Starva-nelle Perchfest 10-19-12

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Forecast for today was good...weatherwise. But they have lied before. Not today. Delightful. Tossup for Deer Creek, Pineview or Jordanelle. Haven't fished Jordy for over two years...and the two years before that treated me badly. But I'm a forgiving kinda guy so I thought I would give it another shot at me. Glad I did.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Launched at the PWC ramp at 7 am. Calm and clear. Water temp 54.3. Air temp 30. Cool runnings. Started pitching jig and fly combo right off the ramp. Bang, bang...jump, jump...no fishie. Danged finless Freddies. A couple more bumps. Started looking for marks on the bottom as the water got deeper. Nada, zip, zilch. Naked bottom. Kinky, huh?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I had worked a couple of hundred yards to the west of the ramp when I saw a white truck pull into the parking lot. &%$@! I forgot to put my park pass and mussel certificate in the window. Roostertail back to the ramp (yeah, right) and run all the way up the long ramp (yeah, right) to try to talk my way out of a ticket. False alarm. Just another tangler. Not the ranger. Unlocked my ride and put the appropriate certs in the window. Then I kinda crumpled and rolled all the way back down that long, long, long, long, long ramp. Did I mention it is a long ramp in the low water?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Worked the area around the PWC launch pretty thoroughly from top to bottom...from shallow out ot about 45 feet. Saw a few middepth cruisers on sonar (trout?) but nothing near the bottom that could be construed as perchlike.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Put out the jig and fly combos and slow trolled over to my money spot at the old quarry. Got a couple of pokes on the way but no hookups. Didn't see any surface action at all.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When I reached the quarry I was amazed at how low the tide was...like all the other lakes. Messed up my plans for where I was going to fish. So I put the electric motor on slow and started moving around and bottom bouncing with a couple of jigs while I watched TV. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Anybody who fishes that area knows there are a lot of submerged trees and brush on the bottom there. I watched for those as I dragged my lures downstairs. I know the guy who makes them and I get a good discount but it's a pain if you have to keep re-rigging. As I came to what looked like a tree, in about 30 feet of water, I reeled up my jigs a bit to clear the obstacle. But something grabbed one of the jigs and pulled down hard. First perch of the day. And that "tree" had morphed into a large cloud of fishy marks. Allllll righhhht.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I pitched over my orange marker buoy and began making vertical presentations. Bendo, bendo, bendo and bendo some more. There were a whole lotta perch down there and they were a feedin'. Almost as soon as my line stopped on the drop I would raise the rod tip and feel a fish. Didn't actually bring in any doubles today but there were long periods of time when every drop was an instant munch...one at a time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It may have been over two years since I last fished Jordanelle but I made up for lost time today...at least on perch. That fishing was faster than even any I have had at Starvation for the past few years. True, there were too many dinks...under 7 inches. But the average size was a respectable 8-9 inches. Quite a few ten inchers went in my basket and about 4 or 5 actual footlongs. Better than my last few trips to Starvy.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I could not begin to give a reasonable estimate of the total numbers of perch I caught today. Easily over 100. I kept about 30 to fillet and released several times that number. I went through over 2 boxes of crawlers...just tipping a small piece on the jig hooks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Had a couple of good sized trout on that arranged an early release for good behavior. I kept one 14 incher that gulped a jig and was bleeding a bit. Oh yeah, I also caught one smallie about 8 inches but he didn't want to wait around to get his picture taken and my other rod was getting jiggy wit it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Only a couple of other anglers out in boats today. Couldn't tell whether they were doing any good or not. One of the highlights of the day was when I was loading up to leave I was greeted by a tall shapely paddleboard person who was just heading out into the cool wind-chopped water. The poor girl must not have had enough money to buy clothes because she was not wearing enough to help keep her warm. I was wearing neoprene waders and glad of it. I hope we don't find her frozen into the ice in a couple of months.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]See...THE END.[/#0000ff]
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[gettheskunkoff]

Now that's the way to END a day! Nice catch on beautiful day.
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[high_n_dry]

Great report as always.

Darn, missed out on this trip, sounds like fun. Might have to head that way here soon to get some more use out of the Park Pass. Been winterizing and working long hours this week so fall fishing got put on hold.

You picked what looks to have been a great day to bob around.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Hadn't heard from you so I assumed you had some kind of feeble excuse. Winterizing? To me that is just adding another layer under the waders and putting more hot sauce on my breakfast burrito.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]This was a "typical" late season trip for me. Several options...not decided until about 4 am this morning with a last minute check of weather conditions. Of course I was leaning toward Da Nelle but all indicators helped make the final decision. I have had some trips where I had to scramble and make some last minute changes to the tackle selection for a new venue.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Got new gas in your snow blower yet? Won't be long now.[/#0000ff]
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[CoyoteSpinner]

So is there a lake-cam at Jordy? That would have been quite the you-tube-dude-esque snap to have grabbed. Hahah....

YOU found that fall perch-bite I've been thinnin' I oughta go chase! Nice! I dig it when they can't get enough, and them come up pretty chunky - 8 and ups. Still have that personal benchmark of a footlong, or plus - perch.
Had the kittens going like that last night. Every pitch - wait for it - 1-2-3, pink. Even with just small fish, that's just some fun there - I don't care who y'are!

I played the game of - "ok - how many more can I milk out of this snibbet of worm - b4 putting something fresher on" sometimes ya just gotta make yer donations....

[high_n_dry]

Hate it (winterizing). I'll never have another I/O in snow country, but I do love the large swim / fishing platform on the back that's usually lacking on a outboard.

