Days like today are the reason I keep going back! 4 ice trips this year and finally had a great day. What I would consider jumbo perch here in Utah these days is in the 12-13" range. You can weed through hundreds on some lakes and never catch a foot long perch. Today I found a school and they were all big. It was amazing like the old days of Yuba.
I told my friend 10 was our limit and we each had that by 10am. I also landed a 23" brown. Good day.
Now I know the perch limit is 50 on most lakes, except yuba/fish lake, but I have a question for ya'll...if you find that magical school, how many is enough? 50 each?
I get that 50 is the limit so it really shouldn't be a question but when guys are chasing those delectable treats, do you really need to clean the whole school out for yourself?
Let the rants begin-
(i uploaded the pics but can't get them to show up)
I fixed your pics, when posting pic, do not check the inline box unless you follow the full procedure for putting them inline.
Nice Jumbo perch, sure don't see many days like that in Utah, when you luck into a whole school like that. Looks like they were eating eyes[
]. Thanks for sharing your report and pics. Nothing wrong with putting a self limit on the fish you catch, especially when they are that big.
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Maybe I misunderstood your post, not sure why you would believe the rants would begin?
Please explain and maybe we could better help answer your question.
Nice Perch!
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Don't know about rants, but I suppose I'll bite.
When I fish for perch or other panfish, the number I end up keeping is based on how many I feel like filleting after I get home and that number is invariably less than the bag limit and the number I could potentially legally keep. Therefore, what you did seems to me to be quite reasonable.
That said, it has been repeatedly shown that in our Utah lakes, perch populations tend to go up or down due to factors independent of angler harvest and it wouldn't have hurt anything if you had elected to take a few more home.
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Thank you for fixing my pics WH2!
The reason I put the thing about the rants is how many people would do that? Stop fishing for the big perch when they have enough for their needs so someone else can enjoy the experience too? I thought 10 for me and 10 for my friend was enough for a good meal and we'll let others who really love those perchies but struggle to find sizeable ones, enjoy the excitement we had as well.
Catching numbers of big ones is rare here and as soon as I say...we slayed em at this lake, the droves of people show up.
Sorry long winded. Again not judging anyone for enjoying limits but I really want to tell ya'll where I caught them so you can go enjoy them too!
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Great job managing precious resources I like your thoughts.
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I think it's very respectful for you to be courteous enough to stop keeping at a certain spot below the legal limit. I couldn't care less about perch, but I know there are many anglers that love them and would also respect your restraint from keeping a huge bag. Hats off!
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Nice fish fro. I say catch and eat until you decide you have enough for what you can eat. the more you pull out the bigger the others can get. Great job finding the hogs!
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Thanks, love seeing those big perch. What did the ice look like, can I use my atv?
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]My self imposed limit on perch is 30. That's about as many as I want to clean at any one time. That number is good for 3 meals; one fresh and two more later from vacuum sealed bags and frozen. There is absolutely nothing wrong with stopping at more or less perch. You done good![/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][fishin][/#800000][/font]
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Personally, all fish I catch end up back in the water to give someone else a shot.
larry
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I'm that way with trout, but when it comes to perch and crappie, those things are going to end up on my plate!
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Great job!
A self imposed limit is a good thing and makes a person really consider how much is enough for each meal and a freezer meal or two. I probably would have stopped at 15-20 in possession if they were that big just because with my family that would have been 2 meals and then I would have an excuse to go back for more! If I can manage two meals in a fishing trip it makes the trip more economical for me.
Also, thank you for keeping it to yourself about what body of water you got them on......you likely saved yourself a lot of aggravation the next time you went there to fish it by not having a tent city on you fishing hole! You also likely saved a lot more jumbos that way too.
Mike
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