Yellow Perch Recon - Susquehanna

[sparky1423]

Decided to get a head start on the yellow perch season this year. After watching windfinder.com for a few days seeing 12-18mph winds predicted, I almost decided to sit this one out. The fishing was not great, but the weather was fantastic...not even a light breeze!? I launched early and Yak Fish showed up later in the morning. We caught around 40 yellow perch between the two of us. Small males, the fat females should appear after the new year...Alan did manage one keeper. Water temps were 35 degrees and most of our action was between 40-50 FOW. Double 2" power grubs in pearl with a one ounce sinker was the ticket today...they out caught live minnows 2-1. Most perch were caught dead sticking, no need to jig at all.

Hopefully this is a sign for good things to come, the yellow perch run did not live to it's hype last year. No worthy pics of fish, but I did capture a beautiful Susky sunrise.

[J.A. Veil]

Thanks for the report. I hope to get up to the Susquehanna in the new year to find some yellow neds.

[jhoss]

Thanks for the report. I tried up there a few weeks back and caught nothing but the skunk. Good to hear things are shaping up!
Thanks

[Fishinfool]

Bring some live ones down to the Severn for re-stocking please, they are few and far between!

I am re-plowing over old ground, but I sure do miss 'em. I guess part of the problem is that perch stay in the river where they spawn for their entire life span, and the silted-in spawning habitat in the Severn Run, the pharmaceuticals not getting filtered out of the waste water treatment plants, as John V. has previously noted, and other run-off has really decimated them down here.

It is curious because I am told the Susquehanna is the largest single sources of pollution that enters the Bay, and yet that's where the y. perch are.

[sparky1423]

We can thank New York and Pennsylvania for the pollutants, too bad all the state governments like to play the blame game. We were talking with a few boaters today discussing where the yellow perch go after the spawn. All we could agree on is after the end of February they become a mythical creature. If they stay in the river, I surely cannot find them...I wish I could because they are fun (and tasty).

I caught a yellow perch off my Father-in-laws pier this summer, he lives on Valentine Creek...a trib of the Severn. I think he turned white and treated it like the holy grail returning it to the water. Hopefully one day they will make a comeback on the Severn and relive those younger memories!

[EDGEWATER]

Glad you caught some fish today.

Caught a bunch of small ones in the Sassafras yesterday.

I think the Susky is ahead of the Sassafras this year.

Interesting - I did better with plastic as well.

[sparky1423]

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...ngsumbroch.pdf

I found this after reading up on yellow perch patterns. It answers a few of my questions, but some results are still pending.

[J.A. Veil]

[QUOTE=Fishinfool;74885

It is curious because I am told the Susquehanna is the largest single sources of pollution that enters the Bay, and yet that's where the y. perch are.[/QUOTE]

You need to distinguish between concentration of pollutants and mass of pollutants. The Susquehanna has such a large flow that even with low concentrations of pollutants, it contributes a huge mass loading.

[moc]

Good report guys. I plan to play in your back yards in mid to late January.

[Shady]

Thanks for the report, hopefully in a few weeks the BBWs show up...

[Yak Fish]

It was a great day. I didn't mind catching 7" fish on a beautiful Dec day where we'd normally not have the luxury of getting out. After last year's bust, I hope this season shapes up. It was kind of funny on the one keeper that I did find...reeling it up felt like a giant compared to the fish sticks that we were typically catching The one day a year a 10" perch is classified as a giant.

[Striper_MIKE]

Nice sunrise pic. What bridge is that?

[Yak Fish]

Nice sunrise pic. What bridge is that?

That's the Amtrak bridge right at the Jean Roberts launch. The trains run it regularly and are pretty loud...especially when you're right below it!