Is it a perch or a walley?

[MNcz]

Hey,

all summer i caught many, and successfully managed to not gut hook or kill any, what i THOUGHT were maybe immature walleye. today i was on the cell phone and not paying close enough attention to the line, and this little guy really swallowed my hook good. when he floated back up to the surface after i chucked him back in (pier fishing) i plucked him out like they want you to, and i eat every fish i take home, so i guess i'll look at some perch recipes.

so... how do you really know? it had the "tiger stripes." does this mean it was a perch?

[fishinfey8]

Perch.

[PerchJerker]

That is a perch.

Young walleyes are long and slender, no stripes, white on the bottom and brown on the back. They have very noticable teeth, the typical white tip at the bottom of the tail, and the typical black splotch at the base of the dorsal fin.

Perch are excellent eating, I like them fried to the point of almost being crispy. Not too different eating from walleyes, although walleyes have a bit flakier meat, and I don't cook them quite as long. It's hard to tell in your photo how big that perch is, but 5-10 of those guys would make a dandy fish fry for a couple of people.

[MNcz]

ah joy :> good i hate killing baby walleyes, and thus far managed not to that means! thX for the identification

oh 7" is all. it's a weener.

[BobT]

Perch are every bit as good as walleyes. Actually they are part of the same family of fish. The only thing about perch that I don't like is they tend to get wormy during the warm water period but otherwise good eating.

[NWBuck]

Perch for sure.

[reinhard1]

definatly a perch but it is a long and slender one. good luck.

[8-Ball]

Perch no doubt.