Perch not always appreciated

Labor Day weekend is traditionally when fishermen get serious about perch fishing.Yellow perch that is — as opposed to white perch — a species of fish from brackish northeastern Atlantic waters. Like Sea lampreys and Alewives, they invaded and established populations in the Great Lakes after the St. Lawrence Seaway gave them a route around Niagara Falls.The distinction is especially important when places advertise "perch" or "Lake Erie perch" dinners, where cheaper Ocean perch, Lake Victoria or white perch are sometimes served.On the east coast of the U.S., white perch are the preferred table fish. In brackish water, they have a different diet, giving them a more pleasant flavor than the muddy one that they have here.In Maine and in some other New England states, yellow perch are sometimes tossed into the weeds when caught because of their tendencies to overpopulate and stunt, to protect sport fish and the prevalence of yellow grubs, an unsightly parasite.Where yellow perch eat large numbers of snails, they often ingest larval yellow grubs, visible in the fillets when cleaning them. I often saw them when cleaning yellow perch from Lake Simcoe in Ontario.In Lake Erie, a red roundworm is sometime seen coiled on the edge of a fillet, but will usually stay in the body cavity if the perch are iced when caught.Yellow perch are arguably the best tasting fish coming from Lake Erie, with compelling evidence in the form of their hefty price tag, which tops all other freshwater species in local retail outlets.The love of Lake Erie yellow perch is relatively recent. Early naturalists called them a "third-rate pan fish, better used for making better glue than food." They became much more appreciated in the 1960s after other species such as whitefish, blue pike, sauger and lake herrings (ciscoes) became scarce.Perch fishing most frequently involves using a boat on the lake, but can also be done from the shoreline. The tackle of choice for many is a wire spreader, including two hooks baited with a minnow.I quit using spreaders in 1986, after being introduced to the "perch rig" by minnow wholesaler and former commercial fisherman Steve Szuch, who proved their effectiveness to me.Perch rigs are becoming more popular each year. Basically a 2 or 3-hook crappie rig, they are also known a stealth rig, drop shot perch rig and casting rig. They are much more sensitive, allowing the fish's bite to be directly felt through the line easier than through wire.Either way, two fish, called doubles or a doubleheader can be caught when a school is present.In deeper water, using low-stretch braided or fluorocarbon lines and a longer rod can increase bite detection, hook set success and landed fish because monofilament allows more slack line due to its stretch.Western Basin yellow perch run smaller on average than Central Basin fish. While catches of 3-to-5 fish per pound are normal in the west end of the lake, 2-to-3 perch per pound are common east of Cleveland. For the past 5 years, I have maintained a 2-to-2½ per pound average off Conneaut.They are thicker for their length, as cooler summer water temperatures allow optimum growth there. According to ODNR, Division of Wildlife biologists at the Lake Erie Fisheries Research Station in Sandusky, warmer summer temperatures crank perch metabolism up in the Western Basin, burning calories at the expense of growth.Although commercial fishermen by law must release all perch less than 8 ½ inches long, sport fishermen have no minimum length requirements. I can successfully fillet perch down to seven inches, but prefer an 8-to-9 ½ incher. Larger perch have thicker, mid-fillet Epipleural bones (Y-Bones, pin bones) along the rib cage (like walleyes) that should be zippered out so they don't tickle the throat when swallowed.To skin or not to skin the fillet is a personal preference. I and many others feel that perch are better tasting when scaled and the skin left on, similar to the difference in the flavor of a piece of chicken with skin-on versus skin-off. But, I have found that freezing perch without their skins eliminates all fat, resulting in a longer-lasting, milder tasting fillet.Currently, the perch populations are weaker than in past years, but a good hatch last year and this spring will help the species rebound and provide fish fries for years to come.