Perch might be the most reliable fish in the winter in CT. I really enjoy fishing for big fat yellow perch an abundant white perch where they stack up to overwinter. The biomass can be truly spectacular, with fish at times stacked from top to bottom of the water column. There are a variety of reasons why perch will stack up in certain areas in the winter ranging from escaping dirty water to staging to spawn, but whatever the reason, when you find one perch anytime between early December and late March, it is safe to assume there are hundreds more there. But as fun as it is to catch hundreds of perch and as pretty as they are, perhaps the best thing about finding where perch are stacked up in the winter is that they taste really really good. Eating fish is, in my opinion, an important part of fishing. There is no way to avoid killing fish, even if you are completely catch and release, barbless hooks only, never handling fish for a significant length of time... killing is an unavoidable result of the act of fishing. As such, I believe it is important for every angler to hold a beautiful, living fish in their hand and then take its life. Nobody should completely enjoy the act of killing, as being at least a little uncomfortable with it will make a more ethical angler. Killing shouldn't be glorified, the animal should be glorified, in my opinion. But if you just can't bring yourself to kill a fish, you may want to reconsider ever sticking a hook in one again. A lot of my fishing this winter is going to involve killing fish, and though I don't enjoy the process, I'm very proud of the fact that I'm able to provide meat by my own means. There is little better meat in southern New England freshwater than perch.
The fly that has been providing the meat lately is a very interesting pattern that originated in the backwaters of Southern Georgia. That isn't something that can be said of many flies, but it is true of the Okefenokee Swamp Sally. My friend Mark Alpert gave me one after he took a trip down there this fall and I finally put it to use this weekend. It proved very productive. About 70 fish came to hand, four of which met their demise and provided my lunch.
The fly itself is very simple, with a small butt of red chenille, a yellow chenille body, and yellow hackle wrapped behind the eye then puled back and tied down to form a head of sorts. The Swamp Sally is traditionally fished with a cane pool for warmouth, redear, and fliers, all collectively often called "bream" in the south. They're finding use now here in CT for panfish, and I'm sure would be deadly for brook trout as well.
Until next time.
Fish for the love of fish.
Fish for the love of places fish live.
Fish for you.
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Great tie and what a catch. I ate them when I was a kid. Glad you enjoyed your lunch.
ReplyDeleteTie, fish, write, conserve and photo on...
Thank you.
DeleteIn my days of ice fishing we would often catch some pretty nice yellow perch. We would fillet them the best we could and fry them right on the ice. It was said back then that the only time of year to eat them was winter. I think that flour mixture needs more cayenne.
ReplyDeleteThat yellow fly would get some brookie action.
Just a little old bay an cayenne this time. Maybe next time, crushed pretzels and cayenne....
DeleteI've had a hankering for perch for a while now, have to get off my butt and find a good place near me.
ReplyDeleteGet after them! Not a hard fish to find.
DeleteRM, you got my mouth watering seeing the perch frying up. My Dad and I would target them years ago along with crappie. Mom knew how to fry them to perfection after rolling them in corn meal. Great memories of fishing with Dad and the fish fry afterwards which was greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI got me own mouth watering writing this.
Deleteyou throwing that fly on sinking line? seems bulky to get down to perch depth. In smaller bodies of water it seems perch hug tight to the bottom in winter. My sonar on the ice shows the bottom almost moving and its mostly dink perch
ReplyDeleteNot particularly necessary to get down in this spot, I've caught them on dry flies in the winter.
Deletehttps://flyfishingcts.blogspot.com/2019/03/panicked-perch.html
I've caught and eaten yellow perch. I have yet to catch the white bass white perch.
ReplyDeleteThe perch I caught was in a clean resevoir in MA and it was a solid 12" fish. Very delicious. I ate a large mouth bass too, from the same water the same day, and it was also good! People don't do that, but I did. I was hungry! I can't find a journal entry for it. I was sure I wrote about it, but can't find it!
On the other hand I did write about eating a calico in October 2017.
https://cargocultfishing.blogspot.com/2017/10/i-am-predator.html
People sure do eat black bass.
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