Above-average temperatures and strong attendance numbers have organizers of the 2008 Orillia Perch Festival smiling from ear to ear after the opening four days.

“If we get great weather, we get great turnouts and that is exactly what happened on Saturday,” said festival spokesperson Doug Bunker.

As of Tuesday morning, no one had reeled in one of the 75 tagged perch, one worth as much as $5,000.

“I’m surprised that we haven’t caught a tagged perch yet. I didn’t feed them before I released them and I released them into a relatively small area,” said Bunker.

The milder weather has greatly improved fishing conditions in and around the Atherley Narrows in recent days.

“If you had asked me a week ago, I would have told you we were in trouble.

“But the temperature and certain conditions prevailed enough that the ice just broke up,” he added.

Throughout the festival opening weekend and into the start of this week, Bunker said there was a steady stream of children and adults turning in live perch to the members of the Twin Lakes Conservation Club.

“The club was busy non-stop all weekend,” he said.

He added anglers were pleased with not only the number of perch they caught, but also the size of the individual fish.

With warm spring conditions scheduled to continue blanketing Orillia for the remainder of the week, it is expected more anglers will take time away from work to do some fishing during the traditionally lower-attended Monday to Friday periods of the festival.

“There is a strange thing that happens to people who work when it comes to fishing. They will find any excuse not to work, especially on a nice day,” said Bunker.

Regular attendees in the festival from the states of New York and Pennsylvania have already landed on the shores of Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe, bringing with them valuable tourist dollars.

Festival fishing continues daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. until May 10.