Pre-Work Perchin' 6/26am

Quite a few readers here are counting down the days until July, and so am I. Us perch fishermen only have a handful of days remaining before the season closes. Well, there's always trout and salmon to keep me plenty busy in the month of July and I'm definitely looking forward to those fishies.

Well, with time running out, I decided to get out on this sunny morning and try my luck with a couple of some regular perch crew members. Arrive at spot J late! I hit my snooze too many times :oops: . Got my jigs in the water around 545am. Three consecutive casts produced three perchies. Due to work duties, I had to leave the lake around 645 am. Only got an hour of fishing in, but was still able to put some fillets away. The perch crew fell a handful of fish short of a 3 man limit... not bad in a about an hour's work before work ;)

What worked -

My pal Tom was whacking perch on a custom spinner tipped with a piece of raw shrimp

Pal Keith did the best on paddlebugs - green

I did my damage with tiny albino flukes, run in tandem, 1/16 oz on the bottom, little lighter on the top.

Mimicking a molting crayfish is a little tricky with plastics, but it can be done. Just ask this 13.5" perch who got fooled...



And here's a couple pics from the morning. Enjoy. Happy Perching. Merry June :)2

Ninja Night Fishing 6/24

Did a little ninja night fishing tonight with Rootpro. I haven't been out much this week. I'm not a big fan of sweating my arse off. Thought I'd eat dinner at a normal time, wait for the sun to go down, and do a little ninja night fishing.

We were only out for about an hour tonight.

Got a blowup on a black buzzbait and had a real nice bass on, and naturally I blew it. Fish jumped, hook was spat right back at me. Oh well.

Keith connected with a decent 2.5#er or so. Same pattern - black buzzbait.



During the last half hour, I decided to try my midnight special rattln' spinner bait made by strike king. Two dink bass. Keith also picked up another dink on the bass.

Thought I'd share this brief report with everyone. It's awesome getting out there in the pitch dark and listening to bass explode on topwaters. We're trying to develop a pattern. Dark skirts seem to be doing better lately. Buzzbait bassing is definitely on, so find you favorite pond or lake and give ninja fishing a try.

Offshore with the Vets, 6/21

A pal of mine, Joel, gave me a call during the week and asked if I could be his co-captain for a Salmon Unlimited event - Take a Vet fishing.

The plan was to pick up a couple of military vets from North Point at 9am. Joel and I did some prefishing from 5am - 830am. No dice. Worked variety of spoons and dodger fly combos anywhere from 80' - 155'. Trolled in every which way direction, not even a hit.

Picked up 2 vets from NP around 930ish after some breakfast and coffee with intentions of getting on some fish and showing the guys a good time. Well, the only thing biting was the flies. We got chewed up. No wind on Lake Michigan on a boat = Human Buffet for the flies. Not fun.

We got 9 rods out, mixed up our offerings. Had bait bouncing off the bottom. Worked the thermocline. Worked the surface. Nothing!

I think the guys had a good time either way getting out on a boat and hanging out. Joel gave them his number and told them to give him a call Late July during prime time offshore king fishing. Very noble of him.

Oh well..next time, right?

The rains definitely messed things up. We dodged trees and debris up to 3 miles into the lake!

Perching 6/20 am

Finally got some west winds. Too bad the perch weren't around :(

I got keepers on my first 2 casts, then the bite vanished! Managed 1 more fish and had 1 fish donated to me. Ended up with a nice dinner, but I still haven't hit a limit day this spring!

All fish taken on tiny flukes

Night time buzzbait bassing 6/18

Hit up a newfound little pond around 10ish and gave it a shot for about 25 mins this evening. Had one blowup literally 5 feet in front of me. I was actually startled to see a fish come up and explode on my buzzbait right next to me. Keith picked up a dink bass, and I got one "keeper"

Post Softball Bassing 6/15

Note to self - Don't go to a swamp area when its pretty warm out after a softball game stinking of sweat. The mosquitos are insane!!!

