Eggold, 414-382-7921

Photos from the Kids Fishing Clinics 2014 #1

This first batch of photos was supplied to us by: Brian Boelter from Walleyes Unlimited USA. The event was held in southeastern Wisconsin on February 8.

The Kids not only learned about the fishing tackle, tying knots, baiting hooks and about the various fish, they even got the opportunity to catch them. And catch them they did. While checking out these fish, you’re going to see some that will make some of us old timers envious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click on photos to enlarge

Gamefish on the humps

Humping For Late Fall Open Water Gamefish

A cold wind crept down his back, but he did his best to ignore it. He knew soon that the ice fishing season would arrive. He liked to cast and fight his quarry in open water. It was big fish season, and a real outdoorsman and a veteran of snowy, frigid Packers games could take it.

He continued to cast…retrieve…cast…retrieve. The repetitive motion helped keep him warm as did a thermos of hot coffee. He made a well-honed cast toward and just beyond some broadleaved aquatic plants and began his retrieve.

Read more ►

 

Paul Redel with a typical largemouth that hit his special balloon tipped Mepps inline spinner.

Photo: Courtesy Paul Redel

Lawrence Van Veghel

Milwaukee Fishing Examiner

Perch, pickerel, bass return to Cootes after carp leave

Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator

The burly, bronze-coloured carp thrashed strongly as Melissa Fuller displayed it to a crowd of spring break walkers at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) fishway separating Cootes Paradise from the open water of Hamilton Harbour. [Full Story]

Source: The Spec.Com

Wisconsin Outdoor Report as of February 5, 2009

GENERAL Northern Region Northeast Region Southeast Region South Central Region West Central Region

Portions of northern and eastern Wisconsin have received minimal snowfalls in the last week, ranging from 1 to 3 inches, but most of southern and central Wisconsin has now gone several weeks without any substantial new snow. Warm weather last weekend melted some snow, and caused snowmobile trails to deteriorate in the southern half of the state. According to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism Snow Conditions Report (exit DNR), snowmobile trails are now closed in a handful of southern counties and in poor to marginally fair condition in the southern counties that remain open. Trails through central and northern Wisconsin remain in good to very good condtion. With warm weather in the forecast again for this upcoming weekend, more counties are considering closing trails to try and preserve what base remains. Snowmobilers need to remember that using trails when they are closed is trespass, and could damage trails making them more difficult to re-open should conditions improve.

Despite last weekend’s warm-up, cold temperatures again this week have continued to preserve much of the snow on park and forest cross-country ski trails. A small amount of fresh snow over the both the southern and northern Kettle Moraine has continued to keep trails there in good condition. Many other parks in southern Wisconsin including Blue Mound, Mirror Lake and Lake Kegonsa all report current conditions continue to be fair to good. Ski trails in most northern locations continue to be reported as good to very good. Nearly a dozen candlelight ski or snowshoe hikes are schedule for this weekend to coincide with a nearly full moon. Another nine are scheduled next weekend to coincide with Valentines Day.

Ice depths are in the 18 to 22 inch range on most lakes. The erratic and constantly changing weather of the past week has made for some tough fishing action. Walleye anglers reported inconsistent success, panfish action has continued its mid-winter slow period, with most anglers moving around quite a bit searching for the active fish. Success has been low but a few fair catches of crappie and perch have been reported. The best action in the past week has been for northern pike, with some decent action seen during the mid-day hours.

There has been some action for perch and northern pike at the Oconto Harbor area. Along Door County many anglers were targeting whitefish, with the best catches have been in 10 to 15 feet of water. Perch fishing also improved somewhat this week with most angles caching perch in 20 to 30 feet of water.

All last week the Mississippi River dropped slowly, but it stabilized over the weekend and was a 7.4 feet at Prairie du Chien this week. The majority of the main channel is frozen over and all back waters of both the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers remain frozen. In general ice fishing was poor this week, though some sauger were been biting in open water below the Lynxville dam.

Conditions should be excellent this weekend for a series of free ice fishing clinics for kids 15-years-old and younger that are being held at five park ponds and lagoons in Milwaukee County this Saturday, Feb. 7. Participants receive instruction on the proper use of equipment and techniques, knot tying, safety and much more. The clinics last 45 minutes and begin every hour on the hour starting at 9 a.m., with the last one starting at 2 p.m.

With the snowy landscape, rabbit hunting conditions have been ideal. Watch for a network of rabbit trails in sparse wooded areas with numerous brush thickets, grassy wetland edges, hayfields, weedy corn fields, and shrubby fencerows. Cottontails often rest in what is known as a "form," or a shallow depression in the ground hidden beneath a pile of brush or grassy clump. Due to their locations, forms offer protection from predators and weather extremes.
Great horned owls have been calling vigorously in many areas now. Ruffed grouse have been seen feeding on buds in the treetops of aspen and gathering warmth from the sun. And with the warm-up last weekend, northern cardinals were heard singing in many locations.

Lake Mille Lacs safe harvest levels set (February 3, 2009)

Safe fish harvest levels have been set at Lake Mille Lacs for the 2009 fishing season.

The safe harvest of walleye has been set at 541,000 pounds, up from 430,000 pounds last fishing season. The state’s allocation is 414,500 pounds, up from 307,500 pounds last year.

Indian bands that signed the 1837 Treaty will be allocated 126,500 pounds of walleye this fishing season, up from 122,500 pounds last year.

The state’s 2009 walleye harvest may include an overage allowance of up to 5 percent.

The yellow perch and northern pike safe harvest levels are the same as last year. The yellow perch level is 270,000 pounds; the northern pike level is 25,000 pounds. The state’s allocation is 135,000 pounds of yellow perch and 12,500 pounds of northern pike.

Due to low abundance and low incidental harvest in both the tribal and angling fisheries, quotas will not be set for tullibee and burbot. Instead, these species will be monitored, and safe harvest levels will be discussed in the future if abundance, harvest, and fishing interest increase.

Every year fisheries experts from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the eight Chippewa bands meet in January to share information and determine safe harvest levels.

“Now that we know what the State’s walleye quota is for 2009, we can evaluate where the winter fishery stands and can evaluate if our current regulation will keep us within our allocation,” said Ron Payer, Minnesota DNR fisheries chief. “And once we have done that, we will meet with the Mille Lacs Fisheries Input Group.”

The current Mille Lacs regulation allows anglers to keep four walleye up to 18 inches, which may include one trophy over 28 inches. Anglers are required to release all walleye from 18 to 28 inches.

Total walleye angling harvest was 76,000 pounds in 2008. The safe harvest level was increased from last year due to low total harvest in 2008.

Lake Erie Management Unit Newsletter

(Michigan) Hello anglers! This is our annual newsletter covering major field activities of the Lake Erie Management Unit (LEMU). This unit covers all waters that lie within the watersheds which drain into the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, and Lake Erie. Fisheries Management personnel in this unit include two biologists and a unit supervisor located at the Southfield Operations Service Center and two technicians and a technician supervisor located at the Waterford Fisheries Station. This newsletter highlights some of the field activities conducted by our field staff during 2008.

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