Post by Red Bear on May 30, 2017 14:08:15 GMT -5
Well, I was down at the lake this weekend. Only trip out on the boat I fished some cranks for bass and that yielded nothing. Did a lot of fishing off the dock this weekend though. The weather was great and all the rain i read about leading up to my trip didnt show up at all, which was great as well. But the fishing, was not at all what i expected or had planned on(is it ever?)
So armed with nightcrawlers and chicken livers to start out with friday morning, as i was too lazy to fish thursday night when i got down there, i tied a couple drop shot rigs up and a bottom rig for the livers. never got a thing on the bottom rig all weekend but a few nibbles that i assumed were white perch, blue gill or very small catfish. of course i was using a larger hook on that setup. The drop shots where meant primarily for nightcrawlers, but i tested chicken liver on one and caught, as i suspected, a very small channel cat, maybe 10 inches, enough of that. but the nightcrawlers killed the white perch, i was getting bit almost the second the bait hit the water and on the fall, i was pulling in white perch after white perch for some stretches, often using the same nightcrawler to catch 2 or 3. im kicking myself for not putting on two hooks and trying to double them up for more fun. i must've caught 100 or more of those little buggers. many were in the 10-12 inch range. they were spawning or about to, because the males had "milk" running out of them, thats how i know they were males lol. My nightcrawlers were getting hit by the white perch so fast the catfish i was looking for never had a chance to find them. except a few small cats anyways.
I also caught about 15 bluegill. and a single yellow perch which seemed out of place lol. no bass, and only saw one even swim by the dock. also, sunday evening sitting on the dock i did witness a small school of striper start busting the surface in my cove, which was a first for me to see in there. didnt totally surprise me though as there was bait flipping in their all weekend during the evening hours and at night. i never see shad in their under the light though, only alewives.
oh, and i did manage to throw a few pancakes saturday night and managed to catch a couple dozen alewives off the dock throwing the cast net, biggest ones being around 6 inches long. had a few bites but no hookups. as i dont have a proper bait tank, i just dumped them in a bucket, a few died almost instantly. at the end of the night, i ended up freezing 20 of them i had left to ensure i have a few for catfish when i come back. ok, they werent perfect pancakes, but it got the job done, i could've had hundreds of them if i wanted to keep throwing, but i caught some in 3 of the 4 throws i made, not bad for a green net thrower, huh? the one throw i blanked on, i didnt put a piece of the net in my mouth to hold, so putting a piece in my mouth definitely helped...
talked to some kayak bass fishermen who confirmed the fishing was slow(unless you wanted white perch). and sorry guys, i know theyre a nuisance but i have no use to keep them and tossed them all back. striper will eat them, ive caught one on white perch cut bait, but im sure its not their preferred meal. while in there around my dock, the game warden came in and checked the licenses of the kayak fishermen. i didnt have any poles in the water at the time so they didnt ask for mine. but my uncle was down there at the time too and called them over to the dock. pulled out his boat registration and asked the wardens "what do i need to drive my boat besides this". the warden went on to explain to him the boater safety course requirement(which ive been telling my uncle about since it started being phased in and i dont think he believed me fully). the warden told him he couldnt drive his boat without it, my uncle mentioned i had taken the course, the warden said he could drive his boat under my supervision if im on there with him at the time. my uncle totally believes me now and i got to tell give him a big fat "i told you" lol. my uncle hates when someone tells him "i told you", but then again, he should start taking others more serious some time.
my uncles daughter and her family(5 other people + her) came for the weekend too. they are a total mess if you ask me. his daughter has a hernia the doctor wont operate on until she loses weight. she wonders why she cant lose weight, well i know why, she came downstairs to the kitchen at 5 in the morning and had 2 pieces of cake and a glass of milk, went straight back to bed. im fat myself, but sheesh, i dont do anything like that. time to leave monday morning, we usually hit the road about 9am, 1:30pm with them there, traffic on 81 north was horrible by then, a lot of stop and go. but also before we left, we got some bad news. my uncles brother, who is also my bosses dad, had passed away in his sleep, so now i have a funeral to attend this week or weekend...
otherwise, i enjoyed catching a million fish even if small and just flat out relaxing on the lake...