After my game tonight I stopped at a local pond for about 30 mins and tried for some bass. Got quite a few taps on a 5" senko, then connected on one. Nice little bass. I would've stayed longer and tried more topwater buzzbaits as it got darker, but the bugs were too much for me

Tournament Bassing 6/13

Well, in my very first bass tournament of my life, my goal was to get on the board! I fished with a group of guys who have been fishing a tournament on Deep Lake for years and years. My goal was to avoid the skunk!

I hooked up with fish #1 with about 10 mins of effort put in, but the fish was too small to qualify. Shortly after I got fish #1 in the livewell! a 1#,11 oz bass! Keeper #1 hit a blue/black chatter bait off a deeper weed edge.

Keeper fish #2 came in right before the first weigh in. This one on a 5" darker senko in about 5 feet of water.

At the first weigh in, I brought two fish back to the docks with hopes of being in the hunt.

For the 2nd session, I worked hard, but was only able to land 1 more keeper. This one was a 15" bass.

I ended the day with 3 qualifying fish and a 9th place finish. I was one more fish away from the money! I'm really looking forward to my next event!

Here's a pic of me with my very first tourney bass -



I then shot off to Milwaukee for a baseball game with some friends.

On my way back, I saw a pond off the tollway that looked like it might hold some fish. I had my rods in the car, so I gave it a shot.

Success! It did have fish! I lost 3 decent sized bass, and landed 2 that were in the 14" range both on topwater buzzbaits. I also caught 2 crappies on a topwater popper. I'll have to check out this little pond again sometime for sure!



The highlight of this pond was Keith hooking into a nice 3 lb fish on a plastic worm. Nice fish Keith -

Perching 6/12

Got out for an hour this morning before work. 1 perch, 1 rockie. Nice morning, little action...

Perching 6/11 - Deadliest Catch Style

I awoke at 345 am and thought, "Perching, yes, no, maybe??" Logged online and checked current and hour by hour weather reports. NE winds, rain. Do I stay or do I go? Afterall, I have a full work day ahead of me. A few more hours of sleep wouldn't be a bad thing...

After a 30 second debate within myself, I put on my lucky plad shorts and my perch bloodied hoodie and hit the road.

My 1/32 and 1/16 oz jigs were no match for the waters that were smashing against the wall I was fishing. Do I shap rap it up? Na. Bigger jigs today. Retied with 1/8oz and 1/16 oz jigs in tandem, armed with 3" plastics.

Fishing was slow at the start, and a fellow angler suggested to me, "I think the perch are eating softshells, man." To which I replied, "Na, the perch are eating plastic."

Fishing with 10# power pro as my main line helped a ton. Jigging in NE winds and choppy conditions made it difficult to feel the taps. However, I was able to hookset on 8 keepers before I had to jet for work. Left the lake at 6:30 with a perch dinner for 3. Had I stayed another hour or so, I'm confident I would've hit a limit today.

Other anglers were picking up one here, one there.

Definitely a plastic bite today

I may try again tonight and attempt to hit the daily limit...

Mike

Perching 6/9

Hit the lakefront this morning, started at 445 am. I hit two keepers pretty much around 5 on the dot and I was thinking today would be a fantastic day. The winds shifted to north, temp dropped about 8 degrees, and the bite seemed to go dead for me. Managed a few more keepers and called it quits at 7:30. Time for work :(

As for the other anglers, I didn't see anyone with more than 5 fish. Couple fish here, couple fish there...

Tomorrow looks like crap. NE winds and cooler. I guess I'll have to give it a couple of days before trying again

Froggin' Deep Lake 6/6

Jaypee the HHF and myself hit Deep Lake a little later than we wanted to. Fished for a little bit tonight 630pm - 9ish. Very calm conditions. Lake was like glass and we pretty much had the entire lake to ourselves.

We concentrated on weedlines and shoreline structure for the first half of fishing. We worked spinners and swimjigss, but no takers. Did see a small pike follow my spinner bait in on one retrieve.

