YELLOW PERCH VOLUNTEER ANGLER SURVEY AND CHOPTANK RIVER UPDATE

Type: Nontidal
Region: All
Location: All

Results from the yellow perch volunteer angler survey (through 2010) are now posted on the website. For those interested please take a look and remember to submit your entries from this spring�s fishing trips. The results can be found at the bottom of this page: http://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/survey/index.asp?page=yellow_perch

We fish 6 fyke nets as part of our routine sampling on the Choptank River between Martinak State Park near Denton to Kingston Landing, a few miles below Tuckahoe River. Yellow perch are mostly done spawning in the upper stretches of the river, but they are still there in numbers. In addition, some ripe females are still being found in our lower nets. White perch are just now coming on and the grade is particularly notable. We generally collect several each day that are between 1 � and 2 pounds. Larger catfish (4+ pounds) are now starting to move, but most noticeable is the amount of small channel catfish that we are seeing. We are collecting scores of 10 � 12 inch channel catfish in most of our nets. This bodes well for the next couple years when these fish will grow to larger size classes.