06-20-2023, 01:12 AM
(06-19-2023, 09:40 PM)catchinon Wrote: Brett and I went to the Bay on Saturday hoping to catch some of those big perch and bigger walleye and wipers than we did last time. We got there a little after 6. We avoided the glut at the gate and goofed around long enough to be able to launch after them. I hate clusters at the ramp. We got out of the channel at 6:30 and blasted across the lake to the light pole. We were trying to fish the same way that Obi showed us last week. Unfortunately we discovered that my Minn Kota wouldn't pull us faster than 1.5 mph. We figured that a lot of walleye have been caught on bottom bouncers and worm harnesses at that speed. We didn't have much luck in doing that. After we drained two batteries we decided to use the main motor at idle. According to the app on Brett's phone we went between 2.0 and 2.6 mph. Yes, now we were cooking with gas. Somehow we had broken off all but one of the bottom bouncers, but we were happy to pull some cranks. We picked up three 12" perch and several walleye. We kept two eyes in the 17-18" range and threw back the smaller ones. I had set a goal to catch seven fish. I ended up with 6.5. We had a joint effort on a cat that tangled our lines so hopelessly that we weren't sure who hooked it so we each claimed a half. We were plagued by tangles all day and Brett got pretty frustrated untangling them all. Brett caught a similar number of fish. All my fish were caught on a number 5 Shad Rap in Firetiger. We both had bought a number of lures so we could experiment and have the best chance at finding some that worked. I know Brett caught at least one on the same lure as I used but he got some on different things but I don't remember exactly what. He'll probably chime in with some more information. We were using Brett's planers and a lot of the fish were caught on them.
The water was 68° when we started out and stayed there all day. I didn't check later in the day but I suppose it rose a few degrees. We fished back and forth along the west dike from the light pole to the corner. We varied our distance out, partially because of the power boats. We were in 18 fow near the dike and hit 26' at one point, but averaged around 24'. Since we have to come a long way and the catching didn't really start until the afternoon we stayed until 6. I just barely made it home before it got dark.
A side note. Those perch gave us a pretty big boost in the Spring Challenge. We're determined to place in the first two places at the end. Just saying.
Good work guys, I'm glad you found some fish. Why didn't you run the outboard from the start and just steer with the trolling motor?