Perch report 8/27/14

[Capt Juls]

If I remember right that is about 40' of water w/ rock bottom? I have had a hard time getting my anchor to stick if that is the same place I'm thinking. Has there been a pack of boats out in the area? I hate screwing around w/ the anchor especially when there are a lot of boats around

I had a good report about 2 miles east of Kelley's but I always have a hard time getting the anchor to stick?

I have a vacation day so I'm going to try for some perch by myself tomorrow so I am still up in the air on where to try.

Russ

N41.40.557 W082.43.572 not a rocky bottom and only 34-35' of water there. Perch are still there, but it's a later bite. Not an early one. The farm animals are up early though...

[elrod00]

Do youi have a length of chain in front of the anchor? it helps it bite. Also a long enough rope. Let the achor drop till it hits bottom, feed out 2 to 3 times the depth, let the drift pull upp the slack and while it is doing that jerk the rope a few time to get it to bite in. even feed out more line if you need to. this works for me.

[Russ Hunsaker]

N41.40.557 W082.43.572 not a rocky bottom and only 34-35' of water there. Perch are still there, but it's a later bite. Not an early one. The farm animals are up early though...

Thanks for the info! I will be out tomorrow monitoring CH68 or CH79, boat name Hooked up.

[Russ Hunsaker]

Do youi have a length of chain in front of the anchor? it helps it bite. Also a long enough rope. Let the achor drop till it hits bottom, feed out 2 to 3 times the depth, let the drift pull upp the slack and while it is doing that jerk the rope a few time to get it to bite in. even feed out more line if you need to. this works for me.

Thanks for the advice.

I have 10' of chain on my anchor and it's oversized for my boat. I only have 2 places on the entire lake that I have a hard time getting the anchor to stick. Actually I don't have a problem after the anchor sticks, it's getting it to stick that is the problem. Once I get the anchor to stick it can be a royal pain to get it out so once it's in I have no problem. East of Kelley's and north of Gull Island Shoal are my only problem areas. I have heard others with the same issue in these areas so I've always accepted that it's just a hard rock bottom.

I've been anchoring boats for 30+ years so it's not my technique, I tend to put out more rode than necessary and rarely have a problem except in these 2 areas.

Russ

[wakina]

I have had a similar problem in those areas as well as south of Gull Shoals. I had one of those anchors that has the rode attachment ring that slides down the anchor shaft to the flukes making it easier to retrieve. Seems it was turning over and was on the bottom in the retrieval position. Worked almost every time that I left it down in the right position slowly until contact with the bottom was made then continued to leave out line slowly for another 20ft or so before feeding the rode out in a more timely fashion. An oldtimer said the chain would carry the ring down the shaft of the anchor to the retrieval position if left down to fast. I replaced it with a standard danford type anchor and have had few issues since then. The only reason I replaced it was because I always seem to be in a hurry to get anchored and get to fishing.

[faithwalker]

decent grade of fish....few junk...and a few throwbacks...9-1230 .....60 total.....split fish no weight but I know it is decent did get bounced a bit and let out 140 feet of anchor line to get a good grip

[Russ Hunsaker]

N41.40.557 W082.43.572 not a rocky bottom and only 34-35' of water there. Perch are still there, but it's a later bite. Not an early one. The farm animals are up early though...

Went to the numbers you recommended and got 29, some 11's and 1- 12". Only had to throw back 5-6 small perch.

OMG I have never caught so many lambheads! I only use 6lb test on my perch rods and the huge sheeps broke off my rigs 5 times, I got so pissed off I didn't even try for the last perch for my limit. I was catching double of the SOB's, tangled up my lines several times. I guess the sheeps are there for the same reason the perch are there.

Anyone that wants to fish this area use heavier line, I switched to my walleye rods because I was so sick of breaking my lines. When Jul's said they were thick that was an understatement. I caught as many sheeps as I did perch!

Jul's- thank you very much for the numbers, I owe you one!!

Russ

[Capt Juls]

Went to the numbers you recommended and got 29, some 11's and 1- 12". Only had to throw back 5-6 small perch.

OMG I have never caught so many lambheads! I only use 6lb test on my perch rods and the huge sheeps broke off my rigs 5 times, I got so pissed off I didn't even try for the last perch for my limit. I was catching double of the SOB's, tangled up my lines several times. I guess the sheeps are there for the same reason the perch are there.

Anyone that wants to fish this area use heavier line, I switched to my walleye rods because I was so sick of breaking my lines. When Jul's said they were thick that was an understatement. I caught as many sheeps as I did perch!

Jul's- thank you very much for the numbers, I owe you one!!

Russ

LOL...you're welcome! The sheep are why my perch rods are rigged up with 20# fireline...

[Russ Hunsaker]

LOL...you're welcome! The sheep are why my perch rods are rigged up with 20# fireline...

I never got into so many big balloon's as I did today. I have braid on 3 of my 6 perch rods, I only had break offs on the reels spooled w/ mono. I should know better because the mono has to be 6 or more years old so it is past being ready to change. I only use Stren mono, I think it's the best mono and IMO it's way better than any other mono. What mono lasts 6+ years?

I use braid now on just about all of my rod/reels, so much better feel and much stronger with the same diameter of mono. I bought some braid on eBay once and I didn't have much confidence it would be any good because it was so cheap. Now it's the only line I use, it's called Dyneema. I don't know if you ever heard of it but it's great line and shockingly cheap. It comes from China so it takes a couple of weeks to get but I order enough of it that I haven't ever run out. I have spooled up several of my fishing buddies reels and every one of them loves the line. I'm sure there are people that will complain about it but I couldn't be any more happy with Dyneema braid.

Russ

[ack]

what color do you prefer on the braid if you don't mind me asking?