LINK TO VIDEO
Met up with JJAnnie at the north marina and got launched about 7ish. The goal was for an ABC (Anything But Cats) day...but (as usual) turned out to be an NBC (Nuttin' But Cats) day.
Air temp at launch was a decent 56 degrees...warming to 75 by noon departure. Water temps in the harbor were only 73...but a degree warmer outside in the main lake...warming only to about 65 by midday. Since my self imposed cutoff for going without waders is about 65 degrees that will likely be my last trip waderless this year.
![[Image: WILLARD-LAUNCH-9-26-23.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/s14d2QZz/WILLARD-LAUNCH-9-26-23.jpg)
Along with J & J I began fishing just outside the marina...alternating between slow-dragged mini fligs and vertical jigging with a variety of jigs. The hordes of fish seen the week before had largely moved out and we got no love.
After an hour or so I headed back inside the marina to see if it would treat me better. It did...sorta kinda. Still no perch but in a little over an hour I caught 4 cats. The two largest...24" and 25"...I had hooked on two different rods at the same time. And after an epic battle I got both of them in the same smallish net I use for float tubing.
![[Image: CAT-4.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/ppcS9DWw/CAT-4.jpg)
![[Image: DOUBLE-NETTER.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/nX6w2pQT/DOUBLE-NETTER.jpg)
![[Image: NO-PERCH.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/rzB0qHW3/NO-PERCH.jpg)
I probably could have caught a lot more cats if I had stayed inside the marina. But I was still anxious to try to find some cooperative perch. So I spent my last two hours covering a large area outside the marina...making big S turns in water from 10' deep to over 20'. I dragged mini fligs with minnows while moving and dropped a variety of jigs whenever I detected the potential for perchkind...which was not often. But no love over the full two hours.
There were only a few boats on the lake. And most of them moved around a lot...indicating a lack of hot action in any one spot. J &J cruised by a couple of times and we shared misery and frustration. I think they ended up with one cat and a dink wiper for the day. Not good.
![[Image: JJ-ANNIE.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/bs4TcLNw/JJ-ANNIE.jpg)
As on other recent trips, my sonar showed large numbers of small shad...at all depths. But there were some larger shad in evidence too...dimpling and jumping all over the lake. I took a picture of one recently deceased 4 incher I saw floating...before the birds slurped him up. Did see quite a few random bird strikes on the water but nothing that resembled a wiper boil...or even a simmer.
![[Image: SHAD-BALL.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/sMFp0XwB/SHAD-BALL.jpg)
![[Image: SHAD-FLOATER.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/hJDQH7xG/SHAD-FLOATER.jpg)
Met up with JJAnnie at the north marina and got launched about 7ish. The goal was for an ABC (Anything But Cats) day...but (as usual) turned out to be an NBC (Nuttin' But Cats) day.
Air temp at launch was a decent 56 degrees...warming to 75 by noon departure. Water temps in the harbor were only 73...but a degree warmer outside in the main lake...warming only to about 65 by midday. Since my self imposed cutoff for going without waders is about 65 degrees that will likely be my last trip waderless this year.
Along with J & J I began fishing just outside the marina...alternating between slow-dragged mini fligs and vertical jigging with a variety of jigs. The hordes of fish seen the week before had largely moved out and we got no love.
After an hour or so I headed back inside the marina to see if it would treat me better. It did...sorta kinda. Still no perch but in a little over an hour I caught 4 cats. The two largest...24" and 25"...I had hooked on two different rods at the same time. And after an epic battle I got both of them in the same smallish net I use for float tubing.
I probably could have caught a lot more cats if I had stayed inside the marina. But I was still anxious to try to find some cooperative perch. So I spent my last two hours covering a large area outside the marina...making big S turns in water from 10' deep to over 20'. I dragged mini fligs with minnows while moving and dropped a variety of jigs whenever I detected the potential for perchkind...which was not often. But no love over the full two hours.
There were only a few boats on the lake. And most of them moved around a lot...indicating a lack of hot action in any one spot. J &J cruised by a couple of times and we shared misery and frustration. I think they ended up with one cat and a dink wiper for the day. Not good.
As on other recent trips, my sonar showed large numbers of small shad...at all depths. But there were some larger shad in evidence too...dimpling and jumping all over the lake. I took a picture of one recently deceased 4 incher I saw floating...before the birds slurped him up. Did see quite a few random bird strikes on the water but nothing that resembled a wiper boil...or even a simmer.