Rockport Report

[Cowboypirate]

Finally got back to Rockport.

Went in the evening off the west shore, just before sunset. Still a lot of power boats playing. This was to be our second test with the Pugly Perch Bugs and with hanger shots (per Pats instructions) rigged dropshot style with bigger perch and smallmouth as the plan.

I left all the hanger shots on the table - so we went to an area that I knew had some less rocky base out past the rocks and used split shot as the drop shot weight. Lures were strictly Pugly Perch bugs tied to be about 4-9 inches off the bottom and tipped with a small piece of crawler. 

Cookie had the best success with a yellow body bug that had some sparkly bling as legs. I fished a beetle, black shell with cream body and yellow or black legs. We both caught well over 30 perch before sunset. Cookie caught two honest 12 inchers and we both caught some 11 and 10 inch perch - it was sure nice to see some real size for a change. Of course the ,majority were in the 6-9 inch range. It was a great evening. I actually kept perch and ate them. I love eating them but hate the knife work to get enough fillets. 

depth was 9 ft to 32 ft - I did not write down the temp

We caught them just letting the bug sit and a bit of wave action to create movement, but Cookies best fish, and mine, were caught doing a very slow reel in dragging and bouncing the bugs. Hits were very aggressive. No light biting perch today.


No smallies showed up. Wave action was pretty high with power boats running hard but the perch did not seem to mind. 

Here is the video.

https://youtu.be/gIde9ed_5IM




upload image online

[lovetofish]

Looks like a fun productive trip, nice video too.

[Tin-Can]

Good batch of Perch. I like eating them also, but also hate the knife work. On the small ones, I either release or keep for Catfish cut bait.  

Is there sound with your video, or am I just not turning it on correctly. I have my speakers on, but don't get anything from the video.

[Jig-fisher]

Nice job on the perch! I used to hate the knife work until I got an electric.  Now I can buzz through a batch of panfish pretty quick.  They fillet easier than most other varieties and you know the tasty results.

Looks like ice fishing is going to have some big perch to pursue at a few different lakes this year.

[Cowboypirate]

Good batch of Perch. I like eating them also, but also hate the knife work. On the small ones, I either release or keep for Catfish cut bait.  

Is there sound with your video, or am I just not turning it on correctly. I have my speakers on, but don't get anything from the video.

Ya there is sound. Not sure why its not working for you. I will PM you the link.

[Jmorfish]

Nice job Cowboy -- You guys do a good job, and I appreciate your videos...sound fine here...Hope I can find 'em this Winter there...

[fish_fear_me2]

Finally got back to Rockport.

Went in the evening off the west shore, just before sunset. Still a lot of power boats playing. This was to be our second test with the Pugly Perch Bugs and with hanger shots (per Pats instructions) rigged dropshot style with bigger perch and smallmouth as the plan.

I left all the hanger shots on the table - so we went to an area that I knew had some less rocky base out past the rocks and used split shot as the drop shot weight. Lures were strictly Pugly Perch bugs tied to be about 4-9 inches off the bottom and tipped with a small piece of crawler. 

Cookie had the best success with a yellow body bug that had some sparkly bling as legs. I fished a beetle, black shell with cream body and yellow or black legs. We both caught well over 30 perch before sunset. Cookie caught two honest 12 inchers and we both caught some 11 and 10 inch perch - it was sure nice to see some real size for a change. Of course the ,majority were in the 6-9 inch range. It was a great evening. I actually kept perch and ate them. I love eating them but hate the knife work to get enough fillets. 

depth was 9 ft to 32 ft - I did not write down the temp

We caught them just letting the bug sit and a bit of wave action to create movement, but Cookies best fish, and mine, were caught doing a very slow reel in dragging and bouncing the bugs. Hits were very aggressive. No light biting perch today.


No smallies showed up. Wave action was pretty high with power boats running hard but the perch did not seem to mind. 

Here is the video.

https://youtu.be/gIde9ed_5IM




upload image online

Good job. Nice to see a few larger perch scattered in there. Good eats.

[TubeDude]

No bout adout it.  The Pugly bugs work jes fine.  And I think when you have a need/chance to use the hanger shot rigs you will like those too.

[Tin-Can]

Good batch of Perch. I like eating them also, but also hate the knife work. On the small ones, I either release or keep for Catfish cut bait.  

Is there sound with your video, or am I just not turning it on correctly. I have my speakers on, but don't get anything from the video.

Ya there is sound. Not sure why its not working for you. I will PM you the link.

  I got the PM. Still no sound, so it must be something wrong on my end. Don't sweat it.

[TubeDude]

Good batch of Perch. I like eating them also, but also hate the knife work. On the small ones, I either release or keep for Catfish cut bait.  

Is there sound with your video, or am I just not turning it on correctly. I have my speakers on, but don't get anything from the video.

Ya there is sound. Not sure why its not working for you. I will PM you the link.