As the sunset approached, we switched tactics and focused on frog fishing in some of the thickest stuff we could find on the lake. Jaypee had a couple of blowups and then I had one. Determined to catch those fish that we missed, we tossed back in the areas of blowups. After my first blowup I chucked my frog in the exact same spot and got the fish to hit again. This time I waited until I felt that fish's weight and BAM! Fish on!





Jaypee tried but couldn't get a commitment from his first blowup. We drifted to some other shoreline and Jaypee caught two bass around this size.



Good fishing with ya today Jaypee. In the smaller time slot we were out there, I was very happy to see us both get on the board. Let the water warm just a little more and we'll be frogging all day!

Fishing the Chicago Lakefront 6/5

So here's the deal. NE winds this week completely killed the perch bite. Last night winds went SW and I gave it a go this morning. Too bad the perch weren't around.

I ended up with 3 fish. 2 dinks, 1 keeper that was tossed back into the lake.

I then went to the office and envisioned myself catching perch during the evening bite.

Got back out to the lake, and not a perch in site. Bewildered, I wasn't quite sure what to think. I mean, west winds, it was in the low 80s, the perch have got to be around!

West winds...hmm

West winds push out warmer shore surface water.

Are there any coho around???

Reached into my bookbag arsenal of tackle boxes and pulled out a KO Wobbler, Chrome/Green. With the wind to my back and my reel supported by 10 # braid, I was WINGING the spoons far into the lake.

BAM, fish on!

25" football!





There is at least one coho around!




I ended up with another solid bump but I was too busy chatting with another angler and I reacted too slowly. D'oh.

Oh well. Beautiful evening on the lakefront. Will the perch be in tomorrow? Time will tell.

Mike

5/31 - Perching in the AM, Bassing in the PM

Perching -

Keith and I hit the lakefront again this morning with high hopes of bringing home limits. Alarm went off at 3:30 am, grabbed a can of red bull, and headed out.

Keith and I got to our honey spot when it was still a little dark out (around 4:30 or so). Armed with 5 rods, each with a different rig, we were ready to catch perch. My first cast produced a nice battle. Pulled it up, rock bass! Bah.

Combined numbers for Keith and myself - 5 perch, a few gobies, 4 rock bass, and one seagull.

Keith somehow managed to hook into a diving seagull. I gotta admit, I was very entertained (is this wrong??). I've heard stories of people catching birds, but I was laughing in hysterics. Funniest thing I've seen in a while. Seagulls don't put up much of a battle. They pretty much crash into the lake and you gotta drag the thing in. So anyways, we get this thing on the pier, and it is pissed. It was flapping all over the place. I took of my hoodie and tossed it over the bird. This calmed it down. I was able to cut the line near the beak. The bird took off just fine. I was tempted to take a pic and post it, but I figured that some people would find it "mean". Haha, funny stuff.

Keith and I will probably be back at our spot soon. Hopefully we'll get some fish next time.






Bassing -

Keith and I hit IG for a couple hours this evening. I decided to take a pass on perch. I've been really hitting the lake hard the past week and decided to try for something else tonight.

Keith picked up three dink bass 9-11" on 5" senkos. I put on a frog and focused on the scum. There's a lot of thick stuff at IG right now. I wonder if they are planning a weedkill like the did last year...

Got a blowup and hooked into a 2# fish or so. Lost him on the second aerial. Bummer. Managed to induce another blowup next to a huge rock I saw in about 2 feet of water in some thick cover. Saw the strike (which is my favorite thing about topwater), waited...waited... (very important step with fishing with frogs), then set! fish on!

16" fish, but pretty damn skinny.

quick photo and released.

no other blowups on the night. good to see that bass are becoming more aggressive with the topwater bite.


fish was taken on a spro frog

Perching the lakefront 5/30 - slim pickens

It was a tougher day on the lakefront this morning. I heard reports from various harbors that things were generally on the slow side.

I fished for a few hours this morning. Good amount of guys out there, but not too many perch. One guy got a limit and the rest of us were picking up one here, one there.

Took home 6 perch. Biggest was 13.75". A real chunker

Jig bite was tough for me. Picked up a couple including some dinks. Shad raps worked best for me. Lost two jumbos and landed 4 good sized perch.

