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

While fishing a Mississippi River backwater with Jarrad Fluekiger, Don Dumas, of Green Bay, Wis., caught these yellow perch on March 5. Thanks to improving water quality, aquatic vegetation on the river downstream of the Twin Cities in Minnesota has exploded, and so has the number of big perch. (Photo courtesy of Rutting Ridge Outfitters)

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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