A jumble of jumbo perch and history

With the perch being caught on southern Lake Michigan in recent weeks, there’s also been some giant jumbos caught with some history jumbled in.

Jim O’Neil holds a pair of jumbo perch caught off downtown Chicago last week. Provided photo — Jim O’Neil holds a pair of jumbo perch caught off downtown Chicago last week.

For some folks fishing perch the last month on southern Lake Michigan, from Indiana to downtown Chicago, it’s a jumble of jumbos and history.

On Nov. 25, Bill Bercik, 87, caught a 15 1/2-inch perch on a Whiting/Robertsdale Boat Club outing in Indiana. Perch America member John Rokosz said it weighed 1 pound, 8 ounces at the club.

Rokosz said Bercik, a retired dentist in Whiting who caught numerous notable jumbos in his life, typically sticks with 8-pound monofilament line with flies he tied and minnows.

Bill Bercik holds a jumbo yellow perch caught at Gary Light late last month. Provided by John Rokosz — Bill Bercik holds a jumbo yellow perch caught at Gary Light late last month.

Bercik’s dad William was a mayor of Whiting. When he died of of a heart attack on a fishing trip in northern Wisconsin in 1957, Bercik’s mother, Mary, was appointed mayor. She ran in the next election and became the first woman elected mayor in Indiana, according to the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society. Bercik’s brother Robert also served as a mayor of Whiting.

As befits someone with interests in outdoors and politics, Bercik is an avid Sun-Times reader.

Then Jim O’Neil, who does the restarted “Midwest Outdoors Podcast,” texted last week, “Catching some of the biggest jumbos we’ve seen in a minute.”

They were catching handfuls of perch of 13 to 15 inches fishing off downtown Chicago.

The topper came when his “buddy Mitch Cohan [caught] a Fish of the Week, if not Year.”

It measured 15.75 inches and weighed 2 pounds.

Mitch Cohan with a 2-pound yellow perch caught off downtown Chicago. Provided by Jim O’Neil — Mitch Cohan with a 2-pound yellow perch caught off downtown Chicago.

“[Cohan] was my first student at Marist when I was an assistant coach at Marist as a college student,” O’Neil texted.

Cohan, who comes from Mt. Greenwood, “Loves perch fishing,” according O’Neil. “We are catching them all on artificials: Spoons, jigs, blades, and plastics, no live bait.”

Yellow perch records are some of longest standing in both Indiana and Illinois.

Roy Burkel Jr. caught Indiana’s record (2 pounds, 8 ounces) in 1981 from a Vigo County gravel pit. Joe Grega caught the Illinois record (2-8.75) on Jan. 5, 1974 from the old Arrowhead Club Lake in Will County.

Illinois hunting

When preliminary harvest totals come for the overall firearm deer season, I will post at suntimes.com/outdoors. Muzzleloader season is Friday to Sunday.