Perch

[5285]

Getting better
8/10-11-12
Started Sat at D can, 2 of us pulled 8 keepers but it took over an hour. Moved over to A can, kept 6 in an hour and a half. Went to B can caught 38 in the next 2 hours, and ran out of bait. The fish we kept were 8 to 10 inches, but we thru back at least as many as we kept that were 4 to 7 inches. Used goldies on spreaders and crappy rigs. Fished by myself Sunday and Monday at B can, about 5 hours each day to catch a limit, of keepers, while throwing back an equal number of shorts, and a bunch of 4 inch walleye.
8/16-17-18-19
2 of us went out Friday and Saturday to B can. fished 5 hours both days, caught 47 Fri and 60 Sat. Again lots of shorts and 4 inch walleyes. Keepers went 8 to 11 inches. Used goldies and crappy rigs.
Sunday and Monday went to B can by myself. Limited both days again about 5 hours with lots of throw backs, on goldies and crappy rigs. I move the boat every hour or so, and try to find some good marks, the fish seem to be scattered and moving a lot more than they have been in past years. All that moving probably wouldn't be worth it if I had to deploy and retrieve an anchor every time. The Ulterra trolling motor and "spot lock" makes relocating quick and easy.

[5285]

10\5-6
Spent the last two weekends casting for walleye at Big Pickerel with mixed success because the perch fishing was so slow, but this weekend that turned around.

Two of us went out Saturday evening on a rough ride to D can to see if we could locate some perch since I had a group coming up to fish Sunday. We finally located some decent marks around 5 pm and dropped the anchor (waves were too big to run the spot lock on the trolling motor). I was going to be happy if we could catch a few fish and get a place to start on Sunday. 1 hr and 40 minutes later we were pulling the anchor with 2 limits of perch in the cooler. We threw quite a few 5 and 6 inch perch back, 60 perch weighed 17 lbs at Shatto's Fish cleaning. Most were 7 to 8 inch with some 9s and 10s and one 11 inch.

Sunday morning 5 of us went to the same spot in my 30' (much nicer ride). Fished for a half hour with no bites, made a quarter mile move to some decent marks and tried again. 3 and a half hours and we had our 150 perch. Same size as Saturday but a little slower bite, everyone was happy and it made for a nice day on the water.

Fish were all caught on 3 hook crappie rigs on the bottom and very large emerald shiners from A and J bait. We cut the shiners in 3 and 4 pieces. It will be nice if bigger fish move in as the water cools, but if the bite stays good I will gladly take what the lake gives us. Hopefully this is the end of a long dry spell for catching perch.

[5285]

10/18-19-20
2 of us went south of A can Fri afternoon, marked some fish and dropped our lines at 2:15, had our 60 in the box and headed in at 5pm. Bite went exactly as it has all month. threw back a bunch of 5 t 7 inch yellow perch, fed 50+ white perch and gobys to the gulls. Fish weighed 14 lbs at Shato's fish cleaning and were caught on A and J baits emerald shiners. Sat. my brother came up and 3 of us started at Little Pickerel with goldies and left over shiners. Caught 4 in an hour moved to Crib got 3 more in an hour. Headed west about 3 miles, slowed down in 18' f water and found some good marks. Caught 32 decent 8 to 10" then they quit. Went to B can for a few hours, then came in with 48 yellow perch. Sunday had 2 more friends join us so we took the 30 footer, they had stopped in Sandusky and found some emerald shiners . Went to A can caught 5 in 1 hour, went over to the gravel pit caught 8 in an hour and a half, noticed they were full of fleas again. Moved 2 miles south of A can and started catching a few, noticed the fleas were huge almost an inch. My buddy picked one off the floor put it on a hook and immediately caught a 9 incher. We went through the box and found 5 more fleas in fish we had caught. 3 minutes later we had 5 more nice perch. For the next 3 hours we would catch a perch, pull the fleas out of it and catch some more. Ended up with 97 yellow perch, and fed the gulls a bucket full of white perch. All fish were caught on crappie rigs fished on the bottom. If anyone knows where I can buy a pint of fleas for next week please let me know.

[PatSea]

5285, thanks for the report. Nice job! I'm struggling to picture in my mind the fleas you were finding in the perch. I thought spiny water fleas were very small, maybe 1/32" long. The things that accumulate on the line when you troll. Sounds like you're describing something much larger.