Wachusett Reservoir is remarkable for producing record fish. The state records for brown trout, rainbow trout, smallmouth bass and landlocked salmon have all been caught there. And with Leominster’s Val Percuoco breaking the white perch record there in October, Wachusett stands out in the books five times.

And it would have simultaneously claimed an incredible six state records, but it just lost the lake trout standard this year to a fish caught at Quabbin.

While Percuoco’s white perch is a great and historical trophy for Massachusetts, its name was poorly chosen. Species-namers often botch their job. The white perch is actually a bass.

There are really only three species of true perch. The European perch, Perca fluviatilis, which many of our immigrant ancestors would have known back in the Old World is a comparative goliath. It can grow to six pounds. Like all true perch, it has vertical bars on its sides. In Australia and New Zealand, where they’ve been introduced, they’re called redfin or English perch.

A second Perca species is the Balkhash perch, Perca schrenkii, which is found in Kazakhstan, China, and Uzbekistan. It’s visually almost indistinguishable from the European perch.

The only other Perca species is our very familiar, much smaller yellow perch, Perca flavescens, which is found in the United States and Canada. Having distinctive, vertical side-barring, it’s more yellowish than its two cousin species. And like all true perch, it’s covered with ctenoid scales, which are slightly rough to the touch.

Yellow perch are sweetly delicious and a favorite with ice fishermen who can run into schools of them that can provide fast jigging and tilt-flag action. They’ve consequently been hatchery-raised and heavily stocked in some states. A big one grows, though, to only about 2 pounds. Our state record caught by James O’Conner in South Watuppa Pond, Fall River back in 1979 weighed 2 pounds, 12 ounces.

Lacking both vertical barring and rough ctenoid scales, white perch, Marone Americana, are really in the temperate bass family. They look similar to immature stripers. To their credit, they can grow much larger than yellow perch — and they’re also delicious.

The white perch’s native range is the eastern seaboard from Nova Scotia to South Carolina, where they can surprisingly thrive in brackish, coastal waters. But they’ve readily adjusted to fresh water from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River south to Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake.

White perch are voracious fish-egg eaters. In some areas, they’ve severely reduced walleye and yellow perch reproduction with their intense predation. From Arkansas to Pennsylvania, they’re notorious for taking a heavy toll on white bass eggs.

Big egg producers themselves, mature females are fully capable of laying well over 150,000 eggs, which several attending males fertilize.

Their eclectic taste for minnows, grass shrimp, and even razor clams in brackish waters enhances both their growth and their flavor. Consequently, minnows of all types and Mepps spinners or Rooster Tails are excellent baits and lures to catch them on if you’re not going to use worms, which can always be relied on. Best action for white perch — especially in coastal brackish waters — is at dusk when schools of them move into shallows to feed.

Percuoco, 28, caught her trophy while fishing a nightcrawler from Wauchusett’s shoreline with her father Vinny on Sunday, Oct. 16. Having a close father-daughter bond, they’ve been a fishing team since she was 3 years old.

A catch-and-release adherent, Percuoco was intending to just measure and release the big white perch for entry in MassWildlife’s catch-and-release competition. But after realizing its enormity and potential significance, she and her father prudently decided to weigh it on their scale. A serious fisherman in his own right, her dad knew immediately that if his scales were accurate, it was a new state record. So they rushed to bring it to Ed Fair’s B&A Tackle to weigh on certified scales. Dead fish can dry and lose weight fast. In the world of fish records, one ounce can make all the difference.

Ed’s shop is conveniently located for anglers very close to Wachusett Reservoir on Sterling Street in West Boylston. Ed sees just about all the exceptionally big fish caught there. He immediately was impressed by the white perch. This fat, 18-inch fish — shaped much like a football — had a girth of 13.5 inches. It tipped Ed’s scales at 3 pounds, 8 ounces — confirming it to be the new state record. It broke by a full 3 ounces Tray Richford’s previous state record, which was also landed at Wachusett Reservoir 22 years ago in 1994.

But to officially make the record books, Percuoco had more to do. She had to fill out an affidavit stating that she caught her fish. Then she had to present her fish in entirety to a fisheries biologist either at MassWildlife Field headquarters in Westboro or at any of the five MassWildlife district offices. Massachusetts prohibits the transportation of live fish without a permit, so every fish submitted for weighing must be dead. In this case, Percuoco brought her fish to the MassWildlife Field Headquarters, where Assistant Director of Fisheries Todd Richards finally certified her catch. It’s important for all anglers who catch a record-worthy fish to know the Massachusetts protocol for making it official.

Not being a fish eater, Percuoco normally releases her catch, occasionally keeping a few for her family to eat. But this remarkable fish deservedly will be mounted on her wall.

Ed says even though Percuoco caught her fish in autumn, spring may be an even better time to catch a lot of big white perch as they’re spawning and consequently heavy with roe then. He attributes much of the good fishing at the reservoir to the smelt population, which lakers, salmon and rainbows have been chasing on the south side. Bait movement is dictated largely by current winds. Forage fish often wind up on shores opposite the prevailing wind.

Wachusett is arguably the best white perch water in the state. Ed advises anglers that the most productive spots on the reservoir are at gates 6, 14, 35 and around the shoreline near the stone church.

Remarkably, Wachusett has fished very productively throughout 2016. A couple summer catches were particularly notable. On July 2, Ryan Foden, casting a Mepps spinner in fast water below the pump house on the Quinnapoxet tributary, landed a 9-pound, 3-ounce brown trout. On Aug. 4, Marc Mahoney, casting a night crawler there, landed a 2-pound, 8-ounce white perch.

Autumn catches were even better. On Oct. 5, Ed Fair, somehow getting time away from his tackle shop, cast a night crawler to land a 3-pound, 13-ounce rainbow from the same spot. That stretch of water wasn’t finished producing good fish. The very next day, on Oct. 6, Ed Manning, also casting a night crawler, took a 4-pound, 8-ounce brown trout from the very same spot. In early October, Joe Maple, using a yellow perch for bait, landed a 4-pound, 13-ounce smallmouth bass. On Oct. 14, Dennis Murray, casting a lure, landed a 6-pound, 13-ounce landlocked salmon. Later in October, Mark Binns, fishing off the causeway using a yellow perch for bait, landed a 5-pound, 2-ounce largemouth bass. Then on Nov. 4, Mike Crooker took a 6-pound, 1-ounce lake trout at Gate 35.

If you want to try your hand at a record fish at Wachusett Reservoir, you’re going to have to wait till next year. It’s closed until April ice out. The late-November traditional closing date was established when our winters and ice formation began earlier. Ice fishing isn’t allowed on the reservoir.

But this year, we’re not likely going to see any ice at all until well into December at the earliest. Many anglers would consequently love to see the season extended there, ending when ice actually forms. A lot more good trophies would come out of Wachusett if the season were longer.