Erie Perchin'

[AtticaFish]

Set the alarm for 5:00AM Saturday (8-18) and headed up to meet my Dad to get out on Erie for the day. Forcast on Friday evening was calling for North winds, 1-3' waves diminishing down to 2' or less. Sounds good and Dad's 24' boat should handle it fine. As i am just getting in my car on Saturday morning before the sun is up, get a call from my Dad that they changed the forcast....... 2-4 footers and out of the N-E ...... N-E generally makes people grumble on the western basin of Erie since the waves can build up all the way across the lake. Forcast sounded iffy now but we decided to give it a try.

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Ride out of West Harbor - nice and flat.

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Soon as we got out past the last set of break wall, wind was straight in our face and easily 4' waves. Made the slow/rough ride into the waves to tuck in behind the South end of Kelly's Island. Pulled in a few perch but was slow. We picked up and moved 3 times before we found some decent fish.

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Looking back towards mainland as we left our 1st spot - Cedar Point amusement park and Marblehead lighthouse on the point.


Tried inside a large pack of boats that formed. We didn't stick around there for long. Not many bites and saw very few catching anything.

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Found the perch in ~26 FOW in between Kellys and South Bass Islands. Had a good view of Perry's Monument on S.Bass/Put-In-Bay. Wind had slowed up considerably but it took awhile before the waves laid down.

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Ended up bringing home 34 Y.Perch that were minium of 7" and a few at 9". I gave my Dad some grief since out of the 34, he only put 6 fish in the cooler! Haha! He was using a perch spreader trying to estimate how far off the bottom he was and i had made some loops in my line to place weight on bottom and 2 hooks above. No guessing as long as i had my weight on bottom. Not sure if that was the key or just dumb luck but think i convinced my Dad to give it a try. I caught a few on night crawlers but most were caught on lake shiners. Had some 'teaser' flies tied on my top loop for awhile but no fish on those. Lots of white perch and a few sheephead/drum throw backs.

Fun day.

 

[CrappieHappy]

nice going Russ! nothing like spending time with Family. Them are some mightly tasty looking fillets...

 

[Lost Pole]

Wow, great pics! Could almost feel the wind in my face. 26 FOW sounds like work. Curious as to if y'all used a FF to find em? Or was it just a known hot spot? Structure?
Great catch…gotta eat on of those purty fish one day.

 

[Fatman]

Attica

Great looking perch!!!!!! gonna be some good eating right there, and Lost they are tasty!!!!!!!!!!

Have you ever cleaned them by cutting the head off, cut down each side of the back fin and pulling it, then peeling the skin right off. I Know it leaves the bones in but after cooking it pulls right off the bones.

It seems like it takes forever to flilet perch!!!!!! My wife taught me the above method!!

Good eatin buddy!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jig Man]

Glad you were able to spend some time with your dad... especially fishing.

 

[SaltyBuckster]

Nice report.Worked all day on my boat and Durango for the saltwater trip starting Thursday morning after a 3 1/2 hour drive.It will look exactly like your water was and I'll be happy,lol.

 

[Radtexan]

Sounds like a great trip Russ...some good looking water and some quality time with Dad !!

 

[baitmaster]

Russ,
Sounds like a great trip with Dad. It is aways great when you can give them a hard time for not catching as meny fish.

 

[AtticaFish]

Lost Pole - This was all open water with really not much structure..... changes in bottom type are good to find though. 26 FOW is'nt too bad for Erie, the western basin is all pretty shallow and it isn't too far a run to the N-E to get into ~50'. Central and eastern basin drops deep quick! We would motor around to some areas where friends/reports have said they caught some recently then slow down with the FF on looking for little lumps tight to the bottom. Perch hold VERY tight to bottom and got to get bait down right on their noses.

Fatman - I am very careful to get every bone out that i can..... wife will litterally stop eating dinner if she bites into a bone. I fillet, skin then zipper out the small line of bones between the shoulder and belly meat. Some waste but then everybody eats.

Was a fun day with Dad.... maybe CAN teach an old dog new tricks. He asked me bunch of questions about how i tied my loop knots and such. He went back out on Monday with one of his friends and actually used a rig setup similar to mine - he set aside the perch spreader!!! Keep trying to talk him into using the 3366 Mustad sproats instead of aberdeens...... baby steps.

 

[Ron Don]

Great Trip. Maybe one day i will head North and fish water like that!

 

[StumpHunter]

Looks like a good time with your dad fishing. Those pics are nice, congrats on the day.

 

[AtticaFish]

Come on up! Can get you out on the BIG water in my Dad's boat or one of the 20 or so other smaller inland lakes in the area..... i've got the kayaks, you'll just have to haul one up the hill. Cedar Point is a hop and skip away - can make it a 'family' trip.

Great Trip. Maybe one day i will head North and fish water like that!

 

[Pup]

I miss those days of fishing on the big lake (Michigan) aboard a 28' Marinette and, occasionally, a Sea Ray. T'was a blast. Thanks for reviving many pleasant memories of mine with your report AF.

BTW, I didn't notice any downriggers or rod holders aft. Your Dad trolls flat lines, casts, or still fishes, correct?

Ever need a deckhand?

 

[AtticaFish]

Pup - You are correct. Really no need for the downriggers at this end of Erie since it is so shallow but he does use Dipsy and Jet divers sometimes. Also has the outrigger poles to run planer boards. Trolling has never been a favorite of mine but sometimes it is the best option. I'd rather anchor or drift and have my hand on the rod at all times.

Deckhand - My Dad is retired now...... thinking just about anyone could knock on his door and say they wanna go fish and he will be ready in short order. He had a windless anchor mounted this spring so hauling the anchor by hand is one less chore for the deckhand.

BTW, I didn't notice any downriggers or rod holders aft. Your Dad trolls flat lines, casts, or still fishes, correct?

Ever need a deckhand?

 

[Pup]

AF,

Erie seems like a fine lake to fish and spend one's later years. Time flies by so terribly quickly. Fish with your Dad as often as you can.

 

[papaperch]

Russ maybe one of these days I can show you why my user id is papaperch. My favorite saying when reeling in a fat jumbo " come to papa ". But only if your dads sense of humor is like yours. As I like to chortle quite a bit when whunping up on my not so fortunate perchin parnters on any given day.

Some guys are great walleye sticks , some are great at bass snatching while some are blessed to be crappie crankers.

Me I have been blessed to be a perches worst nightmare. While I rather enjoy that rep as well as eating them.
My other alias is " cat daddy " or it could be "rough fish ralph " as my other great talent is the throwback species.
Those two nickers I tend to run rather silent on.

 

[papaperch]

ooops almost forgot "sheepish sam "

 

[AtticaFish]

Bill - you'd be more than welcome on his boat anytime. He took a fair bit of chuffing as i was reeling in the perch (even a few doubles) and he was hardly loosing minnows. I made sure he knew it when i pulled the clicker as i threw one in the cooler. Some days those


...........you like how i invited you on HIS boat?? haha. Believe me - he would be all for it. Give us a heads up and i am ready.