Harbor fishing after work 5/29

Got down to the lake and messed around for a little bit in a Chicago harbor. It was more of a leisure stroll, but I brought a rod with me. I was watching some huge drum feeding on some algae off some rocks, so I tossed a jig at them. One of those subs hit, and line popped. Oh well. Continued "sight fishing" for those stupid sheephead with jigs and this guy hit. Nice little rocky -




Tossed the rocky back, and then tossed jig in water. Jig was smacked by this hungry bugger - 15" smallie




I then called it a night.

Perching on the Lakefront 5/24

So fellas, if you haven't heard, here it is - The perch are starting to show up. I've collected positive reports from Montrose Harbor down to 63rd Street (aka Jackson). Time for me to put some fillets in the freezer!

Over the last week, the action has been sporadic. Some guys clobbered the perch on Thursday, but a shift on winds and a 25 degree temp drop (which actually occurred in the matter of 15 mins; guys who were out there know what I'm talking about) cooled the perching action off. Lake temp is currently about 56 degrees (was 58 on Thursday).

I hit the lakefront this morning (as I have done the last 4 mornings) looking for some of those tasty little buggers. Fished with Rootpro from 530 - 830 am. Action was best between 6-7am.

Highlights of the day -

-55-60 total fish caught
-17 fish carved into fillets and stowed in the freezer (keepers were 9" - 13") between the two of us.
-I might have caught my biggest perch from shore EVER today. The thing pulled some drag on me too
-Action was pretty much on all morning
The really fat perch were LOADED with alewives.



Methods of perch delivery -

- FIN-S shad rigged in tandem on 1/32 and 1/16 oz jigs (#1 bait this morning)
- Chartruese and green paddles bugs rigged in tandem 1/32 and 1/16 oz jigs
- BPS XPS shad rap knockoffs


JUMBOS!!



Great day to be on the lake. Next weekend should have better numbers of spring time jumbos. Good luck guys


Mike

First Spring Perching action 5/21 and 5/22

Got out both days for a about an hour each day before work on the lakefront. The perch are showing up!

Hit about 35 on 5/21, but only 8 on 5/22

9 keepers between the two days. Got some real nice jumbos though - 4 fish over 13"


Jigging paddlebugs was the ticket

Weekend Recap 5/16 and 5/17

5/16



Arrived at Lake Delavan at 6:30 am. I fished with pals Hank and Keith. Worked weed edges, bays, and channels. Tried for crappies and bass. Got...nothing. Big ole skunk. None of us even got a bite. Delavan was a new lake for us, but I was expecting SOMETHING! Oh well. The winds were extremely strong and made boat control a challenge. Highlight of my day was watching a snake pike follow a rattle trap I was tossing.

We used crappie minnows, lipless cranks, spinners, jig n' spinner combos, creature jigs, and even tried a little topwater. Skunk!

5/17

Fished Beck lake with Keith. We armed ourselves for a crappie bite. Worked a windblown shoreline from 6 - 830pm. There was steady action, but nothing out of the world. Collectively, we probably caught around 15 crappie, a couple of warmouth, 4 dink bass (5-12", including a couple that came on a crappie spinner I was tossing), and a pike.

Keith won big fish award today with a 22" hammer handle.

Harvested a handful of the larger crappie for a future meal.

My First Lake Michigan Smallie 5/15

Yes. I went fishing on a Friday night. A night where most of my peers are out rubbing elbows at the bar.

I decided to stay in and relax, save a few bucks. I also need to be up at 3:30 am tomorrow for a Lake Delavan outting.

But, I got bored. Wanted to get outside. Wanted to get my first smallie of lake Michigan.

Now, I've fished Lake Michigan for perch, trout, and salmon...but never tried for smallies. I've been hearing lots about them, how Lake Michigan has a strong and growing Smallie population..I just had to give it a try.

I was able to fish for about an hour before the cops kicked me out. 10pm- 11pm. 3 hookups, 1 fish landed. Got a look at one fish that flopped off - probably was around a 2#er. Landed this guy - ~14".

