09-09-2005, 03:53 PM
Was hoping to get out of town by today, but, my plans for skyline drive have had to be delayed a bit.
So, to console myself, I went perching again at Rockport with a buddy(non-BFTer) yesterday. Trolled(using hardbaits but no hits) our way to a spot where I thought they might be, and were going to drop anchor but, when I stopped the motor, and were getting the anchor ready, we drifted over a large patch of weed growth that was slightly breaking the surface and the boat came to a stop by itself and held fast - so, we didn't need to use the anchor to keep us in place.
We were in about 5-6 feet of water and I started with one of my homemade jigs(I just painted it) and my creatively dyed plastics sweetened with a piece of crawler and my friend casted a two jig rig. Got a few attention grabbers right off the bat but nothing serious. So, we changed tactics after a couple of minutes and I went to a worm on a circle hook under a float suspended 4 feet under the surface and my buddy went to a bottom rig with a bell sinker and a crawler on an aberdine hook. My partner got a small one on the first cast and I waited. He got another one on the next cast. I immediatedly reeled in and sent my worm down lower - just off the bottom.
We were fishing off the edge of the weed patch that held my boat fast against the slight wind. From my first cast of the new adjustment to my rig, the catching for both of us was non-stop untill the bite on the bottom quit completely. Either a new school moved in or the fish moved up the water column a bit. Then, the perch were taking our offerings from about 1-2 feet off the bottom on almost every cast - for the rest of the day. We put 40 perch in the live well and released probably over 100 each with about half a dozen bass in the mix - one of those released was picked off by a young seagull right in front of us almost immediately before it could get down deep enough to get out of harms way - after that, the dang bird stayed with us for hours waiting for another chance for some easy pickings - couldn't scare it away, so we ignored it as best we could.
We only hooked up with a few small bass - largest being about 10 inches(some of the perch we boated and kept were larger than that). When the wind and waves picked up(as they always do there), we trolled back to the boat ramp. This time, my buddy changed his tactic to a pop gear and worm. He got 4 good hits but could not capitalize on them - I got none on my Rapala, but was too busy negotiating with the wind and waves to change tactics.
Talked to another angler at the ramp while taking out that had caught 15 trout trolling pop gear and a worm at about the 20 foot depth level. He seemed kind of surprised of our success as he was unaware that there were perch and bass in there.
Summary for the day - Fantasic fishing, catching and a nice bucket of tasty perch fillets. All in all, another great day on the water - more than made up for the change in plans - for me that is - the hounds are still dissapointed to have to be stuck here in town for a few more days - maybe someday I'll get a supertanker or aircraft carrier - so I can take them too.
P.S. Once again, I took the camera, left it in my truck, and forgot to take the pictures. I did however, remember to get a photo of the bucket of the 80 perch fillets on my kitchen counter - I'll have to get TD or someone to help me upload it here after I can transfer it to my PC.
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So, to console myself, I went perching again at Rockport with a buddy(non-BFTer) yesterday. Trolled(using hardbaits but no hits) our way to a spot where I thought they might be, and were going to drop anchor but, when I stopped the motor, and were getting the anchor ready, we drifted over a large patch of weed growth that was slightly breaking the surface and the boat came to a stop by itself and held fast - so, we didn't need to use the anchor to keep us in place.
We were in about 5-6 feet of water and I started with one of my homemade jigs(I just painted it) and my creatively dyed plastics sweetened with a piece of crawler and my friend casted a two jig rig. Got a few attention grabbers right off the bat but nothing serious. So, we changed tactics after a couple of minutes and I went to a worm on a circle hook under a float suspended 4 feet under the surface and my buddy went to a bottom rig with a bell sinker and a crawler on an aberdine hook. My partner got a small one on the first cast and I waited. He got another one on the next cast. I immediatedly reeled in and sent my worm down lower - just off the bottom.
We were fishing off the edge of the weed patch that held my boat fast against the slight wind. From my first cast of the new adjustment to my rig, the catching for both of us was non-stop untill the bite on the bottom quit completely. Either a new school moved in or the fish moved up the water column a bit. Then, the perch were taking our offerings from about 1-2 feet off the bottom on almost every cast - for the rest of the day. We put 40 perch in the live well and released probably over 100 each with about half a dozen bass in the mix - one of those released was picked off by a young seagull right in front of us almost immediately before it could get down deep enough to get out of harms way - after that, the dang bird stayed with us for hours waiting for another chance for some easy pickings - couldn't scare it away, so we ignored it as best we could.
We only hooked up with a few small bass - largest being about 10 inches(some of the perch we boated and kept were larger than that). When the wind and waves picked up(as they always do there), we trolled back to the boat ramp. This time, my buddy changed his tactic to a pop gear and worm. He got 4 good hits but could not capitalize on them - I got none on my Rapala, but was too busy negotiating with the wind and waves to change tactics.
Talked to another angler at the ramp while taking out that had caught 15 trout trolling pop gear and a worm at about the 20 foot depth level. He seemed kind of surprised of our success as he was unaware that there were perch and bass in there.
Summary for the day - Fantasic fishing, catching and a nice bucket of tasty perch fillets. All in all, another great day on the water - more than made up for the change in plans - for me that is - the hounds are still dissapointed to have to be stuck here in town for a few more days - maybe someday I'll get a supertanker or aircraft carrier - so I can take them too.
P.S. Once again, I took the camera, left it in my truck, and forgot to take the pictures. I did however, remember to get a photo of the bucket of the 80 perch fillets on my kitchen counter - I'll have to get TD or someone to help me upload it here after I can transfer it to my PC.
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