  I got the PM. Still no sound, so it must be something wrong on my end. Don't sweat it.

Not sure how familiar you are with watching Utubes.  But you have to first be sure your speakers are on.  Then, when the video comes up you often have to click on the sound button for the video too...as in the attached pic.  If that doesn't work maybe it's a "PEBKAC" problem (Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair).

[Tin-Can]

Good batch of Perch. I like eating them also, but also hate the knife work. On the small ones, I either release or keep for Catfish cut bait.  

Is there sound with your video, or am I just not turning it on correctly. I have my speakers on, but don't get anything from the video.

Ya there is sound. Not sure why its not working for you. I will PM you the link.

  I got the PM. Still no sound, so it must be something wrong on my end. Don't sweat it.

Not sure how familiar you are with watching Utubes.  But you have to first be sure your speakers are on.  Then, when the video comes up you often have to click on the sound button for the video too...as in the attached pic.  If that doesn't work maybe it's a "PEBKAC" problem (Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair).

  Yep, I did all  that.  But didn't work. So I opened up YouTube itself instead of just the link. Worked.

[Cowboypirate]

Nice job on the perch! I used to hate the knife work until I got an electric.  Now I can buzz through a batch of panfish pretty quick.  They fillet easier than most other varieties and you know the tasty results.

Looks like ice fishing is going to have some big perch to pursue at a few different lakes this year.

Do you (or anyone) have a favorite type of electric buzz saw for fillet work? I was pursuing online and the offerings are numerous, but I think  its time I join the modern era.

[TubeDude]

Nice job on the perch! I used to hate the knife work until I got an electric.  Now I can buzz through a batch of panfish pretty quick.  They fillet easier than most other varieties and you know the tasty results.

Looks like ice fishing is going to have some big perch to pursue at a few different lakes this year.

Do you (or anyone) have a favorite type of electric buzz saw for fillet work? I was pursuing online and the offerings are numerous, but I think  its time I join the modern era.

I have been a solid fan of the American Angler knives...110 volt and 12 volt portables...for quite a few years.  I got a Bubba Blade electric the first of this year and in my experienced opinion there is no finer.  A bit spendy but in terms of strength, efficiency, multiple blades, comfort and ergonomics it is superior in every way.  I got the 110 volt but know some serious anglers who got the rechargeable battery models and they love theirs too.

I once worked both in commercial fishing and on party boats in California.  I learned to swing a "regular" fillet knife pretty well and can still go through a stack of fish in short order.  But once I got used to letting the electric knife do most of the heavy lifting it was faster and more efficient.  Less effort and better end results.

Maybe we can do a meetup on Willard or some other water with a fish cleaning station sometime.  I will be happy to demo three different models of knives I use.  Anybody who likes perch or other panfish will giggle when they see how fast and efficient it is to zip off those small fillets with an electric.  Ditto for strong boned fish like catfish.  You can get a hernia (hisnia) from trying to hack through the tough ribs of a kitty with a regular blade.  But the electric just glides through them like nothing.

[wiperhunter2]

Nice job on the perch! I used to hate the knife work until I got an electric.  Now I can buzz through a batch of panfish pretty quick.  They fillet easier than most other varieties and you know the tasty results.

Looks like ice fishing is going to have some big perch to pursue at a few different lakes this year.

Do you (or anyone) have a favorite type of electric buzz saw for fillet work? I was pursuing online and the offerings are numerous, but I think  its time I join the modern era.

Nice sized perch Lance. I've been using a mister twister electric fillet knife for over 15 years now, with zero issues, I have replaced the blades once, it that amount of time.

[Jig-fisher]

I have a rapala electric and it comes with 2 blade sizes. Both blades have their uses depending on the size of the fish.  It is a 12 volt that has a 110 volt adapter.  In my opinion that is the only drawback.  I wish it would just plug right in to the outlet instead of the adapter, then the outlet.  BUT, if you are camping and there are no electric hookups, it is nice to just hook it up to a battery and do the dirty work on the spot.  I've had it for about 10 yrs now and have not had any issues.  I don't even use my regular fillet knife for fish anymore.

[JArner]

Great video and report. Glad to see those pugly perch jigs are working well for you.

For fathers day this year my bride picked up a fillet table and an XPS brand cordless knife for me. I'm not sure what the deal was but I think she got 1/2 off on the table if she bought the knife. The knife has been put to test on crappie, wipers, cats, perch, and blue gill. There are three blades in the set.

I'm sure the Bubba knife is a bit better and more ergonomic, but this one does the trick.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/bass-pro...lsrc=aw.ds

[Cowboypirate]

Pat, love to meet up somewhere to see your buzz saw tools. We are pretty flexible as to where / when as I am on the tail end of the house project and my heath has improved a bit - allowing a bit of get away time.

