9-4-21 Lake Erie Perch Report
9-4 Lake Erie Perch Fishing Report
Harbor - Conneaut, Ohio
BEST day of perch fishing EVER! We have never perch fished Lake Erie east of the islands and boy did it ruin us for future perch trips 
Launched out of Conneaut Ohio again this morning and had an absolute killer day. Didn't have high hopes since nobody had minnows, so frozen salted shiners it was. Started the day putting on miles to scan for perch and get a feel for the lay of land. Found them scattered between 40-50 ft of water. Most marks were small schools but we found some decent sized schools as well. Our Perch Fly Rigs tipped with half a frozen shiner did the damage. Holographic Shiner and Orange Fire were the colors used today. Most bit with the weight on the bottom and a tight line. First fish of the day was a Fish Ohio 13.5" mega giant. We had never seen a 13.5" perch on the western side of Lake Erie ourselves. The second fish, 13". Third fish, 13.5". To say we were happy was an understatement. In SHOCK was more fitting. We kept opening the cooler to look at them and slapping high fives. They weren't just long fish, they were tall and thick! It would take 4 average size western basin fish to equal one of these. Completely amazed with the size! They were so big that we measured every single one. Only 10 of our 60 measured under 12.5". We had almost 20 that were between 13.5-14". 13" or 13.25" was what most measured on average. We weighed the fillets after we got done cleaning them and with no skin on just the meat was 24.5#! 62# of fish and 24.5# of fillets is just NUTS! Can you tell that we are still shocked? Hard bottom areas did better than soft bottom. When the bite died for more than 10 minutes we moved. Perch were puking up water fleas like mad. Best bites for us were between 9-11am and then again from 1pm-2pm. Light bites with an occasional good "thump". Bright bluebird skies and light south winds made for a beautiful weather day as well. Also noting that this was following a NE blow 2 days prior. 77 degree water. This trip will never be forgotten and will go down in our personal record books! Good luck out there!
Launched out of Conneaut Ohio again this morning and had an absolute killer day. Didn't have high hopes since nobody had minnows, so frozen salted shiners it was. Started the day putting on miles to scan for perch and get a feel for the lay of land. Found them scattered between 40-50 ft of water. Most marks were small schools but we found some decent sized schools as well. Our Perch Fly Rigs tipped with half a frozen shiner did the damage. Holographic Shiner and Orange Fire were the colors used today. Most bit with the weight on the bottom and a tight line. First fish of the day was a Fish Ohio 13.5" mega giant. We had never seen a 13.5" perch on the western side of Lake Erie ourselves. The second fish, 13". Third fish, 13.5". To say we were happy was an understatement. In SHOCK was more fitting. We kept opening the cooler to look at them and slapping high fives. They weren't just long fish, they were tall and thick! It would take 4 average size western basin fish to equal one of these. Completely amazed with the size! They were so big that we measured every single one. Only 10 of our 60 measured under 12.5". We had almost 20 that were between 13.5-14". 13" or 13.25" was what most measured on average. We weighed the fillets after we got done cleaning them and with no skin on just the meat was 24.5#! 62# of fish and 24.5# of fillets is just NUTS! Can you tell that we are still shocked? Hard bottom areas did better than soft bottom. When the bite died for more than 10 minutes we moved. Perch were puking up water fleas like mad. Best bites for us were between 9-11am and then again from 1pm-2pm. Light bites with an occasional good "thump". Bright bluebird skies and light south winds made for a beautiful weather day as well. Also noting that this was following a NE blow 2 days prior. 77 degree water. This trip will never be forgotten and will go down in our personal record books! Good luck out there!
