Bill, CJ,
A good friend in Michigan that is a trophy yellow perch aficionado and follows leads all over the state of allegedly monster mounted yellow perch in bars, restaurants etc. sent me this which has the stats on the above big perch. I hope you don't mind CJ.
The BS claims he is referring to are the ones he and I see all the time on the fishing websites with no pictures to back them up. You know like, "I got an 18 inch perch the other day," or "I catch 16 inchers all the time."
Hi Cecil,
I'm always fascinated with giant perch information so I spent some time doing some more internet research. It also provides me with some facts to counter the BS claims of some incredibly large perch (For which there is no proof.)
The elite states who have record perch 3 lbs or heavier are:
1) New Jersey...historical world record.....4 bs 3 oz
No length recorded. Caught in 1865
2) Michigan.....3 lbs 12 oz.....21"...caught in 1947
3) New York....3 lbs 8 oz....no length....caught in1982
4) Maryland.....3 lbs 5 oz....16 1/4"......caught in 2006
5) South Carlolina...3 lbs 4 oz...16 1/2"...caught on 1979
6) Wisconsin....3 lbs 4 oz....no length....caught in 1952.
It's noteworthy that the Michigan record perch is the single recorded perch in any state that was over 17" long. So when one of the chest pounding liars claims someone caught an 18"+ perch I think I'll mention these stats.(LOL) Even the 3lb+ record perch were under 17" long. There's no question that your pond monster would have surpassed the magical 3 lb mark if it had been caught when full of eggs. Here's a very interesting photo of the Maryland record perch.
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/recreational/tournament/staterecords/ypstrecfrshwtr.html
Do ya think she had any eggs in her? Hint; Caught March 12!
