Like many of you, I’ve caught a lot of white perch, by far more than any other Bay species. Oddly enough, my two biggest whites on hook-and-line came on back-to-back days last December, when that stretch of unseasonably warm air had us fishing in short sleeves. Both perch were pulled from the lower Chester River, just a couple of miles apart—one went 14.25 inches; the other measured 13.75 inches. Both hit small (3/4 ounce) chartreuse metal jigs. They tasted delicious.
I mention this because you’d be hard pressed to find a more accommodating and abundant Chesapeake finfish. From the spring run in the Upper Bay reaches to the deep holes in the Chesapeake’s main stem, and all the docks and structure in between, white perch support one of the most important recreational and commercial fisheries in Maryland. According to the state’s Department of Natural Resources’ Fisheries Service, white perch consistently rank in the top 10 for commercially valuable finfish in landings.
Most perch grow only to 10 inches long and almost always weigh less than one pound. With a slightly projecting lower jaw, they don’t have much in the way of sharp teeth. The spines on their dorsal fin, however, can give a good, skin-breaking jab to the inattentive angler. They aren’t fast swimmers and are rather deliberate and on the small side, as far as predators go. So are their food preferences—mainly minnows, as well as aquatic insects and crustaceans.
True, their colors don’t pop like a spotted seatrout, but they’re a pretty fish in a subtle way. Hues of silver, green, and gray along their body complement their white bellies and blackish backs. (Especially large and meaty white perch are often called “black backs.”) Not only do we humans eat these relatively smallish fish, but so do stripers, bluefish, and weakfish, as well as some birds.
White perch are true homebodies, believed not to venture out of the tributary of their birth. And since biologists think each Chesapeake river system has its distinct white perch population, this in part makes white perch semi-anadromous, meaning the adults spend most of their time in the brackish waters of the lower rivers and Bay. Then when it’s time to spawn, they swim back into the freshwater reaches where they were born. This spawning run usually happens by late March, though not all at once, usually in pulses. Adult fish, after completing their reproductive dance, return downstream while the juveniles keep to the shallows where they grow throughout summer and fall, eventually migrating to more brackish waters. It is believed white perch can live as long as 17 years.
Given the importance of these temperate bass, cousins to striped bass, no Chesapeake Bay Fishery Management Plan (CBFMP) for white perch has been formally adopted. But apparently they don’t require one since in 1990 Maryland created a draft FMP, and that framework—which includes goals and objectives, management strategies, and economic perspective—is what still guides state fishery managers today.
This spring I tagged along with DNR biologists conducting net surveys in the upper Choptank. Judging by the fyke nets bursting with white perch, it’s easy to believe the population is in good shape. Realizing that one day doesn’t tell the whole story, it was still a compelling snapshot of the fish’s current status. Couple that with the fact that the species is considered relatively resilient to both fishing pressure and environmental factors that impact spawning success, it is all the more reason why the white perch is one great Bay fish.
by Capt. Chris D. Dollar
Favorite Relative: Striped bass
Show Me the $$: Annually worth more than $1 million (commercial wholesale, dockside).
Sportin' Side: Rec anglers caught nearly 900,000 pounds and released an estimated 6.2 million fish (2013 figures). Sport anglers in the Upper Bay accounted for, on average, 61 percent of the Bay-wide recreational harvest from 2012-2013.
Chesapeake Record: 2.62 pounds, Sid Stollings, in 1979 in Dundee Creek.
Atlantic Record: 1.65 pounds, Ryan Timmons, July 2016 in Ayers Creek (Coastal Bays).
Non-tidal Record: 1.74 pounds, James Stiars, August 2016 in Loch Raven Resovoir.
Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - 08:30
Morone americana
Like many of you, I’ve caught a lot of white perch, by far more than any other Bay species. Oddly enough, my two biggest whites on hook-and-line came on back-to-back days last December, when that stretch of unseasonably warm air had us fishing in short sleeves. Both perch were pulled from the lower Chester River, just a couple of miles apart—one went 14.25 inches; the other measured 13.75 inches. Both hit small (3/4 ounce) chartreuse metal jigs. They tasted delicious.
I mention this because you’d be hard pressed to find a more accommodating and abundant Chesapeake finfish. From the spring run in the Upper Bay reaches to the deep holes in the Chesapeake’s main stem, and all the docks and structure in between, white perch support one of the most important recreational and commercial fisheries in Maryland. According to the state’s Department of Natural Resources’ Fisheries Service, white perch consistently rank in the top 10 for commercially valuable finfish in landings.
Most perch grow only to 10 inches long and almost always weigh less than one pound. With a slightly projecting lower jaw, they don’t have much in the way of sharp teeth. The spines on their dorsal fin, however, can give a good, skin-breaking jab to the inattentive angler. They aren’t fast swimmers and are rather deliberate and on the small side, as far as predators go. So are their food preferences—mainly minnows, as well as aquatic insects and crustaceans.
True, their colors don’t pop like a spotted seatrout, but they’re a pretty fish in a subtle way. Hues of silver, green, and gray along their body complement their white bellies and blackish backs. (Especially large and meaty white perch are often called “black backs.”) Not only do we humans eat these relatively smallish fish, but so do stripers, bluefish, and weakfish, as well as some birds.
