GREAT OUTDOORS: National Walleye Trail coming to Huron; perch fishing improves

The Bass Pro Shops/Cabela's National Walleye Trail (NWT) is holding its championship from the Huron River boat access ramp next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. This time of the year, the waters around this area to the islands hold some of the highest populations of walleyes in the lake, including trophies that are gorging on the huge concentrations of gizzard shad that accumulate along the mainland coastline and emerald shiners tucking into some of the island's shorelines. Based upon their finishes at the previous NWT events at Green Bay in July, Sault Ste. Marie in August and/or Lake Sakakawea in September, the top 40 professionals and co-anglers earned the right to fish this championship contest. After the first two days, only the top 10 leaders will fish the final day. Due to COVID-19 social distancing concerns, spectators are encouraged to tune in to the NWT Outdoor Action live stream (go to nationalwalleyetour.com) to follow the weigh-ins, beginning at 3 p.m. each day. "The winning pro at the championship will be awarded a fully rigged Ranger 620FS Pro, valued at $75,995 plus $15,000 cash. Second place will be awarded a Ranger 2080MS, outboard and trailer package valued at $64,595. First place for the co-angler will be a Ranger VS1882 package valued at $39,000," the NWT said in a news release. Airing on multiple national and regional networks, the NWT can be seen on the Pursuit Channel, CBS Sports Network, Comcast Sportsnet Chicago, Wild TV Canada, and the World Fishing Network. Yellow perch fishing returns In addition to the fantastic walleye fishing Lake Erie is providing, yellow perch fishing has been much more rewarding this year than in the past few seasons. Many anglers have been rewarded with the first limits of "Erie Gold" in years, with many catches now running three to the pound, a respectable average weight for Western Basin perch. Alternative tactics have emerged from the decades-old universal technique of fishing two cranks off the bottom with a wire spreader, adorned with shiny or colorful beads and/or blades, rigged with a pair of snelled hooks and baited with whole emerald shiners. Some include using a "crappie rig" without beads or spinners; a "Sabiki rig" of two or three tiny jigs baited with strips of minnow or other fish meat; allowing bait to rest on the bottom; and using pieces-rather than whole minnows. This time of year, when young-of-year minnows and other species of fish used as prey by perch are small, pieces of shiners often work better than whole minnows by more closely "matching the hatch." While golden shiners have been proven to be effective when perch are feeding on fish, emerald shiners still normally out-perform this runner-up bait minnow species. One "old school" tactic that works well is to revert to the use of braided line. Its lack of stretch often makes the difference between an angler feeling or not feeling subtle nibbles. However, those who have fished with monofilament that stretches during hook sets their whole lives will need to adjust their methods a bit. Without the benefit of some line stretch, some rods may snap in half on bigger fish and more hooks tear through the perch's lips by jerking up too vigorously. Also, horsing the fish to the surface after hooking and not accounting for the lack of spring in the line absorbing some of the tension during their lunges will allow more perch to become "unbuttoned." Fortunately, there are enough perch available now to catch a 30-fish limit if anglers are willing to move around until finding an actively feeding school.