Perch action is still good, out with my neighbors this sat morn, nice little perch chop, back out to wed spot, just north of line between lighthouse and intake, 22′ water. Shinners were nowhere to be found, grabbed a bag of frozen and brought a bag from lasts weeks outing frozen in alcohol. Actually the ” drunk” minnowes were best, stayed firm, where the plain frozen turned to mush quickly. Bite was slow but steady, lots of farm animals and dinks, but the last hour or so, the size improved as the wind stopped. 68 nice ones from the four of us, no records but nice group of perch to add to the freezer.
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8/17/23, Good Day Perch Fishing
Started the day out of Cooley Canal around 7:30. As soon as we hit open water the waves were coming out of the northwest. Most were 2’s with an occasional 3. Set up in 17 fow and caught 6 in about an hour before we decided to make a move. Headed to within a mile and a half of the water intake to 19 fow. It was hard to feel the bite because it was still bumpy till around 10. Then the wind started to die down. By the time we finished it was close to calm. Most of the fish came on spreaders laying on the bottom or a snelled hook off the sinker. We’d just let the minnows lay on the bottom and slowly lift until feeling a slight pressure and set the hook. Instead of moving a lot to find the fish we waited them out in our second spot and got our 60 perch (17 lbs.) by 12:30. It was a great day on the water with my good friend John.
8/16 report
My Walleye trip got changed to a Perch trip. The guests from upper Michigan had heard and saw posts on the perch and wanted to change. They also said they wanted to bring their own gear and bait. I picked up 4 scoops of emeralds from highway just in case. Lastly, they dropped the “we only want perch over 10 inches”, on me.
Well they schooled the captains for sure. They used no live bait and were tossing 1/8 ounce jigs with chartreus twister or paddle tails and the same also in green and smoke. They didn’t catch near as many as Captain Christy and I but theirs were defiantly larger. They dropped their size down to 9 inches but most were over 10 for their 60.
The captains also caught 60 with multiple doubles. Captain Christy had a triple and I had a couple double doubles. We released many to try to keep the size up. We kept over 8 for our standard. We used crappie rigs and fly riggs, but the crappie rigs were best. We cut the emeralds in fourths.
We tried several spots looking for bigger fish and finally settled in North of the Marblehead Light House in 30 ft of water.
I have another Walleye trip booked for this Friday but they just agreed to slide to Saturday because of the wind. But they mentioned they may also want to Perch. I’ll keep you posted.
Perch South Passage 8/16/23
2 Man limit in 2 1/2 hrs this morning SW of the Monument 29 ft of water. Everyone we talked to limited fast. Smaller fish today 8-9 inches. 17bs at cleaners. Shiners on crappie rigs.
This perch bite is like drinking Bourbon. Just cant stop.
Baha299
Fishing with Steve and John… 8/16/2023
Told my customers, Steve and John, that we would be doing a later start this morning, due to some north winds early this morning, so I picked them up at 9:15, and we headed to Catawba to launch. We were going perch’n.
I had woken up at 4am, got dressed, grabbed the dogs, and headed to Hi Way Bait to grab some Emeralds, before they had a chance to run out. The shiners were on the larger size, so we would be splitting them in half, to use on the hooks. I figured 6 scoops would be enough, and if there were leftovers, I could just freeze them, to use at a later date. (We only used 3 scoops, so I covered them in Wintergreen rubbing alcohol, and they are in the freezer.) 🙂
I hadn’t been out since July 31st, with my friends, but I kept seeing people on Facebook doing well on the perch, while we were gone, so I was positive we would be able to catch some today.
We launched at 9:45 and were over the spot I was at on July 31st, (SW of Green in 27′ of water), and found the Helix showing peachy looking fish marks down below, so I hit the Spot Lock on the Minn-Kota, and let it settle in, while I got Steve and John all situated and set up, to fish. John took the seat in the bow, and Steve took the passenger seat, while I fished out of the back of the boat.
