Pacemaker Fishing Forum

In the next few weeks the yellow perch fishing is going to bust loose at Allens Fresh. I project March 9-12 as peak based on my years of fishing there and collecting eggs when we did our yellow perch restoration project, but that is just my guess! One thing that I have learned from my research and experience, these fish have a biological clock that will trigger the run! According to DNR biologists, length of day is a huge factor as to when the run occurs, more so that any other. Add a warming trend to these days and and it is on for sure!

For years this spawning run would herald the beginning of the fishing season in the Washington DC region, and outdoor sports writers like C. Boyd Pfiefer, Gene Mueller, Bill Burton and Angus Phillips would give this event a lot of press. Well folks, it is right around the corner! With the new re-allocation of fish between commercial and recreational, we have a larger creel limit for recreational anglers of 10 fish per person. This year is shaping up to another good one! And remember, right after the yellow perch run, up come the white perch.

I wanted to start this thread for all to post on their success as the days go by so we can use this board for what it is suppose to be - an information exchange.

The fishing always start with the fish staging in deeper downstream holes like the Cedars, where tin boat anglers, canoes and yak fisherman have at 'em first. Some days the fish move onto the mud flats in 2-3 feet of water where it is a tad bit warmer. Later the big schools start running past the bridge and the wader and bank fisherman have their chance. During the height of the run, some anglers will go as far as they can upstream by boat, walk another mile or two and fish them like trout in a stream. It all starts and ends in about 2 weeks with 3-4 days were it really peaks. Some guys have favorite darts, others swear by curly tails, but can anything beat a bull minnow under a bobber? Almost all of these fish have little "mud crabs" in their stomach indicating they feed on downstream oyster bars before moving upstream.

Interesting yellow perch fun facts:

- Yellow perch use to outnumber white perch in the Chesapeake Bay.

- These fish are in almost every lake in river from the Artic Circle south to the Great Lakes. The Chesapeake strain are left overs from the glacial age and are the only estuarine based population other than a system in Russia.

- Yellow Perch are like salmon and are "imprinted" with the river of their birth. Restocking adults into different river systems results in failure as they spend the rest of their life trying to get back to their native river. Fish need to be stocked as fry when re-establishing new populations so they believe that the stocked river is home.

- Yellow Perch are a highly evolved fish evidenced by the fact that they lay their eggs in strands like amphibians.

- Yellow Perch in Maryland where often referred to as the "Peoples Fish" earlier in history. The commoner had easy access to bountiful runs each spring. At the turn of the century, fish fry's in Southern Maryland at church's and fire halls all featured fresh Yellow Perch.

- The majority of Yellow Perch that are caught commercially in Maryland are sent to the Midwest for fish fry's!

So here's to another yellow perch season! Will anyone catch a 14" citation this year? Will some rockfish roll up the Fresh to add the thrill to our 4 lb ultralight outfits? How many pickeral will you catch and release? Will the crappie or bass be there this year or not?

So post your reports here for this annual run of the colorful panfish! And get your rods ready and I'll see ya at The Fresh!