01-17-2013, 11:26 PM
[cool][#0000FF]This is Utah. Our lakes are primarily filled and emptied for irrigation purposes...not to maintain fish stocks. And when it comes to angler affect on the perch populations...forget it. No way that anglers can make a significant dent in perch numbers when they are overpopulated. Even when numbers fall after a disease or water level problem there are far fewer perch removed by angling than natural predation and attrition.
The extreme rise and fall of perch populations is almost always a result of water level fluctuations and/or disease die-offs.
Because perch need high water levels in the early spring...with flooded vegetation for spawning...they only bring off a good spawn on an irregular basis. That good spawn may create a huge year class that stunts because of insufficient food for the hordes. The survivors of the poor spawn years are usually the ones that grow bigger. Anglers have very little impact.
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The extreme rise and fall of perch populations is almost always a result of water level fluctuations and/or disease die-offs.
Because perch need high water levels in the early spring...with flooded vegetation for spawning...they only bring off a good spawn on an irregular basis. That good spawn may create a huge year class that stunts because of insufficient food for the hordes. The survivors of the poor spawn years are usually the ones that grow bigger. Anglers have very little impact.
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