Insane Perch Fishing at Pineview

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[quote Ticklestick]Not being harsh, but when the fish are that deep you might as well keep them all.

Catching them at those depths blows up their air bladders and they die even if they swim away.[/quote][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]First, congratulations to Cowboy & Cookie. Always nice to see successful fishing reports. I got a text from a friend stating similar results on Pineview from yesterday.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]Now, I’m going to voice an opinion that will not be very popular and probably garner some less than civil comments. I can handle it. [][/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]Perch in Utah are almost an unmanageable fish species. They have been in the past, are today, and will be in the future, a boom or bust population. It matters not how many you catch and keep, it is not possible to completely eliminate them from a body of water from fishing. They are just too prolific.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]That’s one of the reasons the DWR increased the daily limit from 20 to 50 a few years ago. Idaho has NO limit on them state wide. The daily limit in Wyoming is also 50.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]Releasing perch brought up from over 35 will likely have an inflated air bladder. Releasing them immediately (say, within 10 seconds) will likely see them swim back towards the bottom. Some WILL die. But there is absolutely NO valid studies that say the mortality rate is 100%.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]So releasing perch brought up with an inflated air bladder may, or may NOT, actually kill that individual fish. So what? What is the real downside to having a few perch die? I know for a fact that other fish feed on yellow perch and have seen rainbow trout swim by my fishing hole in the ice and eat a 4 inch yellow perch that could not get back down to depth and was visible just to the side of the hole still moving its gills. The ones that don’t survive can and do become sustenance for other fish.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]The bottom line for me is that releasing a fish that may die from being caught and brought to the surface will not go to waste. It will in all likelihood be consumed by some other fish, bird, or mammal.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]I will not keep any yellow perch under 8”. Any under that length will be released as fast as possible and over 90% of them immediately swim back towards the bottom. Some will die; some won’t. I have no problem with that at all.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]I also don’t have any problem with anybody else not releasing any fish they catch because they may die anyway. I do believe that the oft stated myth that any perch caught with an inflated air bladder will die if released is just that – a myth. There is no hard evidence that will support that myth. Keep them or release them; it will not matter at all to the overall general population of this fish species in Utah.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]That’s it. I’m done with it. And just so you know Ticklestick, my comments above were not meant to demean or disrespect you in any way, shape, or form.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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