Yellow Perch

                                                               Perca flavescens

                     Length: 6 to 10 inches
                     Weight: 6 to 16 ounces
                     Coloring: bright green to olive to golden brown on back;
                     yellow-green, yellow on sides; grey to milk-white below
                     Common Names: perch, lake perch, American perch
                     Found in Lakes: Michigan, Huron, Ontario, Erie and Superior
 

                 Though capable of adapting to a variety of habitats and water
                 temperatures, yellow perch school near shore, usually at depths
                 less than 30 feet. They feed in the morning and evening, rest on
                 the bottom at night and continue feeding year-round -- to the
                 gratification of ice fishermen.

                 Perch are not scrappy adversaries like trout, but these
                 full-bodied, large-finned panfish are a favorite and relatively
                 easy target for breakwater anglers. Perch are especially esteemed
                 for their "inner qualities" -- a flesh that is white, flakey and
                 delicious.

                 These native fish have also been a mainstay of the lower Great
                 Lakes commercial fishery, particularly on Lake Erie, where 11.3
                 million pounds of perch were landed in Ohio waters alone in 1981
                 But they have never figured highly in Lake Superior's commercial
                 catch. In Lake Michigan, the perch catch averaged a respectable
                 2.4 million pounds a year from the time the first records were
                 kept in 1889 through 1970.

                 But Lake Michigan's yellow perch numbers appear to have decreased
                 80 percent since 1990. The states surrounding the lake have put
                 new regulations on yellow perch fishing. Wisconsin banned
                 commercial fishing for yellow perch in Lake Michigan and cut the
                 daily bag limit to five, beginning Jan. 1, 1997.