Perch hatch?

[james_walleye]

Someone told me they had there aquaview down this weekend on Mille Lacs and quite a few areas were absolutely swarming with young of the year perch. Anyone else seen this? I hope its true.

[Guest]

When I came in Sat night, there was a DNR guy taking a creel survey. He said that there was a baitfish hatch happening.... but thats from a DNR guy, so I took it with a grain of salt.

[vikes40for60]

I also had my aqua view down a good part of the day yesterday and noticed more perch than ever. It was the first time this year that I was able to see them in these numbers. You should have seen them at dusk with the light on, major schooling and numbers. This is a good thing, right?

[Guest]

Yes, there are Perch fry under the docks and along the shore at night.

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[Cove]

May I assume these fish were hatched in April and are now just either big enough to notice or migrating into areas we can come across them? Isn't it odd that we are so excited about something that in most years spells the slowdown in the June bite?

[GullGuide]

Took my father-in-law out on the pond last evening. We fished a number of gravel bars on the south end and I could not believe the number of very large schools of baitfish that were showing up on my graph. Nature seems to be healing herself

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[Grabs]

Tom, any slow down in the bite do to the bait fish boom? Or did you do pretty well again? Probably going to be up there this weekend, just want a heads up on what to expect, should we maybe consider minnows since they will be targeting the perch now?

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[This message has been edited by Grabs (edited 07-16-2002).]

[bigeyes]

I was out on Friday and Satuday mostly on gravel and also notice large schools of bait fish, more than I have seen all year, many of them 5 and 10 feet off the bottom chasing mayflies no doubt. The were wally's near by too! The fish we got were much fatter than back in May and June although not piggies yet. Also very disappointed with all the "floaters" around the lake, got to be a better way!

[Tonka Boy]

I was out Sunday near Spirit Island and noticed HUGE schools of perch. Many were swimming along the surface so I was able to verify they actually were perch. I then tried to hold the boat in and around these baitfish and started catching some slot, or near slot fish. Nothing was over 19.5". Many were extremely plump as if they were gorging theirselves. There is some light at the end of the tunnel!

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Tonka Boy

[blkfrg]

Was out last Sat/Sun night off of Pike's Point. Massive schools of perch that would appear in the light and then whammo! Walleye, walleye, walleye, and these did not look emaciated and the one slot fish had a bunch of perch in it's gut. It was tasty too. Fish On, Dude