I worked a Poor boy rubber goby imitation on a 1/4oz jig head. Slow retrieves, bouncing off the bottom, lots of twitches.

This is addicting. I have discovered a new element to lake Michigan shore fishing

Deep Lake 5/9

Hit up Deep Lake with a pal. Fished from 3 - sunset. Fishing was slooow. Not a whole lot going on. We ended the day with a grand total of 3 bass boated. John with 2, and I got 1. Some bass are on their beds. We saw quite a few beds. One bed had (guestimate) 3 lb male and a 5lb hawg female. Maybe it was bigger... water distorts the size on things.

Here's a quick recap -

1 bass on lipless crank

2 bass on spinner

John brought his new toy - the thermometer. That thing was pretty slick. Warmest water we recorded was 61. Coldest was 52

Deep Lake 5/3

After spending my morning playing softball, I realized what a beautiful day this Sunday was shaping out to be. I wanted to get back out on the water and do some more fishing. Since I am a Deep Lake newbee, I decided to pack the outboard and minn kota up in the car and try some more of Deep lake. I gave my pal Dan a call and invited him along.

We got on the water around 4ish. Dan quickly hooked up with his first Deep Lake monster. I think this one was pushing 11"



Nice job Dan

Not to be outdone by my fishing partner, I hauled in another monster shortly after -



The bite went dead from 5-7pm. Nothing going. Talked to other boaters and the common message I heard was, "man, last week was hot." Other boaters at the time picked up 1 or 2 fish here and there, nothing spectacular.

I headed out to some new territory for me. Found some deeper weeds and started burning traps right over the top. From 7-745, Dan and I caught another 8 or 9 fish. The bite seemed to have really picked up right before sunset. I also saw a couple of bass burst surface. Is topwater season just around there corner? :wink:

Here are some more pics of us today




And then the last little fish I caught as the sun set. Give it a kiss good bye and we were off the lake. Hot bait was black/gold. See ya next time

5/2 - Deep Lake Bassing, Lake Michigan Perching

Keith and I had plans to launch with a couple of friends out of Waukegan this sunny afternoon shortly after lunch time. This allowed us a few hours of bassing before we went offshore chasing perch.

Hit Deep Lake from 6:45am - 10:30ish.

This was actually my first time on the open water for Deep Lake. I liked the lake a lot. The water was pretty darn clear too. Keith and I worked deeper weed lines and edges looking for bass today. It wasn't long before Keith hooked up. I followed his act with my first Deep Lake bass - a mighty 12"er. Well, nothing to brag about, but I was on the board for Deep Lake!


We ended the day with 9 bass boated and one skinny pike that was maybe 18-20". That thing slammed my bait. Baits of choice - CHROME traps. Nothing working on plastics. All fish tackle on the hardware.

Bass ranged from 12" - 17.5"

Here are a few pics of us on the lake from this morning -


A nice double Keith and I pulled off in 8 foot of water -



And now, the perch!!!

Launched out of waukegan with a few pals shortly after 12 pm. Worked crappie rigs from 50' - 63' of water. Picked up perch here and there for about 4 hours. Might've had 8-10 fish in the box until we hit the SPOT. We nailed the perch in a 40 minute time frame. We easily put another 40 in the boat. Called it a day shortly after 5ish. What a beautiful day on both lakes! We saw a ton of boats straight East out of Waukegan.

Some of the perch we got were absolute beasts. 14.5" fish! We put about 10 fish in the box that were 14"+

Here are some cool pics of us on the big pond, enjoy -





What a great way to spend a Saturday! See ya next time


Mike

CCFP 5/1

Saw a little forest preserve near the Des Plaines river that was about 10 mins away from my work. I got stuck in the office today until about 7, and tonight seemed to be a good night to spend 30 mins checking this place out.

Worked my MO (lately), 1/2oz lipless crank along the shorelines.

To my surprise, I caught a fish. Not just any fish, a decent crappie! 12.5".

Going offshore tomorrow...stay tuned