Perch

[5285]

9/14-16 Fri evening by myself over to H can 18 perch in 2 hours nice size 7 pounds at Shatto's. Sat mid morning bunch of boats at L can found some marks half mile south of the can. 2 of us pulled 48 in 3 hours. Sunday mid morning went to the same spot 2 of us caught 54 in 3 hours. Goldies from Bite Me Bait, on crappie rigs. Still catching a lot of 3" walleye, but not near as many undersize perch. Weather was fantastic all weekend.

[5285]

10/19-20-21-22
Two of us started out at L can Thursday several boats were there but we couldn't find any good marks, moved to Crib Reef, 21 fow on the north side and saw some fish on the screen. Fished for 3 hours using emerald shiners from Bite Me Bait, on 3 hook crappie rigs and a chrome 5\8 oz swedish pimple with a 4 inch drop hook on it. The perch were huge, 11 and 12 inch with some 13 and a 14. They were biting short and tearing the minnows off the hooks, so we ran out of bait after catching 31. The catch almost filled a 5 gallon bucket. Friday my brother joined us, the wind was blowing hard out of the south so we went to the picket fence. Wasted a couple of hours moving around and couldn't get anything going. Next we went over to Waterdogs territory and joined a couple of boats at H can. The perch were there and biting but it was slow. We pulled 35 in 3 hours and called it a day. The fish weighed 12 lbs at Shatto's Fish Cleaning. Saturday and Sunday were to rough for us, so we enjoyed a lot of TV football, and good meals at Wild Wings restaurant before heading home Sunday evening.

[5285]

9/1&3
It had been almost 2 weeks since I was on the lake, and that caused a lapse in good judgement when I went out Saturday. Watched the OSU game and watched the waves go from 4 feet to 2 and a half on the intake buoy app. There were 3 footers as I came out of the harbor, and when I dropped off a 5 footer at 12 mph and slammed into the next wave I regretted not taking my 30 foot boat. It took 38 minutes to get out to B can, and there was no question in my mind why I was the only one out there. Made a half mile circle and couldn't find any good marks, So I decided to head back in. Monday the lake settled down to 1 footers so I headed out by myself at 9am. Went back to B can and idled around a pack of about 50 boats. Found some decent marks on the west side of the can and set up on them. Fished for 2 hours and caught 8 keepers and had about that many throwbacks. The second time I moved I couldn't find any schools of fish, just scattered marks, so I motored up to West Sister. Found some marks on the west side in 26 fow. Set there about a half hour with no bites. I turned off the spot lock and was going to drift a hundred yards or so and set back up. When I started drifting I was moving slow enough I let out a crappy rig with a 1 oz weight and drug it across the bottom, went about 20 yards and caught a 10 inch perch. I made 3 drifts in the next 2 hours and picked up 11 more keeper perch and no throw backs. Finished the day with 19 (8 to 11 inch) perch. Surface water temp was down to 72, that's 10 degrees cooler than my last trip, I hope that continues. While I was cleaning the fish some guys stopped by and were grumbling that they hope the 2 to 4 hour 30 fish limits get started here pretty soon and i got to thinking about perch fishing over the years. I have been fishing the lake since 1978, and if I average all those years there were a whole lot more trips with 10 perch catch than there ever were with limits. The last 3 years really spoiled us.

[5285]

10/19-20-21-22
Two of us started out at L can Thursday several boats were there but we couldn't find any good marks, moved to Crib Reef, 21 fow on the north side and saw some fish on the screen. Fished for 3 hours using emerald shiners from Bite Me Bait, on 3 hook crappie rigs and a chrome 5\8 oz swedish pimple with a 4 inch drop hook on it. The perch were huge, 11 and 12 inch with some 13 and a 14. They were biting short and tearing the minnows off the hooks, so we ran out of bait after catching 31. The catch almost filled a 5 gallon bucket. Friday my brother joined us, the wind was blowing hard out of the south so we went to the picket fence. Wasted a couple of hours moving around and couldn't get anything going. Next we went over to Waterdogs territory and joined a couple of boats at H can. The perch were there and biting but it was slow. We pulled 35 in 3 hours and called it a day. The fish weighed 12 lbs at Shatto's Fish Cleaning. Saturday and Sunday were to rough for us, so we enjoyed a lot of TV football, and good meals at Wild Wings restaurant before heading home Sunday evening.

