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Yup, perch are part of the Sunfish family, so they count! But I've always found them to be a pain because IMO they are bony. Where I fished for trout and bass, Phillips Reservoir, somebody made an illegal plant of perch and a few years later you can't get a lure down to the bass w/o 6" perch grabbing it. FAIL!!!

I also used to C&R bass, because I fished for them so often and preferred not to have an outsize impact on the bass population. Never really kept the smaller ones, maybe a few, and would release the really big smallmouth and largemouth (caught and released a 5lb, an 8lb, and a 10lb largemouth out of a 12' boat during a foggy morning on Unity Reservoir one June... great trout trolling there too!!!) If I kept any bass to eat (my favorite eating) it was a medium size fish for the population, and pretty easy to fillet. Not as many bones. Don't even clean them, just cut the fillets out.

I miss fishing. Been Jonesing for it lately. Thinking about trading the 5th wheel since the wife cannot help with camping, and getting a Smokercraft or similar. But she won't go fishing either, and I can't leaver her home alone with her mental deterioration causing me to be her caregiver. IDK. Might have to stick to trying to get some shore fishing in next year.

Steelhead fishing on the Lower Grande Ronde (rafting) and the Imnaha (shore fishing) should be good right now. But I'm just not into cold weather fishing anymore. I need an "Easy" button in order to go...

I can do perch real quick. Down the side, with ribs. Flip it and cut from the skin. Over and repeat on the other side. Wifey collects the fillets and cuts the rib cage out.

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That's how I do bass. Our perch are less than half that size... looks like you have a gold star fishery there!!!

That fishery was tough this year. We were completely worn out from jerking perch every day. Get bait down, adjust, hit, jerk. The keepers, 8+", were far and few between. That pick is from 2014/15 when the lake had come back like gangbusters from a 5 year slump. It's starting to wan again now. But we had FUN! :D Toward the end of the three weeks we'd come in early when our arms and shoulders got tired and sit on the deck.

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That fishery was tough this year. We were completely worn out from jerking perch every day. Get bait down, adjust, hit, jerk. The keepers, 8+", were far and few between. That pick is from 2014/15 when the lake had come back like gangbusters from a 5 year slump. It's starting to wan again now. But we had FUN! :D Toward the end of the three weeks we'd come in early when our arms and shoulders got tired and sit on the deck.

View attachment 768958

Great view!!!

Perch seem to overbreed, then all you have is runts until the die off happens and competition for food resource is lessened. At Phillips they have to kill the lake every once in awhile to control the overbreeding of perch and aquarium grasses. I wonder why the bass are not eating enough perch fry to keep the numbers down.

Not sure how it works, but some fish do survive the poison to restart the lake. They also have intense drawdowns that kill off many of the larger fish... used to be able to catch 5lb largemouth in the gold tailings before they started the big drawdowns.
 
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