I will be hitting Echo soon to see if I can find those crappie

And we plan on chasing cats hard the next few weeks

[jjannie]

Do you (or anyone) have a favorite type of electric buzz saw for fillet work? I was pursuing online and the offerings are numerous, but I think its time I join the modern era.

We used to use battery operated Rapala blade but oft times it wasn't charged and often it wouldn't run for very long. We switched to an electric Mister Twister and have never looked back. Cleaning stations we've been to always have had power outlets to be used and we share the process one using the electric to make slabs and removing skin while the other removes the rib bones and rinses them off before bagging. Goes pretty fast and Mister Twister typically costs less than most the others.

No power? - we do have a larger Bubba Blade that works really well on wiper and catfish, but its too big when you have large batch of smaller panfish to clean.

[TubeDude]

Pat, love to meet up somewhere to see your buzz saw tools. We are pretty flexible as to where / when as I am on the tail end of the house project and my heath has improved a bit - allowing a bit of get away time.

I will be hitting Echo soon to see if I can find those crappie

And we plan on chasing cats hard the next few weeks

My schedule is probably more flexible than yours.  So let me know what you have planned and I will try to show up at a mutually convenient spot.

You've had some good input from others.  Ultimately you will have to make your own choice(s).  Over the years I have personally used just about everything on the market and have my own opinions.  Not to offend any of the other posters but I have been unhappy with the Mister Twister.  They are affordable but underpowered for my tastes.  I went through three of them in less than two years.  Rapalas?  Decent, but the blades are designed with sharp points that tend to rip into skin on the skinning process and don't do as well on thin-skinned fish.  American Anglers are still in my bag...and still get used.  But the Bubbas are better.

Here are a few pictures from my fillet knife past...including one of a terrible ergonomics one with a blue handle.  To operate this rechargeable battery model you had to simultaneously press two buttons...which was almost impossible with one hand.  To use it I epoxyed one of the buttons permanently in place.  It filleted okay but the batteries only lasted for a few fish.


[url=https://ibb.co/pb968M0][/url]

[Mildog]

I have been using electric knives to fillet since I took my moms carving knife out of the kitchen for a test spin over 40 years ago. There were not a lot of options back then. Now, as mentioned above there are lots of good ones. Both battery and plug in models. I have used most all of them. You can also buy inverters to plug in to cigarette lighter (harbor freight has some for under 10 bucks, so you can use your plug in model in boat or by vehicle or anywhere you have an adapter to plug it into. ( you can buy those adapters to put on portable batteries as well.)
One of my favorites is still the Green and Yellow Mr. Twister Electric fillet knife. Not too spendy and I have had them last for years, I have burned through only a few of them over 30 years, since I got the first one from the Store where I worked, but many thousands of fillets over many seasons before they give out. I use them on Bottom fish from the ocean, Stripers and all of the fish in Powell down to small panfish. The newer Mr. Twister ones have a sharpened chisel tip that is great for starting the cut on heavy scaled fish like stripers and works great for popping out cheek meat on walleye. Once you get good at it even small panfish are no problem and you can make short work of a big pile of fish.

I have a video from a while back a buddy and I made, I can't get it to load to post it here. In a nutshell the clip is 54 seconds long and 3 walleye were filleted in that time. We often have one person fillet and skin with an electric and the other take ribs off with a regular fillet knife, it is easy to take the ribs off with electric as well.
I can go through a batch of 40 perch in under 15 minutes no problem. Once you get the hang of it is a great way to go for panfish and other fish. About the only time I use a standard fillet knife anymore is for Kokes, they are so easy and quick no need for the electric although it works fine for that too.
Try it you will like it once you get good with it, It only takes a little practice.
Mildog out

---

Pat, love to meet up somewhere to see your buzz saw tools. We are pretty flexible as to where / when as I am on the tail end of the house project and my heath has improved a bit - allowing a bit of get away time.

I will be hitting Echo soon to see if I can find those crappie

And we plan on chasing cats hard the next few weeks

My schedule is probably more flexible than yours.  So let me know what you have planned and I will try to show up at a mutually convenient spot.

You've had some good input from others.  Ultimately you will have to make your own choice(s).  Over the years I have personally used just about everything on the market and have my own opinions.  Not to offend any of the other posters but I have been unhappy with the Mister Twister.  They are affordable but underpowered for my tastes.  I went through three of them in less than two years.  Rapalas?  Decent, but the blades are designed with sharp points that tend to rip into skin on the skinning process and don't do as well on thin-skinned fish.  American Anglers are still in my bag...and still get used.  But the Bubbas are better.

Here are a few pictures from my fillet knife past...including one of a terrible ergonomics one with a blue handle.  To operate this rechargeable battery model you had to simultaneously press two buttons...which was almost impossible with one hand.  To use it I epoxyed one of the buttons permanently in place.  It filleted okay but the batteries only lasted for a few fish.


[url=https://ibb.co/pb968M0][/url]