Perch

[Justretired]

8/4 south of A can 2 man limit 9 to noon, was catching lots of 11 inch fish on the top hooks 9 and 10s on the bottom. 3 hook crappie rigs with goldies 35 lbs at Shattos. Eric from Bite Me Bait said he will have goldies in the morning.

Boy you must of had big fish!

[LEfriend]

Boy you must of had big fish!

Yea...assume he meant 3 man limit...Guess it is not impossible, and if not, wow, I want to catch some of those! Was in that same area Sat and ours went 31# for 88, and were real nice fish. We did keep a few down to 8 in to fill the 3 man limit.

[5285]

8/18-19 Reading and hearing about other perch reports from this weekend, and preparing to write about my trips Saturday and Sunday it occurred to me this weekend was more like last August, than so far this August. When I looked back at posts I wrote here and on some other forums last August, most days were 8 plus hours to catch a limit and the fish were smaller. I first noticed that 7/29/18 when 3 of us overfilled a Catch Counter Bucket when we got to 80 perch, last August we were regularly putting 90 perch in the same bucket. So far this year the fishing has been like last year's late September, and October. Big fish caught quickly. Kind of sad that it took a slow weekend to make me appreciate how fantastic the fishing has been this summer.
Yesterday 2 of us left the marina at 8:30, anchored up a half mile south of A can, and moved 5 times until we caught our limit at 1:45. 60 fish weighed 18 lbs at Shatto's, (smallest so far this year) we caught them on goldies from Bite Me Bait. Today also brought back memories of last August. Left the harbor at 7:30, anchored the same spot south of A can. Moved 4 times, ended up north of A can, headed in at 1:30 with 17 perch. There were plenty of marks but the groups were much smaller and spread out more than they have been. It will be interesting to see if next weekend the schools tighten back up or stay small and scattered.

[5285]

9/22-23 Waited for the wind to die down Sat. went out about 3 pm Stopped at L can found some marks water was muddy about 6 inches visibility. Fished for an hour, no bites. Moved to A can made 3 stops on decent marks, half hour each, no perch, water was still muddy. Called it a day. Sunday went out at 9 am. Stopped at L can because there were a bunch of boats there and wasted hour, no perch. Went up to the west side West Sister to get out of the wind. Found some marks in 28 fow. Fished 2 hours and got 43 perch. (Buddy needed to get home early) Bite was steady on crappie rig and Swedish pimple about a foot off the bottom, with goldies.

[5285]

8\1-5\2019
3 of us headed over to Waterdogs neighborhood on Thursday. Tried the east end of the picket fence, and G can, caught a few 8 to 10 inch perch. Rather than spend the whole day trying to find some willing perch, we headed north to Toussaint Reef and cast for some walleye. Friday we went to B can and for the first time this year found some willing perch, returned Sat and Sun and it just kept getting a little better each day. Our count went 30, 38, and 51. I went back by myself on Monday and got my first limit of the year. All 4 days were very soft bite, and very few aggressive fish. We were using goldies on crappie rigs and spreaders, no bling.

[sloch24]

Awesome! Thanks for the update. I might just have to run out there one night this week.

[jonk]

Went out Friday out of East Harbor at about 12. i wanted to stay close to land because of the storms (and I got chased in once, put in to West Harbor while a thunderstorm passed at about 1:30). So I worked around mouse island reef and starve island reef.

Tried everything from 12 FOW to 40 FOW. Got some perch in 25 FOW within hearing distance of the bell at Mouse Island Reef. Took home 10. Nothing to write home about, but at least they were all big ones. Smallest was 8 inches, average about 10, had 2 12" ones. Given the slow bite I put out 2 rods. All but 2 had bling on them, small silver spinners. Real light bite. Water was very murky.

Given the slow bite I pulled up and tried for walleye for about an hour too, drifting and casting. Got one dink 8" fish. Sorry to say I got my personal best sheepead too, on a chartreuse and white erie dearie. 34" monster. Didn't have a scale with me but I have my drag set on the casting rod at 8 pounds (10 pound test) and he almost spooled me before I got him under control. I would estimate him at about 15 pounds or so. Normally I curse sheephead but still... getting a fish that big that fights that hard is still fun, whatever it is. Returned to the lake unharmed, minus the fecal matter he left on my deck.

Also got about half a dozen cats in the 12-20" range. Kept a few.

In short, fish were biting, just not the ones I wanted.

Around 7, with another front closing in, I went back in and took the boat off to the side of the channel in east harbor, and cast a weedless rubber worm for awhile (lots of eel grass floating). Got a few unremarkable largemouth in the 8-12" range.

[5285]

Catching and landing a 15 pound fish is a big deal. Most folks never get to accomplish that. Congradulations.

[5285]

9\28-29 Fri went to north side of Crib Reef at 4pm by myself 21 fow 2 hours perch30 perch 16.5 lbs at Shatto's (no sorting) they were a big average Shiners from Bite me bait 3 hook crappie rigs on the bottom. Sat 3 of us went to the same spot 90 perch 36 lbs at the cleaners in 4 hours again on shiners and crappie rigs.
Time to go perch fishing