Anglers have "no comment" on perch bag limit!

Anglers have ‘no comment' on perch bag
By Mike Moore
Editor
Thursday, March 27, 2008 9:11 AM CDT
Columbus - When it comes to a proposal to reduce the yellow perch bag on Lake Erie, Ohio sport anglers offer a collective “no comment.”

Opinions on the DNR Division of Wildlife's proposal to reduce the daily perch bag from 30 to 25 in the western basin are no doubt out there.

But, you wouldn't know it by the number of comments on the plan received at the Division of Wildlife's public open houses in March. The public comment forums in all five districts and even a sixth this year in Huron produced zero comments on the perch plan.

Ray Petering, the division's administrator for fish management, said he was “somewhat surprised” by the general lull, but he offered a possible explanation.

“We got the word out to a lot of folks up on the north coast early,” Petering said. “I think we were able to convince folks ahead of time that this was the right thing to do in terms of management.”

The division received just 12 comments in total from the six public forums, which were attended by nearly 400 people. Most of the fishing related comments centered on the proposition for a reduced daily muskie bag from two to one and a proposal to lift horsepower restrictions on a handful of lakes, Petering said.

The Ohio Wildlife Council will vote on April 2 on a proposed restriction in the daily perch bag limit from 30 to 25 in waters west of Huron. The proposal keeps the daily bag at 30 in waters east of Huron.

The rule change would also eliminate commercial fishing for perch in the western basin, at least for this year, and move those Ohio operations into the central basin east of Huron.

If approved, the restrictions would go into effect for the commercial fishing industry on May 1 and sport fishermen on July 1.

The daily perch bag on the lake was reduced last year from 40 to 30. Sport anglers, the Division of Wildlife has said, still caught more perch than their allotted quota as set forth by the Lake Erie Committee of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

The proposals are necessary now, fisheries managers contend, because of an anticipated, further reduction in Ohio's perch catch-quota for 2008 and because anglers in the basin exceeded their share of the quota by more than 20 percent in 2007.

i think that it should stay at 30

since campbells lakes and preserve lifted the catch and release
for perch... what lures can i use campbells is a park for the hamilton co
dist

Minnows on a jig or bobber can be good for also try a wax worm by thick weeds

i'll try that