Blue Hill Teen Bags A Monster White Perch

Over the weekend at the Hancock County Ice Fishing Derby on Branch Lake, a Blue Hill teenager caught what was pretty much a legendary white perch. Which is funny, because Layla Pickering told the BDN that the fish on the end of her line didn't feel like much when she was pulling it up tho the hole.

Especially because the trap was set up for togue. In that case, you leave your bait right on the bottom, and let the fish come to it. One would not assume a white perch would be down so low, but nevertheless, they were.

Actually.... I was pulling it in, and I like to not get my hopes up and everything, so I was like ‘I don’t really feel anything, there’s not that big of a tug.

But the fish she pulled up was 16 inches long and weighed over 2.5 pounds! I don't know about where you fish, but at my camp in Eddington, we might see the occasional 10-12 incher, but Layla's fish is just insane! Unfortunately, it wasn't a state record. That was set in January of 2016 with a weight of almost 3.5 pounds!

Her cousin Connor also pulled in a white perch that day that was almost as big, coming in at just a tad under 2.5 pounds. What are the odds? And where are these fish in the summer time? I'd like to have a tussle with one of those mega-whites on the end of the line.

Still, congrats to Layla. Even though she didn't get a record breaking fish, she did get the biggest white perch in the derby, so she got a $50 prize.