Got pretty used to taking the Pontoon out the last few weeks so I definitely missed it. Let me know if and when you decide to do Pineview. I'd like to hit that one for sure. Sounds like next weeks weather may not be too good.

Going to sell the snow blower this year, and stick to the shovels. Our snow is so wet where I'm at it constantly plugs up and is more of a pain in the *&@# than it's worth.
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[brookieguy1]

Glad you found the pearch bud. Thanks for the report. All stories should END like that. You know she did that pose just for you.
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[TubeDude]

"So is there a lake-cam at Jordy? That would have been quite the you-tube-dude-esque snap to have grabbed."

[cool][#0000ff]There are several launch sites around Jordanelle but only one lake cam. It is at the main State Park ramp...at Hailstone. The PWC ramp is across the big state park peninsula and is in a completely opposite direction (south) from where the lake cam points (north) at the main ramp. I always have to take those things into consideration. I just hate it when I get back to the forum and find out that everybody on the board has been watching me pick my nose on camera...or some other disgusting thing.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Those fish yesterday were definitely "on the chew". They had big schools of baby perch bunched up in the stickups and were slurpin' 'em down before they went deeper for the winter. When fish school and are in the presence of a food source it can be ridiculously easy to load up. Fish are always more active and competitive under those conditions. We won't talk about all the other trips and the other times when that doesn't happen.[/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

[quote brookieguy1]Glad you found the pearch bud. Thanks for the report. All stories should END like that. You know she did that pose just for you.[/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]I probably coulda got some better pics if I hadn't tripped over my lower jaw while scrambling for my camera. Lucky I got that one shot because her BIG male companion was just getting down to the ramp with his paddleboard and I quickly hid the camera. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Discretion is the better part of cowardice.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And somehow getting a picture of him just didn't have much appeal. That's not the way I roll, ya know?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And now, folks, you have "The Rest of The Story".[/#0000ff]
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[PIKEMAN99]

Well if I would have known that was you over there in the gravel pits. I would have sent more of a wake to ya to Jingle your jigs. I was just out around GPS'ing some fishing spots why it was low. So I can take this 700 series hummingbird and screw up all them guys with 2000 watts like they screw up me with my vexlar. It's like christmas at my house, thanks again for the gifts. It sure was a beautiful day out there.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Okay, who is hacking into Pikeman's BFT account and posting under his name? The REAL Pikeman would NEVER admit to boating on a perch lake without doing some fishing...even if he did have some diabolical plan of sonar retribution to use during the upcoming ice season.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was a beautiful day. Even better when the perch were pesterin' me. But my hands are covered with perch rash today. Spiny little suckers. And they always wanna flip and cut you with those gills just as you are releasing them or putting them in the basket. Nasty.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad you liked the new trinkets. I got my Gizilla care package too. Can't wait to try them with some of my custom colored wobble head jigs.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hey, I got an idea. Maybe we can gang up on the fishies together sometime soon and give all that new stuff a real workout.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the way, I caught most of my bigger perch yesterday on that red-head "jingle jig" with the RC Killer tube skirt. No dainty bites. Just SLAM.[/#0000ff]
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[PIKEMAN99]

No it really was me. I didnt even drown a worm. But I did want to GPS all them spots while it was super low. Yes i think its a great idea we should get together and put the hurt on the Perch somewhere. Thanks again for the goodies. Glen
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[SBennett]

Pat,

You just brought back some great memories for me from that part of the lake.
I have a picture of my son holding up two large stringers of perch caught exactly how and where you described. He is now 21 and in the picture he was about 8 or so.

Thank you!
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[redfrog]

The end..ahahahahahahahahahaah!!!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]You are most welcome my friend. Happy I could make you happy by providing a trip down memory lane. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That whole stretch of shoreline has a variety of depths and structure and it often holds some fish if you can find them and figure them out. It has made for some saved trips for me when I couldn't find fish anywhere else.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here's a bonus pic I didn't post before...while I was surfing back to the ramp on the afternoon zephyr.[/#0000ff]
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[wiperhunter2]

Good to hear the perch are making a come back, seems few have been caught the last few years, or could it be no one is reporting their success[].
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Most of us dedicated die-hard perch-jerkers have pretty much put Jordy on the plan B list...only if we can't go someplace else. Since the big die-off about 4 or 5 years ago the overall perch population has really been low and the fishing slow.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The lack of serious perch pressure and a few years of good spawning have increased the numbers. More perch started showing up in 2011 but it still was not much good during ice season. Then, in 2012 there were more reports of folks catching perch while fishing for bass or trout...and some even began fishing for perch...with some success.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have had a couple of off-the-board reports of some good sized schools of good sized perch showing up. So I decided to check it out. From what I could see...in the limited area I fished...there are indeed more perch back in Jordanelle and the sizes make it worth going after them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]With lower water levels the lake should freeze well this winter. I hope to try out some formerly productive low water spots for ice fishing. If nothing else there are always the nice browns, bows and chubosauruses.[/#0000ff]
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[fish_fear_me2]

WOW its been a couple years or more since I fished jordanelle for perch. Things are looking up. Glad ya found a bunch to play. Looks like a few were pretty nice. Might add that to my ice fishing list this year.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Yeah, between iffy ice and poor reports from those who hit it Jordanelle has not been a priority with me for a while either. I last got good open water perch about 4 years ago and a bit of good ice fishing the following winter. Then it crashed.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There have been a few folks this year who have found both numbers and sizes. Looking better.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]See you guys on the hard deck.[/#0000ff]
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[SBennett]

Pat,

Recognize the background?

Shane
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