White perch are true homebodies, believed not to venture out of the tributary of their birth. And since biologists think each Chesapeake river system has its distinct white perch population, this in part makes white perch semi-anadromous, meaning the adults spend most of their time in the brackish waters of the lower rivers and Bay. Then when it’s time to spawn, they swim back into the freshwater reaches where they were born. This spawning run usually happens by late March, though not all at once, usually in pulses. Adult fish, after completing their reproductive dance, return downstream while the juveniles keep to the shallows where they grow throughout summer and fall, eventually migrating to more brackish waters. It is believed white perch can live as long as 17 years.
Given the importance of these temperate bass, cousins to striped bass, no Chesapeake Bay Fishery Management Plan (CBFMP) for white perch has been formally adopted. But apparently they don’t require one since in 1990 Maryland created a draft FMP, and that framework—which includes goals and objectives, management strategies, and economic perspective—is what still guides state fishery managers today.
This spring I tagged along with DNR biologists conducting net surveys in the upper Choptank. Judging by the fyke nets bursting with white perch, it’s easy to believe the population is in good shape. Realizing that one day doesn’t tell the whole story, it was still a compelling snapshot of the fish’s current status. Couple that with the fact that the species is considered relatively resilient to both fishing pressure and environmental factors that impact spawning success, it is all the more reason why the white perch is one great Bay fish.
by Capt. Chris D. Dollar
Favorite Relative: Striped bass
Show Me the $$: Annually worth more than $1 million (commercial wholesale, dockside).
Sportin' Side: Rec anglers caught nearly 900,000 pounds and released an estimated 6.2 million fish (2013 figures). Sport anglers in the Upper Bay accounted for, on average, 61 percent of the Bay-wide recreational harvest from 2012-2013.
Chesapeake Record: 2.62 pounds, Sid Stollings, in 1979 in Dundee Creek.
Atlantic Record: 1.65 pounds, Ryan Timmons, July 2016 in Ayers Creek (Coastal Bays).
Non-tidal Record: 1.74 pounds, James Stiars, August 2016 in Loch Raven Resovoir.
Like many of you, I’ve caught a lot of white perch, by far more than any other Bay species. Oddly enough, my two biggest whites on hook-and-line came on back-to-back days last December, when that stretch of unseasonably warm air had us fishing in short sleeves. Both perch were pulled from the lower Chester River, just a couple of miles apart—one went 14.25 inches; the other measured 13.75 inches. Both hit small (3/4 ounce) chartreuse metal jigs. They tasted delicious.
I mention this because you’d be hard pressed to find a more accommodating and abundant Chesapeake finfish. From the spring run in the Upper Bay reaches to the deep holes in the Chesapeake’s main stem, and all the docks and structure in between, white perch support one of the most important recreational and commercial fisheries in Maryland. According to the state’s Department of Natural Resources’ Fisheries Service, white perch consistently rank in the top 10 for commercially valuable finfish in landings.
Most perch grow only to 10 inches long and almost always weigh less than one pound. With a slightly projecting lower jaw, they don’t have much in the way of sharp teeth. The spines on their dorsal fin, however, can give a good, skin-breaking jab to the inattentive angler. They aren’t fast swimmers and are rather deliberate and on the small side, as far as predators go. So are their food preferences—mainly minnows, as well as aquatic insects and crustaceans.
True, their colors don’t pop like a spotted seatrout, but they’re a pretty fish in a subtle way. Hues of silver, green, and gray along their body complement their white bellies and blackish backs. (Especially large and meaty white perch are often called “black backs.”) Not only do we humans eat these relatively smallish fish, but so do stripers, bluefish, and weakfish, as well as some birds.
White perch are true homebodies, believed not to venture out of the tributary of their birth. And since biologists think each Chesapeake river system has its distinct white perch population, this in part makes white perch semi-anadromous, meaning the adults spend most of their time in the brackish waters of the lower rivers and Bay. Then when it’s time to spawn, they swim back into the freshwater reaches where they were born. This spawning run usually happens by late March, though not all at once, usually in pulses. Adult fish, after completing their reproductive dance, return downstream while the juveniles keep to the shallows where they grow throughout summer and fall, eventually migrating to more brackish waters. It is believed white perch can live as long as 17 years.
Given the importance of these temperate bass, cousins to striped bass, no Chesapeake Bay Fishery Management Plan (CBFMP) for white perch has been formally adopted. But apparently they don’t require one since in 1990 Maryland created a draft FMP, and that framework—which includes goals and objectives, management strategies, and economic perspective—is what still guides state fishery managers today.
This spring I tagged along with DNR biologists conducting net surveys in the upper Choptank. Judging by the fyke nets bursting with white perch, it’s easy to believe the population is in good shape. Realizing that one day doesn’t tell the whole story, it was still a compelling snapshot of the fish’s current status. Couple that with the fact that the species is considered relatively resilient to both fishing pressure and environmental factors that impact spawning success, it is all the more reason why the white perch is one great Bay fish.
by Capt. Chris D. Dollar
Favorite Relative: Striped bass
Show Me the $$: Annually worth more than $1 million (commercial wholesale, dockside).
Sportin' Side: Rec anglers caught nearly 900,000 pounds and released an estimated 6.2 million fish (2013 figures). Sport anglers in the Upper Bay accounted for, on average, 61 percent of the Bay-wide recreational harvest from 2012-2013.
Chesapeake Record: 2.62 pounds, Sid Stollings, in 1979 in Dundee Creek.
Atlantic Record: 1.65 pounds, Ryan Timmons, July 2016 in Ayers Creek (Coastal Bays).
Non-tidal Record: 1.74 pounds, James Stiars, August 2016 in Loch Raven Resovoir.