That is interesting….Have caught some really big perch there the last couple years there but never thought to check their stomachs to see what they are eating.
Seems to me more and more reports of catching perch on the river in the last few years. Still havent sen or heard of a single perch on pool 2 but then we dont have many zebs up here either.
You should share that info with the DNR. I just read a great article about zeebs in the strib. There seems to be no hope in getting rid of them and they just started showing up in Winni.
Back to the fishing, care to offer any tips on targeting perch on pepin? I’ve never caught one out there but assume you would just get them jigging for eyes. My last 2 trips there were more miss than hit.
I grew up on Pepin and the perch population has exploded and they keep getting bigger. With zeebs found in Winni i wouldnt be too concerned now that i know the perch fill there bellies on them.
they just started showing up in Winni.
They’ve been there for over 5 years… they’re just starting to see numbers now.
From biokids
Zebra mussel larvae have no special defense against predators, but they are so small that only small predators and filter-feeders eat them. The larvae are part of the zooplankton in the water, and pretty much any predator that eats zooplankton eats them. This includes many small fish (including the young of large fish), other zooplankton such as copepods, freshwater Cnidaria like hydras, even freshwater sponges.
Most fish can’t eat zebra mussels because they can’t crush the shells. A few fish species have specialized teeth and jaws that are strong enough to break the shells of mollusks, and some of them do eat zebra mussels. In Europe the roach, is a major predator of zebra mussels, along with bream, and silver bream. Round gobies and common carp, native to Eurasia, have been introduced to North America, and eat zebra mussels where they occur. The black carp is an east Asian species that has been introduced to Europe, and eats zebra mussels there. The pumpkinseed sunfish has been introduced to Europe from North America, and eats zebra mussels on both continents. Besides pumpkinseeds, the several other North American fish eat zebra mussels, including freshwater drums, redhorse suckers, river carpsuckers and smallmouth buffalos.
Some species of waterbirds are important predators of zebra mussels too. These are mostly diving ducks. Species known to feed significantly on zebra mussels include greater scaups, lesser scaups, pochards, tufted ducks, buffleheads, goldeneyes, common coots oldsquaws, herring gulls, and white-winged scoters.
Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) consumed many zebra mussels during a study in the Hudson River. Crayfish, including the northern clearwater crayfish, Orconectes propinquus, may prey on small zebra mussels. (Molloy, et al., 1997; Nalepa and Schloesser, 1993; U.S. Geological Survey, 2008)
I should probably know, but where do they originally come from?
I should probably know, but where do they originally come from?
They come from fisherman not pulling their plugs and cleaning their trailers.
And bears originated from Chicago 
Transferred to the regional for the rest of us to spread via ballast tanks. From where, good question…
I should probably know, but where do they originally come from?
They are native to Southern Russia and Caspian sea if I remember right. Somehow made there way into the great lakes and Pepin in 92.
Caught a nice mess of jumbo perch on Pepin the other day and found it interesting how many zeebra mussels they eat. There stomachs were full of them with most of them being broken down. Evidently the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>perch find them pretty tasty.
I know one thing there are so many zeebs in pool 10 that all the perch in this country could have a feast. Just terrible zeeb numbers here.
Has anyone tried cooking them? Sure they are a lot of work, but we could eat ourselves out of the problem.
Kinda like hummingbird tongues Pug. Takes alot of ’em to fill
ya up !!!!!
Still havent sen or heard of a single perch on pool 2 but then we dont have many zebs up here either.
Mike you have now. I caught one earlier this year up by the Dam. First one I have ever seen out of pool 2.
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