Post by johnr on Jul 24, 2017 14:38:16 GMT -5
Just when I thought I had a foolproof summer perch pattern, they went and changed up on me. The last few trips out have been kinda slow by my standards, and this day was no different.
I started out in my best area just as the pigeons were yawning, and found a good school up shallow on a long point right off the bat. About the time I caught a few on a Rippin Rap, the wake boarders started rolling in, and the fish scattered. So I went to hunting, and couldn't find the huge schools I'd been finding. It was just a few fish here and there, and they were mostly tied to schools of peanut gizzards and alewives. So I put the sidescan to use and chased bait balls, to pick up a couple fish here and there. Ultimately, I caught 20-25 with one citation. The only way I could get them to bite was on a spoon. I jigged the spoon in their faces, raised it up real high, and let it long-fall right to the bottom. And they'd hit it on the bottom or just as it got to the bottom. It's fun to watch on the sonar, but not a good way to get numbers. A few times, I'd mark a "soft bottom" and drop down and it'd end up being perch. Those ones must be eating something right in the mud. Whatever the case, they're widely scattered right now.
Around dinner time, we hit the water with some friends, and some pizzas, and a cooler full of worms. We swam a bit, then went on the hunt. We ended up finding a good bunch in a cove and put 20-30 in the boat in a hurry. It was quite hectic, with a few doubles landed and everyone hooked up at once a few times. Then those fish vanished and we spent the rest of the evening struggling for a bite. All those fish came on dropshot rigs, and double dropshots with worms and gulp.
So right now they can be caught a lot of ways, but it doesn't seem like any one way is really getting it done.
I started out in my best area just as the pigeons were yawning, and found a good school up shallow on a long point right off the bat. About the time I caught a few on a Rippin Rap, the wake boarders started rolling in, and the fish scattered. So I went to hunting, and couldn't find the huge schools I'd been finding. It was just a few fish here and there, and they were mostly tied to schools of peanut gizzards and alewives. So I put the sidescan to use and chased bait balls, to pick up a couple fish here and there. Ultimately, I caught 20-25 with one citation. The only way I could get them to bite was on a spoon. I jigged the spoon in their faces, raised it up real high, and let it long-fall right to the bottom. And they'd hit it on the bottom or just as it got to the bottom. It's fun to watch on the sonar, but not a good way to get numbers. A few times, I'd mark a "soft bottom" and drop down and it'd end up being perch. Those ones must be eating something right in the mud. Whatever the case, they're widely scattered right now.
Around dinner time, we hit the water with some friends, and some pizzas, and a cooler full of worms. We swam a bit, then went on the hunt. We ended up finding a good bunch in a cove and put 20-30 in the boat in a hurry. It was quite hectic, with a few doubles landed and everyone hooked up at once a few times. Then those fish vanished and we spent the rest of the evening struggling for a bite. All those fish came on dropshot rigs, and double dropshots with worms and gulp.
So right now they can be caught a lot of ways, but it doesn't seem like any one way is really getting it done.
