Premature Perch Search...Willard 10-1-24

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I knew it was probably too early for a serious “perch search” on Willard.  Been a lot warmer this year.  Perch don’t start showing up in numbers until the water cools down a bit more.  But, hey, I figgered there would always be something to play with.  Right?  RIGHT!
 
Launched at the south marina about 7:30…along with Curt & Ira.  Air temp was a brisk 40 degrees…only warming to 65 by noon departure.  Water temps 62 inside the marina but 64 in the main lake…warming only about 1 degree by noon.  Calm and sunny all morning.
 

The “deadly duo” (Curt & Ira) headed out to pester some young wipers.  I started off by at least looking for some perch.  Slow dragged some minnow tipped small fligs just outside the marina…in the deeper channel and up on the shelves on both sides.  Saw a few perchlike marks on sonar but didn’t prove or disprove their species.  Nary a sniff.
 
Stowed the rods and began motoring toward the feed lot…making big S turns and watching the sonar and side scan for signs of life.  Covered water from the previously successful 13 feet out to over 18 feet…the current bottom in that area with lowering water levels.  A blip here and a blip there but nothing worth dropping my rigs back in.
 
About 8:10 I motored in closer to the dike…just for a looksee.  Saw some shad in about 12 feet of water and then started seeing other “bottom anomalies”.  Slowed my motor down to about .5mph and dropped over a couple of my new wired body fligs…tipped with small chub minnows.  Within a few minutes I went bendo on kitty #1…a feisty 2-footer that wanted the “pistachio” flig…chartreuse with 3 red spots.  As you can see in the attached pic, he was only in 11 feet of water…and came aboard at 8:23.


After that I really got busy…being hooked up almost constantly.  My second was another 2-footer that munched the blue-silver wired body flig.  I caught fish on those two colors all morning.  I often got hits on my second rod while bringing in a fish on the first rod…and actually landed several doubles.
 

I didn’t get an exact count of how many cats I caught.  I kept a fairly close count until about 15.  Then I had a fast and furious flurry of several more…including a couple of the doubles.  I’m guessing I probably netted around 25 total.  I had brought only one bag of minnows…with over 20 in the bag.  I started out using whole ones but as the supply started going fast, I began cutting them in half and getting two fish per minnow.  And  after I ran out of minnows, I tried baiting with crawlers.  Din’t make no never-mind to those active cats.  I caught a few on crawlers too.
 

I was more than happy with the size and vigor of the cats.  Most were between 22 – 24 inches.  At least 4 were honest “2-footers”.  2 were an inch beyond the edge of my 24” plastic “sushi board” apron.  And one was about 2 inches longer…a 26 incher.   One of the last fish I caught…on worms…was the smallest…somewhere between 18-20”.
  

Just as I was undoing a tangle caused by a rambunctious double…and getting ready to head back to the ramp for my noon curfew…Curt and Ira motored up to exchange pleasantries.  They had caught a bunch of small wipers but had not been fishing for cats.  I told them I had been doing well in the shallows and then left to troll cranks back into the ramp.  Had a couple of whacks on the way in but no hookups.  Nuttin’ but whiskery perch for the day.  But some problems are better to have than others.  Only kept 2 for the cleaning station…which was in good working order…thankfully.