Fishing Forum - Rockport Disappointment 9-5-23

After all the good recent reports on Rockport I pointed my float tube that direction for a perchfest. But found that the Labor Day weekend storms and cold front had really dropped the water temps...and changed the fishing. Air temp at launch was a chilly 41 degrees...and I put on some gloves. Water temp was only 62 at the ramp and barely 64 in the open lake.

The results of the drop in water temp completely changed the ecology and the food chain. The hordes of baby perch formerly swarming the shallows...and attracting bigger perch and smallies...had disappeared out into the depths. I saw some schools of baby perch at mid depth in deep water...down as far as 35 feet. But no schools of larger perch near them.

I did find some perch in depths from about 12 feet out to 30 feet...but no big schools. My best bites came at the 20 - 25 foot zones. I did catch quite a few perch but mostly dinks..."sub-toads". I did catch a couple around 10 inches but that was the largest. Oh yeah, I also hooked a planter bow out in 35 feet of water.

[/url][url=https://postimg.cc/n9KKkPf6] [Image: TENNER.jpg]

There were only a half dozen other boats on the lake. Some trolling for trout and kokes. Some fishing the known perch spots. There were three boats anchored up on "Perch Point"...the rock outcropping south of the ramp. I saw them bring in a few perch while dropping straight down in deeper water. But from what I could see their fish were mostly sub-toads too.

I covered a lot of water. I started to the south...past "perch point" and up toward the inlet. Made lots of S turns from shallow to deeper...watching sonar and dragging worm-baited whirly fligs. Lots of dink bites in some areas but noting on TV or my line in most areas. Finally fired up the "big motor" and headed up past the ramp to fish the rocky shoreline between the ramp and the dam. Never went all the way the dam. Saw very little on sonar and caught only a few more dinks in an hour and a half of serious searching. Off the water by noon.

I'm sure that once the weather stabilizes and surface temps bounce back up a bit that the perchin' will get better again. It is usually good through about the first of October most years. Might give it another shot soon to allow it to be nicer to me next time.

I’ve been looking forward to seeing how you did, it was good seeing you on the ramp! I never found any kokes, and I did get a three species day with a quadrillion perch, a couple nice bass, and a trout.

(09-06-2023, 03:34 PM)Redrebel Wrote: [ -> ]I’ve been looking forward to seeing how you did, it was good seeing you on the ramp! I never found any kokes, and I did get a three species day with a quadrillion perch, a couple nice bass, and a trout.

Good seeing you again too. Wondered if you found any kokes. Sorry you didn't.

Any size to your perch? Most of mine were only 6-7 inches. That other guy who fished around the ramp from his pontoon did catch a few larger ones...and a couple of smallies. But he was also disappointed in the downturn. He has been hitting it fairly often and noticed the decline after the weekend.

I've been waiting for water temperature to drop, because of your report I think I'll switch plans and checkout willard. Going up this afternoon need to add more to my map making.
Water temps at Rockport sound good for some fall walleye. Maybe soon we'll see that improve.

The only time I really could get a good size to them is when I spot locked and could get my worm down below the smaller ones. There seem to be some larger ones below them and those are the ones that I kept. I didn’t measure them and I don’t want to guesstimate on the size, but they were considerably larger than the ones I was catching all day.
The disappointing part about the trip is all of the small perch that I caught while trying to find the kokes. Still in my knee brace and not as limber because I’m recovering it was a lot of work, throwing those downrigger’s down 40 times.

(09-06-2023, 03:46 PM)doitall5000 Wrote: [ -> ]I've been waiting for water temperature to drop, because of your report I think I'll switch plans and checkout willard. Going up this afternoon need to add more to my map making.
Water temps at Rockport sound good for some fall walleye. Maybe soon we'll see that improve.

No walleyes in Rockport...yet. Or were you referring to Willard? Or Echo? I have caught walleyes in shallower water in Willard by about mid September some years. This year in higher water I plan to work the Eagle Beach area again. It has produced well in other high water years during the fall.

(09-06-2023, 02:54 PM)TubeDude Wrote: [ -> ]After all the good recent reports on Rockport I pointed my float tube that direction for a perchfest. But found that the Labor Day weekend storms and cold front had really dropped the water temps...and changed the fishing. Air temp at launch was a chilly 41 degrees...and I put on some gloves. Water temp was only 62 at the ramp and barely 64 in the open lake.

The results of the drop in water temp completely changed the ecology and the food chain. The hordes of baby perch formerly swarming the shallows...and attracting bigger perch and smallies...had disappeared out into the depths. I saw some schools of baby perch at mid depth in deep water...down as far as 35 feet. But no schools of larger perch near them.

I did find some perch in depths from about 12 feet out to 30 feet...but no big schools. My best bites came at the 20 - 25 foot zones. I did catch quite a few perch but mostly dinks..."sub-toads". I did catch a couple around 10 inches but that was the largest. Oh yeah, I also hooked a planter bow out in 35 feet of water.
[/url][url=https://postimg.cc/n9KKkPf6]

There were only a half dozen other boats on the lake. Some trolling for trout and kokes. Some fishing the known perch spots. There were three boats anchored up on "Perch Point"...the rock outcropping south of the ramp. I saw them bring in a few perch while dropping straight down in deeper water. But from what I could see their fish were mostly sub-toads too.

