Question:

You have to excuse my lack of knowledge in records of fish from around the world, but 5lb 9oz, that’s a little hard for me to believe. Is it a different strain of Perch? I wouldn’t mind seeing a picture of one of these Perch if anyone might know of one. Thanks and Good Fishing CSC

Response:

You have to excuse my lack of knowledge in records of fish from around the world, but 5lb 9oz, that’s a little hard for me to believe. Is it a different strain of Perch? I wouldn’t mind seeing a picture of one of these Perch if anyone might know of one. Thanks and Good Fishing

I suspected that the UK record was around 5-6 lb anyway — when I was a teen, we often caught 1-2 lb Perch, and I had seen a few 2-3 lb-ers.  As for a different species, not as far as I know.  They handle the same, look the same, feed the same, behave the same.  The only difference I know is that we tend to use spinners here in Canada, and in the UK I used worm, bread, and corn. I really think that climate, with less extremes between Summer and Winter, a longer Closed Season of around 3 months, and Catch and Release all contribute to fish surviving to this size.  The largest fish I ever caught was a Pike of 54" tail to nose length in a small canal basin in Northern England.  It never occurred to me to even take it out of the water, let alone kill it and put it (dead) on my wall. Here in Canada, I’ve seen a picture of two men standing by a long pole with at least 50 Pike, half of which must have been over 20 lb, hanging from it.  We need to remember that every single one of those "big’uns" will never, ever be caught again by anybody, and their genetic material is gone forever. Anyway, I did some research, and found the following for your persual. http://www.pi.se/magnus.ugander/fb_home.html lists a Perch of almost 7lb! http://www.pi.se/magnus.ugander/swerec.htm lists a Pike of 49 1/2 lb and a Catfish of over 132lb! Peter Dolman Consultant/Technologist

Response:

A Perch in  Europe is a different fish from those in the USA. Only the name is the same. I think!! TW – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – You have to excuse my lack of knowledge in records of fish from around the world, but 5lb 9oz, that’s a little hard for me to believe. Is it a different strain of Perch? I wouldn’t mind seeing a picture of one of these Perch if anyone might know of one. Thanks and Good Fishing CSC

Response:

A Perch in  Europe is a different fish from those in the USA. Only the name is the same. I think!!

I’ve caught both, and they are identical — to my untrained, amatuer bioligist eyes, anyway! No, I think fish of such a size would be around if we hadn’t taken so many large fish out of circulation.  Catch’n'Release really reaps benefits.  Of course, it also requires more discipline, skill, and a desire to leave something behind for our grandkids — not readily apparent qualities of our generation in North America unfortunately. Peter Dolman

Response:

You have to excuse my lack of knowledge in records of fish from around the world, but 5lb 9oz, that’s a little hard for me to believe. Is it a different strain of Perch? I wouldn’t mind seeing a picture of one of these Perch if anyone might know of one. Thanks and Good Fishing CSC

I don’t know if its a different species or not (ours is Perca fluviatilis) but they are caught at 4lb plus every season throughout the country, some from very small ponds. (The 5-9 mentioned above was caught from a small 1 acre pond where it grew from fry – i.e. not stocked)  The perch was under great threat from an ulcerative disease for many years but is now recovering well. In Scandanavian lakes they are reputed to grow to 10lb+ and have been verified at 8lb+ (I think).  Big perch are very susceptable to poor handling by anglers and even with catch and return as practised in this country, a few succumb after being caught. They are superb fish though and the many years of "perch-drought" taught us to appreciate them fully Regards Tony Willis (UK)

Response:

We still get them out of Lake Michigan, but the number has decreased with Commercial fishing.  Last fall, commercial perch fishing in Lake Michigan (maybe even all of the great lakes) has been outlawed.  I would imagine that they will recover in another year or so.    I was born and raised in a house a few hundred feet from Lake Michigan and am looking forward to the return of these fish…

It’s not fair to blame the perch problem on commercial fishing. The problem is that we don’t know what the problem is. The present stop on commercial fishing is really just an experiment. I am pessimistic. I think the perch will continue to decline. The people talking about excessive water-clarity caused by zebra mussels make sense to me.

Response:

I was just shown two of the biggest Perch I have ever seen in my life. One we scaled at 1 lb 14 oz, the second at a whopping 2 lb 7oz. Both of them were pulled out of a reservoir in southern Saskatchewan. We do alot of Perch fishing and the largest I have caught to date is 1 lb 4 oz, and it was 13 1/2 inches long. Has anyone else had any experience with Perch this size, if so I’d like to hear about them. Thanks and Good Fishing! CSC

Response:

In France (of course, cause I’m living there). The biggest I caught 42 cm an 1,650 kg. Crispy is’nt it ? Ciao. —   Dominique PROSCIA      Consultant                                      M I T E L      T

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