What do I do with all of these Perch?!?

[Tinytim]

Ok, I have just started fishing this year and it seems that every time I go out I catch more perch than anything else (on day my girlfriend and I caught 18 perch in the course of two hours. It’s getting annoying. One of my friends says that Perch are garbage fish that are taking over the lakes and if I catch one I should kill it. I don't care for this idea too much because one, I don't want to kill something for no reason and two, I fish off of the shore and docks so sometimes there are kids present. I don't want them to see some guy on the dock with a bunch of dead fish all around him. So my question is; is it true I should be removing these fish from the lake? If so what’s the most humane way to do it and best way to dispose of them without having a pile of dead rotting fish around me and other people? Thanks for any input you might have.

[fishing collector]

Tinytim....Perch are good to eat ...Just filet and skin them and dip in some whipped egg and then flour with onion and garlic powder and dill. fry in 1/4 in oil and butter...They taste great..... If you don't want to eat them then at least bury them around your Rhodies or roses this is a great place for the bones also..... If you want to send them to recycle, then wrap in paper and freeze them until pickup day....No stinky! Hope you end up eating some just to taste a good fish. Good luck on your choice, Steve:cheers:

[racfish]

Perch are hella good.Fried,baked,steamed,just about anyway.They are a prime white meat fish.They are not a junk fish and should not be killed for sport.

[kevinb]

perch are most certainly not garbage fish.

[Rollin with Rolland]

Eat them or throw them back. simple. Perch can get overwhelming, but they are an essential part of a balanced ecosystem in a lake. They provide great forage for larger fish. If you are sick of catching them, just use a different fishing technique (ie. larger hooks and baits).

[racfish]

R and R you are right.I got tired of lil perch .I changed to a larger hook and a bigger worm and started nailing the Small Mouth Bass.What fun that is.Those lil devils fight like a coho.Hehehe.A lil change is always good.

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

Even the 6-inch perch can provide a fillet about the size of a small bite-size fish-stick. DEE LEE CIOUS

[Toni]

Perch are good eating. They have a lot aof bones that is why we skin (large scales) and filet them. You could just scale them instead of skinning but I would do it outside.
They are not garbage fish!

[VHMLLC]

Eat them or throw them back. simple. Perch can get overwhelming, but they are an essential part of a balanced ecosystem in a lake. They provide great forage for larger fish. If you are sick of catching them, just use a different fishing technique (ie. larger hooks and baits).

well said :thumleft: we have a ton of them down here, its anoying but they are fun to fish.



:viking:

[BassFanatic]

don't kill them just throw them back and like everyone else said they are not a garbage fish and from what I have heard they are pretty good eating...

[Anglinarcher]

Perch are not native to our waters, so they do, on occasion lack the necessary predators to keep them in check. When they do lack predators, they get overpopulated and under sized.

Are they worth keeping then? Well, not for food, but the roses and veggies in the garden sure do like them.

Here is the catch, you can not keep or kill enough perch to impact the population enough to make any difference. If you don't like catching them, fish differently, but I sure do understand that you may not want to kill them in front of kids.l

[kzoo]

Perch are great to eat. Takes a little time to clean them, but it's worth it for fresh fried fish.

[Dave]

Definately great eating. You might also keep in mind the fish consumption / contaminants warnings from the Washington Department of Health for some lakes. This information is in the fishing rules pamphlet. For example, Lake Washington perch is 1 to 4 meals per month depending on fish size. Just something to keep in mind.

[p.t.]

One of my friends says that Perch are garbage fish that are taking over the lakes and if I catch one I should kill it.

Here is my two cents: Whether a species is a threat to another and thus should be exterminated is a decision of WDFW's, not ours. If they find a species is threatening others, they will do something about it. For example, WDFW has put bounty on squawfish caught on Columbia River; also, in Yellowstone Park, lake trout caught must be killed and cannot be released. So let's not jump into conclusion that yellow perch are taking over the lakes; WDFW will tell us.

Either eating them or letting them go is fine, just don't kill them for nothing.

[iPodrodder]

Just don't use worms and they won't bite.

[Tinytim]

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone. I will let them go when ever I can and keep some of the bigger ones for eating. I can tell you are all right because not a single person argued that they were garbage fish. I will mention this to my friend and maybe change his thoughts on the whole subject as well. Again thank you.

[Kfedka]

I love perch! Very delicious, you can always ship them overnight to me if you catch to much! :bounce:

[physher92]

without a doubt, perch are my favorite fish to eat. any perch 7" or over is big enough to keep, for me, and big enough to filet. with the little ones, throw them back.

[TroutCowboy]

Link: Bass-O-Matic :thumleft:

[BassinBomber]

Just don't use worms and they won't bite.

Perch will hit ANYTHING,..I've caught them on numerous occassions using everything from a D-Shot Robo/Senko/Creature 2 my Jointed Raps,..even caught 1 on a #6 Gamma red hook with nothing on it,..tossed my line out and forgot the worm,..reeling in slowly while talking and laughing and the Perch hit my hook and I pulled it out onto the dock,..LOL! Good eatin especially the larger ones when you can filet them!

BB