JUMBO Perch Fishing

Well, we have another.... another freshwater fish to be stuffed and mounted on one of our fish walls!  I already gave  away what was supposed to be the climax of the story.  Oops.

Last Wednesday, Eric took a day off of work (it was 40 degrees and a beautiful day, so why not?!?) and went fishing with a few of his work compadres.  They didn't have to travel too far to a place that was [currently] hot for catching jumbo perch.

The slough they fished is man-made and stocked with perch and walleye.  There are plenty of freshwater shrimp to keep the fish fat and happy.  And, it does not have river or lake feeds to invade the area with other species (like white bass or bullheads) that would consume the tasty feeding population.

When Eric got home, there was an "unveiling".  He caught ten beautiful perch, all of which were considered "jumbos".

Ramsey was excited!  He wanted to touch all of the fish.  At one point, he gave one of them a kiss!

The "small ones" were over 12 1/2" long each (and male).

 The big ones (females, full of eggs) were 13 1/2" to 14 1/2" long.

But, the largest fish he caught was just a tick shy of 15".

 We don't have a proud angler perch on either of the "fish walls" currently.  The decision was made that she would be taken to the taxidermist to be preserved, then hung with the rest of the trophy fish.

In the video below, Ramsey didn't shy away from some fish affection:

Ramsey stayed with Eric to keep him company while he cleaned the fish.  They dissected the tummies of the fish to see what they'd been eating.  For the most part, their bellies were rather empty.  One of them had a small minnow inside, still intact, which Eric pulled out.

Ramsey was a bit saddened and disheartened by the small dead fish.  We explained the food chain to him, ya know, in "preschool terms".   And, we all told the fish "thank you for giving your life so that we can eat you" (not that they had much choice in the matter).

And, thank you DADDY for being such a good fisherman (and out-fishing all of his friends - hehe).