An angler dangled a triple header he caught on yellow perch this week!

BY MARK CAHLIK

Perch, perch, and more perch has been the story this week around Western Lake Erie and the Lake Erie Islands.

The yellow perch fishing in July and August has not seemed to slow at all, as it has in years past. It used to be that we only would enjoy a couple of weeks in before it shut down.

Most of the fish cleaning houses in the Port Clinton area in recent weeks have been very overwhelmed with the hot perch bite this year. A lot of the shops have had to stop taking fish all together on certain days, especially on the weekends.

Fishermen are still catching the tasty panfish from the Toledo area all the way to the Kelleys Island area. Green Island seems to be the hot spot again this week. We are not hearing a bunch about the spiny water fleas this year, either.

Emerald shiner minnows are the preferred bait right now, but many anglers are telling us it does not seem to matter if they dunking sparkling little Emerald Shiners or Golden Shiners. Both of the baits are producing limit catches.

The walleye bite that’d been so good out by the weather bouy on the Canadian border of Lake Erie had slowed during the second part of the week. Charter captains are still reporting catching fair numbers of walleye, but the rapid success has slowed. Fishermen are still using worm harnesses  to catch them.

With the slowdown on walleyes, most charters as well have switched to perch fishing this past week. Customers are happy about catching their limits, and charters are happy they are not running that far to find fish.

There are not many channel catfish being caught right now from the shore areas. It seems the cats, especially the big ones, have moved to deeper water. The catfish charters are still going good, though. They are catching smaller fish but limits.

If you are wanting some Lake Erie yellow perch for a weekend fish fry, now is the time to come fishing around Western Lake Erie.