How far do perch migrate over a year?

On an inland lake, the annual loop — wintering basin, to spawning bays and river mouths at ice-out, to summer weed flats, back to the basin in fall — may total only a few kilometers (a couple of miles), with the depth change mattering more than the distance. On big water the same loop stretches spectacularly: Great Lakes schools shift many kilometers between spawning shorelines and deep summer flats, and their bays and connected rivers see genuine spring runs. The pattern is identical at every scale; only the map distance changes. That is why the "which season, which structure" logic transfers between a 200-hectare (500-acre) lake and Lake Simcoe, even though the boat rides differ by an hour.

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