Post By: fishhack Posted: 8/2/2012 10:53:39 PM Points: 130
caught 3 not big but pretty healthy looking fat perch on monday. about 7 inches. anyone know how old that fish might be? fish seal im looking in your direction. told the ranger and they said harvest them as their not supposed to in the lake. i said neither are the rainbows. i think there is plenty of food in that lake and a decent perch population would be food for pike, helping the trout. plus thy are fun to catch and delicious, any thoughts?
Reply by: i2fly Posted: 8/3/2012 11:38:28 AM Points: 264
Yes, the perch have been in spinney for awhile. I personaly don't want them there. I love to fish for big healthy trout. No 7" perch is going to make me jump for joy. I don't care how good they taste. There lots of other places you can go to carch them. Spinney is special due to it's growth rate. Perch will over run the other fish. Soon enough the perch will be be every where and dominate the lake. Soon their sheer numbers will stunt the other species. Your augement is that rainbows are not native, neither the browns or the pike. So cutthrouts only, I'm game. The biologists don't know a thing about the lake's health. Right? Until the Johnny apple seeds that have put them there. Have that degree in biology. Harvest them all! They are not good for the lake's health. I drive 120 miles oneway to catch nice trout. Spinney is one of the few places I can catch a 20"+ fish. "On any given day". I don't want that ruined. Let's let the professionals decide what is in our COLD water fisheries. Just my thoughts. 2fly
Reply by: JKaboom Posted: 8/3/2012 11:43:29 AM Points: 922
This is an instance where this could have very well come from nearby 11 mile.
I have only fished spinney a couple of times but starting to fish it more regularly. I am mostly going after Pike there becauase I love pike and how they fight and how they taste. Trying to also help control the pike population as stated on the signs. I hope to get dialed into them because they are great!!!!
I'm not in favor of poison. That is not an option. But, anyone that feels the way I do maybe we should concentrate our effort. Target the perch for removal. Or at least keep all that are caught everytime. Never release a perch.
Reply by: Browns Hunter Posted: 8/4/2012 11:55:20 AM Points: 3070
A couple years ago, I saw a note from DOW that Perch had never been stocked (officially) in the state. Strictly "Johnny Perch-Seed" efforts. But, they're here and doing quite well. Lakes like Blue Mesa, ElevenMile, and Spinney have them, not just the warmer waters.
If you go digging back thru the older posts, you'll see a number of remarks about Perch in Spinney. Nothing new. Sure wish those pike would do a better job of controlling them!
Reply by: Farmer Brown Posted: 8/4/2012 2:41:00 PM Points: 160
The perch were introduced to take some of the pike predation off the trout so I don't see an issue with them being in the lake. Besides I don't think they're thriving so a lake takeover is not really an impending threat.
"A couple years ago, I saw a note from DOW that Perch had never been stocked (officially) in the state. Strictly "Johnny Perch-Seed" efforts."
The DOW isn't responsible for stocking every body of water in the state. I know of many local ponds and lakes that have perch stocked in them by the city,county, or other managing agencies. Just because the DOW doesn't stock them doesn't mean they are always the result of bucket biology.
Reply by: i2fly Posted: 8/5/2012 3:10:46 AM Points: 264
There was an artical in the paper 5-6 years ago about the perch. They claimed that the perch were indeed clandestine. I believe Charlie Meyers wrote it. Anyway Spinney is state park. The DOW does manage the lake. I've been interviewed by their biologists. Don't you remember all the discussion about the Hoffer Rainbow. Really, and no similar talk about perch. No not buying it. Park co. doesn't have the authority or funds to stock Spinney. Hartsel? Nope my opion they were dumped from a bucket by a selfserving zealot.
Reply by: rebelsportsmanl Posted: 8/6/2012 10:07:18 AM Points: 510
i do not have a biology degree and i doubt many of yall do. in texas the fish cranes and pelicans move them around. is there a chance they were introduced by the large number of pelicans and sea gulls that are on these lake? i really don't see people driving long distances to stock perch in the lakes.
Reply by: tbblom Posted: 8/6/2012 10:20:00 AM Points: 961
I was taught that fish eggs (being sticky) sometimes get stuck in the birds feathers or leg feathers. The birds and the eggs are found in shallows, which is why they get picked up so easily. I was taught that this is how barren lakes get repopulated without human efforts. Not saying that some DB didn't go up there with a bucket, but there are other [natural] methods.
