Tweet
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.
2021-09-18-002.jpg This morning’s longest perch was 11.5”.
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
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
Comment