We had a bet on the first yellow to come in the boat, but both John and Steve were set up and fishing, before I even got a line in the water. But, as luck would have it, I managed to catch the first one. Woot! Woot! Neither paid up, but it doesn’t matter, I was just happy there were yellows below us.
We had a nice steady bite going, and were at 25, I think, when another smaller boat was passing by, with three fishermen..so, I waved them down, and did the pointing thing, silently telling them that there were fish below us, so they slowed down and set up about 15 yards away. They started catching, too.
We were having fun, and were feeding as many as we were catching, if not more. Boy, they sure are good at stealing minnows!
It took about 2 1/2-3 hours to get our 90 perch…I didn’t really keep track of the time, that closely, because it really didn’t matter how fast we finished. We were just out having fun. 🙂
By the time we left, the other boat was slowly sliding over, closer to our spot, and shouted out a, “Thank you!” when we left. I gave them a silent salute, and a thumbs up, and we headed in.
I called Port Clinton Fish Co, but they were loaded up, with an already 2 1/2 hour wait, with 12 people in line, and there was no guarantee my guys could get their fish before the morning, so they loaded their catch in a cooler, and headed back to Chicago.
Steve will be back at the end of September, and John may be with him, but he had to check his schedule first.
I don’t have a lot booked for August yet, but it looks like it’s going to blow for the next two days, anyway, so I’ll be rendering all the tomatoes my garden grew while I was on vacation, and making some salsa, pizza, and spaghetti sauce tomorrow.
My next scheduled trip isn’t until next Wednesday, so I may or may not have trips pop up before that. It all depends on these wacky winds.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
I had woken up at 4am, got dressed, grabbed the dogs, and headed to Hi Way Bait to grab some Emeralds, before they had a chance to run out. The shiners were on the larger size, so we would be splitting them in half, to use on the hooks. I figured 6 scoops would be enough, and if there were leftovers, I could just freeze them, to use at a later date. (We only used 3 scoops, so I covered them in Wintergreen rubbing alcohol, and they are in the freezer.) 🙂
I hadn’t been out since July 31st, with my friends, but I kept seeing people on Facebook doing well on the perch, while we were gone, so I was positive we would be able to catch some today.
We launched at 9:45 and were over the spot I was at on July 31st, (SW of Green in 27′ of water), and found the Helix showing peachy looking fish marks down below, so I hit the Spot Lock on the Minn-Kota, and let it settle in, while I got Steve and John all situated and set up, to fish. John took the seat in the bow, and Steve took the passenger seat, while I fished out of the back of the boat.
We had a bet on the first yellow to come in the boat, but both John and Steve were set up and fishing, before I even got a line in the water. But, as luck would have it, I managed to catch the first one. Woot! Woot! Neither paid up, but it doesn’t matter, I was just happy there were yellows below us.
We had a nice steady bite going, and were at 25, I think, when another smaller boat was passing by, with three fishermen..so, I waved them down, and did the pointing thing, silently telling them that there were fish below us, so they slowed down and set up about 15 yards away. They started catching, too.
We were having fun, and were feeding as many as we were catching, if not more. Boy, they sure are good at stealing minnows!
It took about 2 1/2-3 hours to get our 90 perch…I didn’t really keep track of the time, that closely, because it really didn’t matter how fast we finished. We were just out having fun. 🙂
By the time we left, the other boat was slowly sliding over, closer to our spot, and shouted out a, “Thank you!” when we left. I gave them a silent salute, and a thumbs up, and we headed in.
I called Port Clinton Fish Co, but they were loaded up, with an already 2 1/2 hour wait, with 12 people in line, and there was no guarantee my guys could get their fish before the morning, so they loaded their catch in a cooler, and headed back to Chicago.
Steve will be back at the end of September, and John may be with him, but he had to check his schedule first.
