Hamburg Cove Perch, Record Journal, Mike Roberts

• One of the biggest attractions of March is the eagerly awaited reports of ice out and some open water fishing in some of the coves on the Connecticut River, especially Hamburg Cove down in Old Lyme. Although perch numbers have tailed off in the last twenty years or so, the coves on the Connecticut River can still provide some early spring fishing for fishermen hardy enough to stand the varied weather changes of March. Like I said, she is a fickle lady.
• Hamburg Cove is probably one of the best-known spring perch fisheries on the Connecticut River and is best fished out of a cartop boat or canoe, simply because there is no boat launch for larger, motor driven craft at Hamburg. Parking is also somewhat limited. If you use a larger boat such as a bass boat you will probably have to launch at Salmon River and then travel downriver to Hamburg. This time of the year, the Connecticut River can be a treacherous piece of water. It goes without saying, that any fisherman on the water, especially this time of the year should be wearing a P.F.D. (life jacket).
• Tossing a jig at the white perch is a favorite ploy of many of the white perch fishermen at Hamburg Cove and generally the jig is chartreuse in color. However, I have caught them on the Blakeslee Roadrunner and on cast masters preferably in silver. Be aware of one thing though. When the perch do come in, they come in schools. Many times the schools are so thick that it is virtually impossible to cast a lure without foul hooking a white perch. By law, any white perch that is foul hooked has to be returned back to the water unharmed. If you keep a foul hooked perch and get caught, you are going to lose your fishing license and pay a fine.
  

2 - 3 Garbage cans of perch!

There was a time, many years ago, that Hamburg Cove had a run of perch, both yellow and white, that you could not help but catch all you could ever want. However, greediness among many of those that fished for the white perch and an unwillingness of those in charge of our natural resources to recognize that such a resource could run out resulted in a dramatic decline in white perch fishing success. They became a, "now they are here, now they are not," fishery much to the dismay of those who enjoyed fishing for them.
Those in charge refused to put a limit on the white perch saying that the stock was more than adequate for the fishing pressure on them. When they were running, it was nothing for some sports to fill up a garbage can or two of white perch. Hey there were not limited to their creel limit, so they felt, "Why not?"
It seems odd that no one at that time, especially those in charge of the white perch fishery, realized that many of the fish being taken were egg-bearing females that had yet to spawn. Their bellies were filled with eggs that would never see reproduction. I was in my learning years as an outdoor writer, and when I contacted officials in charge back then (the 1980s) I was told not to worry, the white perch fishery would NEVER be in jeopardy. Sad to say, they were wrong.
Today with stringent limits on much of our fisheries including white perch on the Connecticut River and its tributaries, (7 inch size limit and a 30 fish creel limit), some of you younger fishermen might wonder what in the world would anyone do with garbage cans of white perch. It was simple-they sold them! Actually they sold the fillets, sometimes for a dollar a pound. To many of the river fishermen this was big money. When I queried the state officials about this practice, I was told, "They aren't supposed to do that, it's illegal". I told them that I knew that, and when I asked them why they did not impose a limit that would take away the marketability of such a practice, they pooh-poohed the idea and suggested that I write about other outdoor matters.
My favorite fish tale regarding the white perch fishery regards one of the old time river fishermen I ran into at Hamburg Cove when I was a heck of a lot younger. I would help him put his old rowboat into Hamburg Cove during the white perch run.
He complained, "I don't know what's happening to the white perch, but it isn't as good as it used ta be." I asked what he meant and he replied, "Why heck Mistah, I used to fish here for white perch and some days I would fill as many as three or four garbage cans of perch!"
When asked what he did with them his reply carried with it an innocence of not having an idea as to where I was going with my questions. "Why I'd fillet them and sell them by the pound. And I even had a market for the roe (eggs) in them because a lot of them were females."
While I was appalled at his ignorance on what he had done, I was touched by the fact that this old fisherman had seen a time in his life that fish were so plentiful, no thought was ever given to the fact that they could run out. When I asked him how he expected the white perch to propagate when he was selling the egg-bearing females by the garbage can, he simply looked at me with a vacant stare. He had not a clue.
Thankfully, our newer generation of fisheries biologists and managers have a better handle on what is going on. Our Universities are more knowledgeable on what is going on and it shows in much of the fish management although there are still many who don't feel this way. For my money the 30 fish limit on white perch with a 7-inch limit in the Connecticut River and its coves is one of the most positive steps taken in white perch management. Granted, it still has a long way to go, but given the time I feel it will yield positive results.