Conference wahoo::fishing

    	I can't help you to much with catching technique because I catch
    them through the ice in brackish water.
    
    	As far as cleaning and cooking them, you clean/cook them the same
    way you would yellow perch. I usually pan fry them in butter after
    dipping them in egg and coating them with a 70/30 mixture of seasoned
    bread crumbs and corn meal.
    
    	RAYJ

 If you are willing to go to NH, you can catch billions of them in Lake 
Winnisquam. They are very easy to catch once you find them. During the day
the suspend in 20-40 feet of water; they move towards the shallow water at
dusk. They are very easy to catch; half a nightcrawler can be good for  a half
dozen fish if you set the hook quickly. They are a great fish for kids to
catch.

 The Doctah

I concure with .2 title almost a pest in some areas...

	I grew up on Bantam Lake in Litchfield Ct. It had tons of White Perch
we would catch them off the dock with worms and bread they would be in schools
and a couple of my cousins and I would catch 50 in an hour. We would also 
troll using small Mepps spinner a gold blade with red plastic sleve on the 
treble hook, this was the lure.. we would also use a gold Algia long and 
pick them up with some Pickrel and Bass. 

	The Mepps were 1 and 2 size the Algia a 2. The fish were not big
average 8" and range 5" to 11". Since then the lake has been stocked with Pike
and gotten more polluted. I went last yaer with my gradfather, dad and an 
uncle and we got less than we used to and all small 5" - 7"

	As far as cooking we would clean and scale then roll in flour and 
grill on the BBQ. I only ever did this with fresh fish never tried it with 
frozen. They were very tasty.

Johnny Roach

When we catch them smelting, I do one of two things.  If we cook them on the 
ice (I do both for smelt as well), we fillet and skin them.  Shake them in a
bag of flour, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Pan fry them in
butter on the propane stove in the shack.  Sure does get my appetite going just
thinking about it!!!!

The other trick is to deep fry them in a beer batter.  I also use this to make
onion rings to go along with the fish.

Mix Beer 50-50 with flour (1 cup beer and 1 cup flour will do a LOT of fish).
Add a pinch of baking powder for lighter, fluffier batter (better for the
onion rings).  Let it sit for about an hour in a warm place.  Add a pinch
of salt (add the salt at the end or it will kill the yeast and the batter
won't rise--You need to use cold-fitered beer for this!!).  Mix well.  Dip the
fish in the batter and deep dry until golden brown.  Oil temp should be about
375 F.

I will also use recipe #1 and use bacon grease instead of butter (learned from
the In-Fisherman magazine) when I'm at home.

Mmmm.  Delicious!

Tim

Yeap, Tim's recipe is a good one.  As a matter of fact it has earned him 
the role of chief cook at "Maxshack", the prestigous portable smelt 
restaurant often seen on the frozen tidal rivers off Great Bay, where
the smelt are so fresh that they are still jumping in the pan (even with
head and guts removed!).  And in the unlikely event that the occupants 
are not catching any smelt that day, they are sure to have brought along
a semi-fresh supply of frozen smelt from the previous trip.

Maxshack smelt dinners, one of the few good things about winter!

    I, too, would like to figure these white perch out and be able to catch 
    them. They are great eating and are certainly available in abundance.
    
    We catch them while smelting, and I once caught one on a grub at
    Pawtuckaway by accident while bass'n.
    
    This spring while prefishing for a tournament on Winni I came across a 
    tremendous school of white perch in about 10' of water.  Since I was
    busy looking for smallies I didn't pay them much attention.  I later
    decided to try and catch some while back up there prefishing the day 
    before the tournament.  I brought up a cooler full of nightcrawlers 
    (which got me a few curious glances from guys in my club who were 
    prefishing as well) but the white perch were not where they had been 
    a few days earlier. I didn't take the time to try and find them.
    
    I sure wouldn't mind spending half a day or so at Winni filling up the
    livewell with them.
    
    donmac

    Don,
       Last year I spent a week on Winni with the family, on Long Island.
    In the morning I would go out to the bridge and fish for smallies 
    with great succcess, One day the 3 guys next to me were pulling in 
    these monster white perch one after another,  I mean they were each
    catching about one every 1-2 minute, I guess the lake there has some
    big schools of them.  They were using a #4 hook with a piece of night
    crawler on it and a split shot about 18" up the line.  The old timer 
    there said you can get into a school like that about 2-3 times a year 
    and they are worth the effort.  I caught three on a gitzit that day
    and cooked them up,  they were great,  Here in mass the biggest white
    perch I've seen is about 6-8 long, these were in the 1-2 lb range at
    Winni.  When I first caught one I couldn't figure out what it was
    I never saw one that big, I was all set to start a mystery fish note
    again.  They claim that the next world record W.P. will come from Winni
    soon,  I think it will be over 4 lbs.    
    
    Les

    Just happened to have my copy of 'Freshwater Fishes of NH' with me... 
    
    The NH state record is 3lbs, 18", from Winni in 1965.  The world record 
    is 4lbs 12oz., 19.5", from Maine in 1949.
    
    donmac 
    
    ps: this is a good book and is availabe from NH F&G for $9.95

    Re:8
    
    	Oh $hit, my fishing buddy and I probably ate a few state records and
    possibly even a world record. We hit them smelt fishing one night a few
    years back and filled a 5 gallon bucket with them. They were in so
    thick we wound up throwing back all the ones that weren't over a pound. We
    had a few of them easily in the 4 lb. range. They weren't that long but
    they looked like silver footballs. Being that it was one of the first times 
    we really caught them up there, we thought that was the normal size for 
    them.
    
    	RAYJ

    
            If you like white perch fishing try out the quabbin. I meet up
        with a few older guys yesterday at gate 31. These guys talk 50+
        perch most times thay go out, and there in the 1 /2 lb range.
    
                                                            kiv