This report comes as part of my attempt to fully understand American Lake Yellow Perch. It has been great fun to follow them from 20 to 30 to 35 to 45 and now to 65 feet of water with the changing seasons and temperatures.

Yesterday I kept 26 perch caught in the late morning of a mirror-pond setting, all taken on night crawlers and “fish parts”. Even the dinks were kept as “release success” on those brought up from the abyss is suspect at best, but the average length was still exactly 22.9 cm (9.0 inches). Two tiny ones were initially released with “good luck little guy” wishes, but only the Herring Gulls thanked me for that.

Surface temperature was 47 0F and the bite is a bit slower than it was in the warmer water, but the fish are fat and prepping to spawn in the early spring. Their table quality is at least as good now as it was then.

While almost all vertebrates harbor parasites, I wanted to call attention to worms that visibly present in about 5% of these fish. They have anatomy that seems to put them perfectly between the flukes and tapeworms, which I find pretty darn confusing at least for now. They are vermiform enough to be tapeworms, but they are awfully thick for that group. I thought they might be partially digested leeches (Hirudinea) until closer study. Pictured is an adult that came from the intestinal tract and an encysted larva that came, yes, from the muscle tissue. I’ll fire back when this is solved, but for now one should cook their perch well or keep the albendezole in hand. Please feel free to add suggestions or analysis if you know these worms.

While I understand that perch are usually not highly regarded in Washington, I really enjoy them. I promise to report back if anyone can suggest a lake with big perch in it, as I have so far fished Lake Washington and American Lake for them. Please reach me at cielowalker38@yahoo.com if I am not out of line to ask. And, of course, I would be excited to learn of these worms if you have the answer on that.

Please take care

Mark