Sturgeon Bay

I've eaten white perch, they just like a white bass.  

Not sure why but never tried one. They are generally small about 6 inches with the occasional jumbo at about 12 inches. 

Just wondering..  What’s wrong with white perch?  Do you keep any to eat?
I realize they are considered invasive ?..
?

Caught over 50 white perch Saturday by shark fin. Everywhere in a 3x2 mile area. Quit fishing when 3rd time 5 of 6 boards had them. Not 6 of 6 because one was a # 11 

We were perch fishing out of chaudoirs dock a month ago. Every spot was filled with white perch. They would gobble up the bait before anything else could get to it.left with no perch. Must have been thousands down there. 

Caught a couple a few weeks ago by the dam in DePere. Remember catching them occasionally there in the mid-90s too. Don't seem to be infested with them thankfully. I remember a charter trip to Erie in the early 90s when we were catching them almost constantly while fishing for smallmouth. 

To answer my own question, I see White Perch were first noted in the Green Bay / Fox River area in 1988 and are a non-native invasive.

Fished a bit casually on family holiday this past week in the Fish Creek / Eagle Harbor area.  Buddy and I caught two White Perch off Horseshoe Island.  Somewhat remarkably, this is a new add to my species list, but somewhat concerned by the appearance of this adaptive fish in the waters of Green Bay.

Have others caught them in the Bay?  What area?  Newly expanding population, rare one off (twice), or something thats always been around in small numbers?  Thanks for thoughts and experience on this.

Late report fished shore Stone Quarry on 7/15 & 7/16 . Tried crawlers & leeches on slip bobbers , but no success . Fished for couple hours each day around 12-2pm . Saw one 15" smallie caught by the railings, and a bunch of Gobies fed to the Gulls. Did see quite a few Pelicans flying around. Met a couple of fisherman at Nightengale Restaurant in Sturgeon Bay told me they limited out on Walleye while trolling ! As of Saturday 7/22 a 31.9 lb King Salmon was leading the KD Salmon Tournament, And a 31.7 lb king was in second place, both caught off Washington Island . I haven't seen last day report from Sunday 7/23 , but results were finalized supposedly Monday night 7/24. 1st place $15,000 , 2nd place $8,000 and 3rd place was $5,000. This was in addition to paying Daily Port prizes for Big Fish ! Tournament payed prize money all the way down to 23.5 lb., for many kings weighed in ! I was kind pf surprised that the Salmon-O-Rama Fish Contest based in Racine ran at the same time as the KD Salmon Tournament ? Congrats to all winners ! 

Nice fish, Vegas! Yes, sad to see bass getting harvested. Such a jewel for that water. 

I finally got back up to Sturgeon Bay for some fishing.  I had heard that the better bass bite was still up north, but the wind allowed me to go hit Larsen's Reef.  My nemesis.  Feast or Famine.  So....we went to the reef.

Man, I marked a lot of fish up there.  Unfortunately, many looked like sheephead on the images.  My wife pitched some wacky worms, I got out the shiver minnow, hoping for eyes.
And?  Sheepies.  I saw some signatures that looked like walleyes, but they just wouldn't bite.

But....we drifted some nice stretches of the reef and my wife picked off enough smallmouth to make it a fun afternoon on Friday.  She didn't stomp them good, but two to three big bass an hour was good enough.

We went back on Saturday, and there was a lot of weather around us.  We found bass on the first drops on the reef.  We used wacky worms and had fun catching bass.  We'd get a few, then the bait would get hung up, we'd move to get it and then we'd work to find our spot in the wind and then we'd be on fish again.  Not fast and furious, but enough to be interesting.

Bass were all 17-20.5 inchers, though I didn't measure any.  Just good quality fish.  And for everyone that I'd catch?  I'd lose two to three on the way back to the boat.  Fish were going airborn to shake the hook and some just came unpinned fighting deep.  It was weird.

Wind got back so we hit a protected shoreline.  Caught more bass, and lots of them, but they were tiny.  Like 8-10 inchers.  Cute, though.  Then the wind let up and we went back to the reef.  Caught a few more then the really dark sky rolled in and we got out of there.

So...fish are there, you gotta work for them, but they are there.  And?  It wasn't quite time for the eyes to bite just yet.

The disturbing thing was that we saw a group come in to Potawatomi to clean their fish.  Had to be a dozen nice bass on a stringer getting carved up.  Sad.  Next group came in and they filleted about 8 sheepies.

I know the laws and regulation limits for bass, those guys were not over on number of fish, nor were fish to small to keep.  But still, it was sad to see those fish meet their end on a filet knife.

?Here are a couple pics of her with some bass.  These sizes were pretty typical of what we landed.

Almost eary how quiet this thread has been.. I went fishing for SMB in Northern Door area, Egg Harbor and up, on 7/21 and 7/23. On 7/21 I started on offshore structure way out in big water. Water temp was around 70-71 in the open water. I fished reefs and offshore island structure with very minimal success. Moving baits and dropshots are what have worked well for me in years past this time of year in those areas, so I am not sure if the fish were not their, or just did not want my offerings. I attempted to fish in 6 all way to 20 feet, no dice. I then went back inland and fished a point adjacent to a bay opening that has steep drop off from 6-10 feet then another drop a little further out 10-20 feet. Water temp here was around 75. Fish were stacked in 10-12 feet and I ended up catching several fish on back-to-back-to-back casts on moving baits. All fish had 2-3 followers with them. Ended up catching around 20 or so 3-4lbers before calling it a day.

On 7/23 I went right back to the same point I fished 7/21 and the majority of the fish had left. I still managed a handful of good fish, but not nearly the number as two days prior. Just enough to keep myself busy though.

Tight lines. Rippin'

Sturgeon Bay has two bodies of water to fish besides Sturgeon Bay and they are Green Bay and Lake Michigan. You can never go wrong with your choice with over 2 million acres to to fish, even with a tournament or wind. Your selection of fishing platform (boat), electronics, or guide will almost always provide success and world class boating. The only thing preventing you from fun is choice. 
Good luck fishing Surgeon Bay. 

Nice report Vegas!

Great report and insight Vegas!