By Dave Webb

(Published August, 2018)

Perch are super-abundant at Fish Lake and the biologists managing the fishery have long pushed to get more people to harvest as many of them as possible. We fished there in late August, 2018, curious to learn if the perch are getting any bigger, and are worth targeting.

Yes, I think they are. Not much longer but the ones we caught were fat and had pretty good slabs to fillet.

Thick weeds extend out from shore in many areas on the lake. The perch like to hide in the woods where they are relatively safe from predators. We had good luck boating out past the weeds and then casting to the edge and allowing our lures to sink. Any small jig tipped with a piece of nightcrawler or meal worm entices bites. Sometimes the bites were aggressive but often it just felt like something stopped the lure's descent.

Perch fillets are excellent fried in butter.

Fish Lake is one of Utah's great places to camp, with several excellent campgrounds offering flush toilets.

Lake trout and splake grow big in the lake but you've got to spend some time learning to catch them. Rainbows are abundant and easy to catch. Now kokanee are doing well in the lake and add a fine sport fish. But perch are the easiest of all to catch and are worth the effort.