[5285]

9/7-8
Pretty windy Sat morning so we didn't head out until after lunch. Went to B can and was surprised no one else was there. Fished an hour and a half got 5, decided to try the picket fence. Fished 4 different places that were marking some fish, caught a bunch of white perch, sheep head and 4" walleye. On the way home stopped at Locust Reef, dropped some bottom bouncers with spinners and crawler, caught 2- 17" walleye, and 2 11" perch. Sunday went out about 8am to Tousant Reef. Fished 4 hours caught 15- 7" perch and 7- 11" perch, also a pair of nice small mouth, and way too many white perch, sheep head, gobies, and 4" walleye.

[5285]

10\8-9
Went to crib reef Tuesday afternoon by myself found some good marks west of the pack and set up with the spot lock. One and a half hours caught 30 keepers threw back (16) 5 and 6" perch, nice to see some smaller fish (guess the walleye didn't eat them all). Went out Thursday morning to the same spot with my neighbor. Caught our 60 in three hours, little bigger size, but still threw a lot of smaller fish back. Bait was large shiners fro A and J bait cut in 3 and 4 pieces. Used (3) crappie rigs and (1) spreader on the bottom.

[5285]

fished 8/31-9/3 Started out Fri by myself south of A can. Caught as many doubles and triples as I did singles, that was the good news, and it was the same all weekend. The bad news was it only happened every 15 to 45 minutes. By Saturday I was noticing a distinct pattern. 15 to 45 minute wait, catch a sheep head or white perch. then 1, 2, or 3 yellow perch. I was running 2 rods, one spreader with an extra hook on the swivel. The other was a 2 drop crappie rig with a third hook tied to the weight. caught fish about equal on both rigs. Friday Saturday and Sunday fished 3 hours. caught 17, 16, and 17 perch. Monday 3 of us went out for 5 hours and caught 72. All 4 days started at A can then moved to the picket fence. The bite and fish size seemed to be identical at both locations. Weather was perfect all 4 days.

[5285]

10/5-6 Fri fished A can and west side of West Sister. Caught 27 in 4 hours, crappie rig and emerald shiners from Bite Me Bait. Fishing was slow and spotty. Saturday was a little better after the storm, North of Crib Reef started in 21 fow, finally got them going in 26 fow. 50 perch in 2 hours (came back to watch the Buckeyes). Heading back out Sunday and Monday.

[5285]

10\5-6-7-8 Friday afternoon 2 of us went to north side of Crib Reef, started in 21 fow pulled 7 in an hour, moved to 26 fow caught 45 more in 3 hours. Shiners from Bite Me bait, 22 lbs at Shattos. Used 3 hook crappie rigs and half ounce chrome pimple tipped with a shiner. Saturday both of us went back to 26 fow just got started and the sky turned pitch black, we rode the storm out and after about 20 minutes started catching some perch. slow on and off bite that took 4 hours to catch our limits. I caught more on the chrome pimple than I did on the crappie rig, My buddy caught all his on the crappie rigs. 23 lbs at Shattos. Sunday I had different buddy come up, he has a weak stomach, so we waited till noon for the lake to settle down, and just went out to L can. Anchored right next to the bouye and caught our fish in 3 and a half hours. 18 lbs at Shattos, smaller fish than over at Crib Reef. Monday went out by myself in the fog. Couldn't see L can till I got within 30 feet of it. Had some time to kill so I released everything under 9 inches that wasn't gill or gut hooked. 3 and a half hours ended up wit 12 lbs at Shattos. Great weekend of fishing. Looking forward to this weekend, Planning on fishing 5 days.

[xjoex44]

9/17 did decent at the turnaround after a late start and early leave 66 decent sized fish. Lot of threw back alot of 6 and 7s.