Fall Yellow Perch?

[azmdted]

Hi all,

I'd like to target some fall Yellow Perch. The only time I've caught them in Weems has been in cooler Oct temps. After doing some research I've learned that Weems doesn't have the Yellow Perch spawn like they used to have many years ago so probably don't hold as many Yellows as other areas. But I'm wondering, is my experience right that Yellow Perch become more prevalent when the water cools down or is that just a coincidence that that's when I've caught them before.

I've tried the spawn catch and didn't feel good getting home and finding so many eggs, ya, I know, get over it. I would like to try to catch some now though. Any thoughts on locations and Yellow Perch fall habits in general?

Thanks.

[J.A. Veil]

I cannot steer you toward easy yellow perch catching, particularly in the fall. I do suggest that the Severn River and its tidal creeks and ponds are not predictable or productive yellow perch habitats.

During winter months you may find yellow perch in the Magothy and South Rivers. I have seen egg masses in the very upper stretches of each in late winter., and caught some near Beechwood park last year. The lower Susquehanna has a strong run of yellow perch in winter. For several years, there was a meet and greet in February for fish in the Havre de Grace/Perryville area. Several Eastern Shore rivers have yellow perch runs in the spring.

[azmdted]

Thanks John, I appreciate the reply. I was hoping the October yellow perch I caught was part of a normal cycle rather than flukes as white perch left. I've been following the Feb Susquehanna M&G but between weather and other issues I don't think it's worked out the last two years. Hopefully this year the stars will align for it and me.

[blackjack]

Susquehanna in late January /February is the big push,if the meet and great doesn't happen I'll post when I am going out to see if anyone is interested

[azmdted]

Thanks

[Mark]

A few of my friends have caught yellow perch in Weems. Their catch catches have been extremely rare -- 2 or 3 annually among the hundreds of white perch and stripers they catch in Weems throughout the year. I have never caught one in Weems nor any Severn tributary.

But the basic question is a good one. I've often wondered they go after their spring fling. As John said, the upper end of the Magothy at Beachwood has a good run of them in late winter. I've caught them there. But I never see them afterward in that area.

I have caught a few little ones in Unicorn Lake on the Eastern Shore during warmer months after their spawning run. However, I've never fished that lake in the fall.

[Shady]

I caught a few in Weems last November. That was the first time I'd caught them there.

[azmdted]

I went to the MD DNR web page for Yellow Perch and read all that I could. I still had questions and noticed that there was a contact name for more information, so this morning I shot him an email and within an hour I had a great reply. Based on my conversation with Paul Piavis, Program Manager, Fishing and Boating Services, DNR this is what I learned about Yellow Perch:

After the winter spawning run Yellow Perch quickly disperse and leave the spawning area. Biologists are not sure where they go, but there is a point where they will be naturally blocked by the salinity in the water. He said that in the upper bay and the Choptank there's not much of an issue with salinity so they'll disperse widely. By the Severn they'll hit a block and stay in fresher water side, but with fewer naturally occurring YP.

With them then staying put I wondered why I never catch them in the summer when I spend so much time fishing the same area for WP. He says that some fish find the effort to aggressively hunt in the warm summer months not worth the calories, so they don't. They'll lose weight in the summer, but once it gets cool in the fall they'll return to active foraging. That explains why we catch them in the colder fall months but not the summer months. Once winter sets in they'll head to the deeper pools like WP.

He also said that in years when we have heavy spring rains the salinity barrier breaks down and some of the juvenile upper bay YP will migrate into the Severn and Magothy adding to their numbers.

Paul said it was okay for me to paraphrase him on here but he didn't want me to cut and paste his reply. There you have it. My thanks to Paul for a quick and complete response.

[Mark]

I went to the MD DNR web page for Yellow Perch and read all that I could. I still had questions and noticed that there was a contact name for more information, so this morning I shot him an email and within an hour I had a great reply. Based on my conversation with Paul Piavis, Program Manager, Fishing and Boating Services, DNR this is what I learned about Yellow Perch:

After the winter spawning run Yellow Perch quickly disperse and leave the spawning area. Biologists are not sure where they go, but there is a point where they will be naturally blocked by the salinity in the water. He said that in the upper bay and the Choptank there's not much of an issue with salinity so they'll disperse widely. By the Severn they'll hit a block and stay in fresher water side, but with fewer naturally occurring YP.

With them then staying put I wondered why I never catch them in the summer when I spend so much time fishing the same area for WP. He says that some fish find the effort to aggressively hunt in the warm summer months not worth the calories, so they don't. They'll lose weight in the summer, but once it gets cool in the fall they'll return to active foraging. That explains why we catch them in the colder fall months but not the summer months. Once winter sets in they'll head to the deeper pools like WP.

He also said that in years when we have heavy spring rains the salinity barrier breaks down and some of the juvenile upper bay YP will migrate into the Severn and Magothy adding to their numbers.

Paul said it was okay for me to paraphrase him on here but he didn't want me to cut and paste his reply. There you have it. My thanks to Paul for a quick and complete response.

Thank you for investigating.

Isn't interesting that their precise dispersion locations remain a mystery even to experts?

I wonder if the energy/calorie tradeoff cited by Paul is why pickerels get scarce on the ends of our lines in the summer?

[jhoss]

December is usually the earliest I start finding them. The mouths of tidal creeks are your ticket. Some are gonna have bigger populations than others. With a little searching, even just on past posts on this forum you will narrow it down. Good luck

[DanMarino]

I've caught some big ones in Mattawoman Creek and Mallows Bay in late summer and early fall.

[azmdted]

Last week I fished the Magothy and caught quite a few mid sized white perch. The water temp was 71. This week I fished in the same location where the white perch were, there wasn't a one. The water temp today was 66, and it held yellow perch. My first of the season. They were fairly small and scrawny, 8.5-9.5". They really did look like they've haven't eaten all summer. Fascinating to wonder where they were. Maybe they were there the whole time, just watching me catch their white cousins till the cousins left.

They definitely need a month or two to fatten up before they're worth keeping..

[Fishinfool]

I grew up near the north shore of Round Bay. From the early to late sixties, yellow perch were very abundant, and very easy for a kid like me to catch off neighbors’ piers with a minnow about three ft under a bobber.

Fast forward fifty years; the yellow perch are all but extinct in the Severn; a victim of overdevelopment, and the construction of the I 97 bridge in 1987, with zero storm water management measures and sediment control ponds, directly over the Severn Run spawning grounds. The spreading of road salt just prior to the spawn in late Feb, early March was particularly damaging.

Someone at the federal agency that managed Interstate construction screwed up royally during the design phase of I 97.

[Patapsco Mike]

In early to mid November I catch nice yellow perch in the Nanticoke near Rt 50. The fish are close to shore, fairly shallow, and can be caught on minnows under bobbers. We found them by accident one year, but it's a consistent pattern. They aren't there June-Oct. They shop up in early November and stick around until the spawn. White perch we started catching three weeks ago using the same tactics. And of course tons of catfish (channels, blues and whites).