I covered a lot of water. I started to the south...past "perch point" and up toward the inlet. Made lots of S turns from shallow to deeper...watching sonar and dragging worm-baited whirly fligs. Lots of dink bites in some areas but noting on TV or my line in most areas. Finally fired up the "big motor" and headed up past the ramp to fish the rocky shoreline between the ramp and the dam. Never went all the way the dam. Saw very little on sonar and caught only a few more dinks in an hour and a half of serious searching. Off the water by noon.

I'm sure that once the weather stabilizes and surface temps bounce back up a bit that the perchin' will get better again. It is usually good through about the first of October most years. Might give it another shot soon to allow it to be nicer to me next time.

I have never had a good relationship with Rockport, always treats me poorly, whether on the boat or hard deck. Just can't figure it out. Looks like you were able to sort out the transducer issue, hopefully it was an easy fix. thanks for the post and pics!

(09-06-2023, 02:54 PM)TubeDude Wrote: [ -> ]After all the good recent reports on Rockport I pointed my float tube that direction for a perchfest. But found that the Labor Day weekend storms and cold front had really dropped the water temps...and changed the fishing. Air temp at launch was a chilly 41 degrees...and I put on some gloves. Water temp was only 62 at the ramp and barely 64 in the open lake.

The results of the drop in water temp completely changed the ecology and the food chain. The hordes of baby perch formerly swarming the shallows...and attracting bigger perch and smallies...had disappeared out into the depths. I saw some schools of baby perch at mid depth in deep water...down as far as 35 feet. But no schools of larger perch near them.

I did find some perch in depths from about 12 feet out to 30 feet...but no big schools. My best bites came at the 20 - 25 foot zones. I did catch quite a few perch but mostly dinks..."sub-toads". I did catch a couple around 10 inches but that was the largest. Oh yeah, I also hooked a planter bow out in 35 feet of water.
[/url][url=https://postimg.cc/n9KKkPf6]

There were only a half dozen other boats on the lake. Some trolling for trout and kokes. Some fishing the known perch spots. There were three boats anchored up on "Perch Point"...the rock outcropping south of the ramp. I saw them bring in a few perch while dropping straight down in deeper water. But from what I could see their fish were mostly sub-toads too.

I covered a lot of water. I started to the south...past "perch point" and up toward the inlet. Made lots of S turns from shallow to deeper...watching sonar and dragging worm-baited whirly fligs. Lots of dink bites in some areas but noting on TV or my line in most areas. Finally fired up the "big motor" and headed up past the ramp to fish the rocky shoreline between the ramp and the dam. Never went all the way the dam. Saw very little on sonar and caught only a few more dinks in an hour and a half of serious searching. Off the water by noon.

I'm sure that once the weather stabilizes and surface temps bounce back up a bit that the perchin' will get better again. It is usually good through about the first of October most years. Might give it another shot soon to allow it to be nicer to me next time.

Pat,
I was gonna try and do a quick trip from the tube this evening after work since it is really close by. Too bad you didn't find the nicer perch. I hope the spot I hit last month will still have some of the bigger ones there. Gonna kick around and look for schools and vertical fish them. Thanks for the report and info.
Gabe

(09-06-2023, 04:54 PM)Freakyfisherman Wrote: [ -> ]Pat,
I was gonna try and do a quick trip from the tube this evening after work since it is really close by. Too bad you didn't find the nicer perch. I hope the spot I hit last month will still have some of the bigger ones there. Gonna kick around and look for schools and vertical fish them. Thanks for the report and info.
Gabe

They gotta be somewhere. Hope you find them again. I found only small groups of two or three fish at a time and no real stacked schools as I have before. And I did do some vertical presentations with a variety of jigs. In fact, that's how I got the two larger fish I caught.

Too bad on only catching small perch but that's better than getting skunked. I was going to go back up this week but too much going on (colonoscopy today, lucky me) this week. I think I'm going to go back up next week. Perch Point is where I told you the large pontoon boat was fishing last week and that is what they were catching. They never moved in the 3.5 hours I was there. After reading your report maybe it's a good thing that I haven't been able to go. Thanks for your report I was anxious to see how you did after you said you were going up there.

(09-06-2023, 09:48 PM)lovetofish Wrote: [ -> ]Too bad on only catching small perch but that's better than getting skunked. I was going to go back up this week but too much going on (colonoscopy today, lucky me) this week. I think I'm going to go back up next week. Perch Point is where I told you the large pontoon boat was fishing last week and that is what they were catching. They never moved in the 3.5 hours I was there. After reading your report maybe it's a good thing that I haven't been able to go. Thanks for your report I was anxious to see how you did after you said you were going up there.

With the decent weather forecast for the next week or so it just has to get better. That weekend storm and drop in temperatures is almost a guarantee that it will affect the fishing for a few days. But, eternal optimist that I am I figured I could overcome all that with my superb knowledge and skills. I need a humility check once in a while.

Hope you knock 'em dead on your next trip. Let us know.

Sorry the perch did not work out. Just an FYI there are good number of carp minnows in your spot down stream.

(09-07-2023, 03:44 AM)Cowboypirate Wrote: [ -> ]Sorry the perch did not work out. Just an FYI there are good number of carp minnows in your spot down stream.

Thanks for the head-up on the minnows. Probably won't get up that way to harvest any. But I think I have enough left-handed blue-eyed chubs to carry me through the end of the year.