Tell me where the Rotomanu perch have gone......

Surprise surprise, an amazing one. I fished this lake a lot for perch in 2022, the last time in November 22. There was lots of perch as well as quite a lot of fishermen that targeted them. Many Asian guys, Kiwi fathers with their children, or some enthousiast like me that just like to eat perch. They was normally not big, but the odd one got well over 30 cm. They was quite easy to catch on softbait.

And now, April 28th to this moring, April 30st: 1 perch of 30 cm, about 4 greedy small ones almost the size of the softbait... not one fisherman on the lake early morning or at dusk nor during the day. But, quite a lot of shag, shag, not shark! These big black cormorants that eat about 0.5 to 1 kg of fish a day per bird. This morning there was 12 of them hunting. We get them in the thousands in Switzerland and they clan out whole stretches of rivers or smaller lakes. They are a protected species since they was very rare to be seen in the country 10-15 years back!

Lake Rotomanu: Maybe I just got the wrong lures... maybe, I really fish a lot for perch all over the world and in NZ. Being from Switzerland I love these fish. They are the most looked for native fish in our restaurants.... nothing of bony or muddy or whatever a pest fish should be. Here it's a pest, but belive me, dear Kiwi fishermen, it is a very nice to eat pest fish!  Ask the French, Germans, Austrians, Swiss,  etc. in Europe.

Is there anybody in the New Plymouth area that could enlighten me? Well, today we have chicken from Count Down, no perch, for dinner! Hopefully tomorrow some John Dory then!

Cheers Roland