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A white perch landmark

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  • A white perch landmark

    Today I hit a landmark – catching my 1,000th white perch of 2021. How do I know how many perch I caught? Last January I set up a new Excel spreadsheet to track for each trip the date, where I fished, if I fished from the shoreline, a boat, or a kayak, and a comment field. I also created a new column for each species I caught and entered the number of fish of that species that I caught for every fishing day. This may sound intimidating to some, but once I got used to doing it, it took less than 2 minutes each day that I fished. The spreadsheet automatically totals the number of fish per trip and for each species.

    I will say more about that spreadsheet in late December, when I have a full year’s worth of outputs from my database. Today, I can share some statistics about my white perch catches to date.
    • With the 10 perch caught this morning, I have caught 1,006 white perch this year.
    • I caught white perch on 93 different dates, starting on March 22 on a freshwater tidal river on the Eastern Shore. 2021-03-22-002.jpg
    • This morning I caught at least one perch in each of four Severn tidal creeks.
    • The most perch I caught on a single trip was 50 on July 24. I caught 25 or more perch on 7 other days.
    • The largest perch I caught this year was 12.75” (if I had stretched it and pinched the tail, it might have reached citation size of 13”).


    2021-09-18-002.jpg This morning’s longest perch was 11.5”.
    • One of the perch was caught in Virginia waters. All the rest came from Maryland waters.
    • I released every one of those perch.


    While not the most challenging or largest fish I catch each year, white perch provide fairly easy light and ultralight tackle fishing close to home. My preferred lure is a 1/8-oz spinnerbait (I typically use the Bignose spinners made by my friend Stu Sklar).

    2020-07-17 10-45-52 .JPG

    I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the humble white perch. I caught a 14” white perch on January 1, 2012 in a shallow spot where it should not have been at that time of year. Through a fortunate series of events, that perch led to my winning the 2012 Maryland Fishing Challenge, with a grand prize of a Bass Tracker boat, motor, and trailer.

    006.jpg IMG_4986.jpg
    John Veil
    Annapolis
    Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

    Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

  • #2
    Congratulations John!! I am grateful that you are so detail-oriented as you are able to provide a lot of data to the rest of us. I have to admit that I cannot wrap my head around catching 1,000 of the same species of fish or fishing so frequently that you have caught white perch on 93 different dates so far this year.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by UnkleRob2020 View Post
      Congratulations John!! I am grateful that you are so detail-oriented as you are able to provide a lot of data to the rest of us. I have to admit that I cannot wrap my head around catching 1,000 of the same species of fish or fishing so frequently that you have caught white perch on 93 different dates so far this year.
      When I was your age, I worked in DC with a long commute and often traveled away from home on business. The number of fishing days and total catches were nowhere near what they are now that I am retired. Hang in there.
      John Veil
      Annapolis
      Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

      Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

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      • #4
        A milestone indeed, congrats John. 1000 perch in a year is crazy. Today I caught my 500th fish of the year, of all species combined. And I thought I was doing well, hehe
        Dave

        2021 Hobie Outback Camo
        2013 Native Slayer Hidden Oak

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