Once i saw the perch in the shallows by the south boat ramp, I put on the closest thing I had to them and quickly hooked a 20-24" pike. Seems like perch are one of their favorite food and there is really nothing we can do to get rid of them. Poisoning is not an option in a lake that size without harming the dream stream below and possibly 11 Mile.
a biologist told me that they appeared in Antero years ago, probably the result of a dumped out minnow bucket with some perch fry in it. When Antero was drained in ...was it 2002? they were then washed into Spinney. I caught one a couple of years ago, and was stunned, and that was what prompted me to ask the biologist. If they do not take over the lake, then it would seem the pike are keeping them in check, which is a nice balance. Food for pike, takes the predator pressure off the trout. Every body wins.
jees some guys need to relax. maybe caught thousands of trout in spinney and 3 perch.im not advocating turning spinney into a perch fishery. although it is cool catching something diffenetnt ocassionaly.anyone whos ever pulled an anchor at the lake and examined the weeds knows theres a lot of food in there.oh and for all you guys saying your not a biologist, you dont know jack, see what happens if you could throw a perch color streamer at night in the shallows. yes trout will eat perch too, and get way bigger than they would on bugs. be more browns.anyway chill out i was just wondering if anyone knew how old a 8 inch perch was.
i know that oc just my attempt at humor. these people start freaking out if theres a few different species in there precious trout fisheries that it makes me crazy.perch make excellent bait fish for a lot of species and will in no way way take over a lake as big as spinney. and no im not a biologist just have common sense.
while fishing for pike I saw a school of perch come by and I threw a small jig and ended up with ten of them before they left. Size ranged from 6" to 9". Had three pike follow with one hitting- got off right at the boat around 24". No big ones today. Water has clear up alot even with the water down. South boat ramp closed
what kind of jig. i kinda thought a chironimd woul be better you know just more realistic. broncos just scored.hey just wondering never fished spinney past aug. 25 due to bow season, does it ever come back to early june status in fall?
fishhack: generally perch aren't real picky. What I've done in the past is to have a 6' rod rigged and ready to go, two tiny jigs on it. Typically 1/64 oz apiece, one brown and one olive. Small tube jigs would also work. And, that's probably what I'll be doing the next time I fish Spinney.
Reply by: BigFishSmallPond Posted: 8/19/2012 12:24:55 AM Points: 0
According to my charts, an 8 inch perch is 4 years old on avg., but may range from 6 to 12 inches depending on conditions. I would assume that 8 inch perch in spinney are 3 year olds due to the abundance of food.
caught a dozen of them yesteday and 10 today. Was fishing for pike with rapalas- perch would circle the lure. Would switch poles to a small gold jig and drop it down on them. We easily saw over a hundred of them today. 4 schools of at least 25- crazy... Now we now why we were doing good with perch rapalas while trolling. Did catch 4 trout and 4 pike today. Fun day. Went to antero and got 7 trout all over 1.5lbs up to three lbs on spoons.
I'm thinking that the perch in Spinney must not grow very fast, or the pike are keeping them in check. If all the reports are accurate, there should be some mighty large perch in there by now and some would have been caught.
I don't think there would be any way to eliminate or even dent the population by strictly fishing for them. They are prolific breeders and one female can produce more offspring than we could catch in a year.
I don't know much about fishing in the south park area, but from the few fish I have caught and seen down there, I have gathered that few living creatures are more stubborn than South Platte Watershed trout. Not many fish are like them. I don't think perch are a positive thing necissarily, but those stubborn SOB's will find a way to make gain. As for pike, they're pike. From my few encounters with pike, I'm pretty sure they would eat a cigar butt that was twitched in the right way. Just my input.
Wow, I dont know that I have ever seen such hatred for perch. There are, as mentioned above, several "natural" ways that the perch could have been introduced. When Paul and I were there, we saw hundreds by the south dock and just tossed out a couple spinner tail jigs a caught some right away.
They are fun to catch too, but more importantly, they will keep the bigger trout and pike fed with great ease. Their reproduction rate will keep those trophy's big. I caught a nice rainbow on a perch patern HD lure, as well as a couple low 20's pike. Paul also got some nice pike on perch lures.
This can be a great benefit. Bottom line, they are there, I saw dozens of trout and pike being caught when I was there and only the couple perch that we purposely tried for when we saw them. The person above was right, if they were "dominating" the lake, we would see some 12" plus perch pulled out becuase of the abundance of food in that lake. The pike and large trout are doing their jobs, they are eating the perch, not each other.
Chill out, and have some fun next time you are out. Keep in mind, A couple years back I saw a 10yr old boy reeling in an 8" perch where I used to live. 2 feet from the dock, a 36" northern came and ate the perch. The bonus, the pike also ate the hook, and that boy caught the biggest fish he had ever caught becuase of that perch.
hey12fly chill out man i didnt put the perch there was judt wondering how old thtey were.i didnt start an argument just wondering. also i dont care about size. just being out catchin a few fish is good for me. dont worry youll be at the same place in 15- 20 tears of catching lots of big fish. evolve man.