So armed with nightcrawlers and chicken livers to start out with friday morning, as i was too lazy to fish thursday night when i got down there, i tied a couple drop shot rigs up and a bottom rig for the livers. never got a thing on the bottom rig all weekend but a few nibbles that i assumed were white perch, blue gill or very small catfish. of course i was using a larger hook on that setup. The drop shots where meant primarily for nightcrawlers, but i tested chicken liver on one and caught, as i suspected, a very small channel cat, maybe 10 inches, enough of that. but the nightcrawlers killed the white perch, i was getting bit almost the second the bait hit the water and on the fall, i was pulling in white perch after white perch for some stretches, often using the same nightcrawler to catch 2 or 3. im kicking myself for not putting on two hooks and trying to double them up for more fun. i must've caught 100 or more of those little buggers. many were in the 10-12 inch range. they were spawning or about to, because the males had "milk" running out of them, thats how i know they were males lol. My nightcrawlers were getting hit by the white perch so fast the catfish i was looking for never had a chance to find them. except a few small cats anyways.
I also caught about 15 bluegill. and a single yellow perch which seemed out of place lol. no bass, and only saw one even swim by the dock. also, sunday evening sitting on the dock i did witness a small school of striper start busting the surface in my cove, which was a first for me to see in there. didnt totally surprise me though as there was bait flipping in their all weekend during the evening hours and at night. i never see shad in their under the light though, only alewives.
oh, and i did manage to throw a few pancakes saturday night and managed to catch a couple dozen alewives off the dock throwing the cast net, biggest ones being around 6 inches long. had a few bites but no hookups. as i dont have a proper bait tank, i just dumped them in a bucket, a few died almost instantly. at the end of the night, i ended up freezing 20 of them i had left to ensure i have a few for catfish when i come back. ok, they werent perfect pancakes, but it got the job done, i could've had hundreds of them if i wanted to keep throwing, but i caught some in 3 of the 4 throws i made, not bad for a green net thrower, huh? the one throw i blanked on, i didnt put a piece of the net in my mouth to hold, so putting a piece in my mouth definitely helped...
talked to some kayak bass fishermen who confirmed the fishing was slow(unless you wanted white perch). and sorry guys, i know theyre a nuisance but i have no use to keep them and tossed them all back. striper will eat them, ive caught one on white perch cut bait, but im sure its not their preferred meal. while in there around my dock, the game warden came in and checked the licenses of the kayak fishermen. i didnt have any poles in the water at the time so they didnt ask for mine. but my uncle was down there at the time too and called them over to the dock. pulled out his boat registration and asked the wardens "what do i need to drive my boat besides this". the warden went on to explain to him the boater safety course requirement(which ive been telling my uncle about since it started being phased in and i dont think he believed me fully). the warden told him he couldnt drive his boat without it, my uncle mentioned i had taken the course, the warden said he could drive his boat under my supervision if im on there with him at the time. my uncle totally believes me now and i got to tell give him a big fat "i told you" lol. my uncle hates when someone tells him "i told you", but then again, he should start taking others more serious some time.
my uncles daughter and her family(5 other people + her) came for the weekend too. they are a total mess if you ask me. his daughter has a hernia the doctor wont operate on until she loses weight. she wonders why she cant lose weight, well i know why, she came downstairs to the kitchen at 5 in the morning and had 2 pieces of cake and a glass of milk, went straight back to bed. im fat myself, but sheesh, i dont do anything like that. time to leave monday morning, we usually hit the road about 9am, 1:30pm with them there, traffic on 81 north was horrible by then, a lot of stop and go. but also before we left, we got some bad news. my uncles brother, who is also my bosses dad, had passed away in his sleep, so now i have a funeral to attend this week or weekend...
otherwise, i enjoyed catching a million fish even if small and just flat out relaxing on the lake...