I don’t have a lot booked for August yet, but it looks like it’s going to blow for the next two days, anyway, so I’ll be rendering all the tomatoes my garden grew while I was on vacation, and making some salsa, pizza, and spaghetti sauce tomorrow.
My next scheduled trip isn’t until next Wednesday, so I may or may not have trips pop up before that. It all depends on these wacky winds.
Stay tuned….
Capt Juls
Attached Images
Using Tru Turn hooks for perch
I have recently seen a few members post positive results when perching with Tru Turn hooks. Seems #4 is the most preferred size.
Can anyone advise the best place to purchase them? Could not find their web site. I looked on Amazon to see what options were available. Assume that they offer a #4 with lead but having a difficult time finding them. Also, are they worth the extra $?
Thanks in advance.
Pulling bandits
Is any body pulling bandits any more this season
Perch 8/12 and 8/13
Got up to SBI late Friday evening and drove through some horrible storms (and a tornado warning) to get there. Picked up 3 scoops of shiners and Goldie mix from HiWay on way in.
Saturday AM the wind was still strong SW from storm but was able to sneak into lee of rattlesnake off the run way with a few boats and immediately had good marks and bites. Caught 30 in about 3 hours from 9am-noon, good grade or 8-11” with most being that 8.5-9.5 range. Had a few doubles and a couple spurts of up and down action.
Woke up Sunday excited for quick limit again and was immediately reminded how finnicky perch can be. Went back to same area, and found same marks, but fish had lock jaw. Spent over an hour fishing those marks with only 2 in cooler to show for it. Pulled anchor and headed toward Green and settled between Green and Rattlesnake, closer to rattlesnake, on good marks again. Caught 20 nice perch, mostly 9-10” range, in about 2 hours before I had to go in due to time with 22.
On Saturday pretty much everything worked, but especially 1/2 shiner seemed best. Sunday the smaller baits worked better and they almost seemed to prefer the tiny live goldies I had to the cut shiners.
Both times I was in 30-32 FOW with excellent marks. Was fishing spreader with tru turn #4 hooks, no bling.. those things are sharp and stuck a lot of perch.
Super fun to have such high numbers of nice perch back around.. the last couple seasons have been tough for perchin.
Thanks to all for the reports.. helpful info in this group.
Perch’n
Finally made it out for some perch and had a great time getting “back in the saddle”. Had been out a handful of times in the previous 2 years with very little to show and was gettin worried about the state of perch’n in the western basin!
Went out of E Harbor and planned to hit G can since thats all the hot reports I had heard this week. Stopped to fish in a pack straight off E Harbor about a mile and never left. They were never hot and heavy but picked through enough to make it worthwhile! Ended up with 22 and would have had about 40 if my cousin could set the hook. Also didnt get out on the water until about 10am so I am sure we would have done a little better if we had gotten at it earlier. Best bite was between about 1-4 pm.
Emeralds on splitters and veeeery light bite. Maybe would feel a tap tap and would have to lift the rod to “load” the bite and then set when it felt like he was still there.
Really glad to see that the perch fishing is back to being consistent! Hoping to make it out again with the family but our 2 year old only likes catching, not fishing ;);).
Tight lines all!!
Perch West of Kelleys and off Marblehead – 8/13
Perched west of Kelleys Island Sunday in 24 FOW. Arrived around 7:30am and settled in a bit away from 2 other boats (close enough to see if they were pulling in fish). By 9:30, the pack had grown to about 30 boats. Slow but steady fishing throughout the morning. Very light bite and many lost minnows (frozen and fresh shiner/goldy mix). ‘Only’ 31 fish between 2 of us but I’ll still take it over recent years.
Saw a large pack of boats off Marblehead on the way back in to Sandusky. One of the cleaners at the fish house said that business has been great for the past 6 weeks and that there have been many customers coming in with their limit off Marblehead. G-Can and Green Island are a bit of a hike out of Sandusky but Marblehead and off Kelleys Island appear to be good locations for those launching east of Port Clinton area.
Hope this helps.