Jumbo perch are thriving on Minnesota/Wisconsin waters of the Mississippi River

A few years ago, while fishing with my kids on a Mississippi River backwater near Winona, Minn., my dad and I got into a mess of yellow perch, big ones. After an hour of the jumbo frenzy, I asked, “Where’d all these perch come from?”
Fishing the Mississippi in the 1980s, my buddies and I targeted walleyes, northern pike, and catfish, in that order. Panfish were not a priority, and I rarely remember even seeing a perch on the Mississippi or its backwaters.
Thanks to improving water clarity and more vegetation, something amazing happened. Perch rebounded, big time.

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