MANITOWOC – When customers settle into their chairs at Late’s BBQ and open up the menu, many are hoping to see perch.
Instead, manager Todd Tikalsky says they often have to settle for bluegill or shrimp.
“Our customers love their yellow lake perch,” Tikalsky said. “But it’s just so hard to come by right now.”
He works with three or four vendors who try to get him lake perch whenever they can. But while the popular fish still is being caught from the bay of Green Bay off Lake Michigan, Canadian fishers aren’t catching much in lakes Erie and Ontario.
“I don’t even have perch on the menu anymore — it’s just a special,” Tikalsky said. “If my suppliers can get me some, it’s a case, which is 11 pounds. That will sell out in a day; and if it’s Friday, that will sell out in an hour.”
Why yellow perch is hard to find at Manitowoc restaurants
Paul LeClair, co-owner of Susie Q Fish Company in Two Rivers, said much of the perch sold to restaurants in the area is caught by Canadian fishers in the upper Great Lakes. He still gets some yellow perch caught in the bay of Green Bay for his current customers, but said Susie Q won’t offer perch to anyone new right now.
The annual catch total in the bay of Green Bay has increased every year since 2021. It remains low but steady, according to data from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The DNR also reported that 3.1 million pounds of commercial yellow perch were caught in Lake Erie in 2025. Ten years earlier, the total catch was more than 7 million pounds.
Experts say Lake Michigan’s deeper waters may be more resilient against some of the possible reasons for declines in lakes Erie or Ontario.
LeClair said one thing causing the decline could be the number of walleye eating the perch.
“Walleye will eat anything,” he said. “You have the predator fish and the fish they eat, and if that balance is off, you’ll see a decline in certain fish populations.”
Why Late’s BBQ won’t use substitute perch
Tikalsky said vendors attribute the shortage to a number of issues, such as the walleye, invasive species such as zebra and quagga mussels, as well as algal blooms and dead zones in the shallower and warming waters of Erie and Ontario.
One vendor told Tikalsky it’ll be about four months before perch supplies improve. The other three aren’t making predictions.
For customers, that means perch may be available only as a limited special and could sell out quickly when Late’s BBQ can get it. He said he won’t try substitutes.
Yellow perch from the Great Lakes is the highest quality, Tikalsky said. When supplies cratered five or six years ago, he tried European perch to satisfy customers looking for their favorite fish during the Lenten season.
Late’s offers other fish entrees, such as bluegill and shrimp.
“A lot of regulars said the replacement perch was not nearly as good,” Tikalsky said. “They said they could taste the difference, and they didn’t like the European perch. It took quite a while to get those regulars to come back. We have so many customers who are traditionalists.”
Tikalsky added, “If we can’t get yellow lake perch, we won’t serve perch.”
Late’s is at 1924 S. Ninth St. and is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays, 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The restaurant also recently started accepting credit and debit cards. Contact the restaurant at 920-682-1539.
Contact reporter Patti Zarling at pzarling@usatodayco.com or call 920-606-2575.
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Why yellow lake perch is vanishing from Manitowoc menus | Exclusive
Reporting by Patti Zarling, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter / Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Patti Zarling, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter | USA TODAY Network
