Lake Erie Perch

This weekend we put about 500 miles on our vehicles. Saturday Christina, the kids and Gene and I went to King's Island. Christina got free tickets from her company and had a company picnic in the park.

We got back around 10:30 Saturday night and the next morning Gene and I were up at 3:00 to drive to lake erie. Gene's brother Glenn also came with us. We had reserved a spot on a head boat from the Drawbridge Marina to go perch fishing.

They took us out close to Canadian waters. We caught quite a few perch, but only ended up keeping about 18. We found out after the trip that we should have been keeping the small ones instead of throwing them back. They just seemed so small and couldn't have had much meat on them. Eighteen fish of the size we kept was plenty for eating and will provide several meals.

As far as the fun factor goes, perch fishing is not as fun as walleye. We were using a 1 1/2 oz. weight on the spreader to reach the bottom and most of the perch we caught just felt like some added weight when you were bringing them up.

If I were to go out again, I would take an ultralight rod and a lot smaller weights to increase the fight. I would also try to figure out how to catch the great big ones. Those are fun.

We waited several hours for our fish to be cleaned once we got back and had a walleye dinner at Jolly Rogers in Port Clinton. Their dinners are awesome and come with a ton of fish, slaw and waffle fries.

Completely stuffed we went back to Drawbridge Marina and got completely schooled by Gene on how to catch fish after fish on a jighead with a piece of worm. He caught rock bass, bluegill, gobies and bullhead over and over, while Glen and I caught a gobie a piece. I also got 1 bluegill.

The fish were finally cleaned and we headed back home.

Twin Rivers Bassmasters Fish Off Results

The weather cooled off for us this weekend. On Saturday the warmest part of the day was when we arrived to the lake. The wind picked up early. We fished several different areas and I stuck to a roboworm most of the day. The fish were somewhat active at the beginning of the day and I was able to pick up about 1 keeper every hour and a half. Then it got slow.

It started to Drizzle and the temperature dropped more. The fish stopped co-operating. Finally, I started deadsticking the worm. I would cast it and let it sit on the bottom next to the bank for 30 - 40 seconds then real it in and cast to the next spot. I picked up my last 2 fish towards the end of the tournament doing that.

I was in 2nd place after the first day with my 5 fish.

The next morning was cold. We started out the tournament at 46 degrees and it ended at 52. It was raining most of the day and blowing all day 10-15 mph with gusts of 25. It must have been gusting all day.

Fishing was tough on a good lake. There were close to 100 boats going out of the ramp we were going to start at, so we switched ramps. We started out a little later than that tournamnet and squeezed between boats to fish our first spot.

I was casting a buzzbait to start but it was too windy so I switched to a storm swimbait in chartreuse. I had 1 bass chase it so I cast out a similar colored roboworm and caught it. It was a little short. I cast the swimbait some more and had a nice hit. When I got it to the boat it was a nice white bass.

We worked quite a few more areas with no luck. We hit grass, shoreline, rocks, wood, and even a nice ledge with a drop shot and a carolina rig but couldn't get a keeper. I had 3 short fish by 2:30 and no keepers.

With 1 hour left I switched to a purple D.C. finesse worm. I cast next to a lay down and my rod loaded up. I set the hook and pulled in my first keeper. The wind was blowing us down the bank pretty fast so Ken turned the boat around to go back over the three laydowns that were next to each other.

We made it back to the laydown I had caught my first keeper on and I cast back to it. My rod loaded up again and I had my second keeper. The fish were tight to the laydowns. We hurried and fished a few more laydowns in similar types of water. Laydowns next to deep water. We didn't have any luck.

My 2 fish were enough combined with the weight of the first day to keep me in 3rd place. I got 3rd place fish off money plus 3rd place tournament money. It was about as much as I won for 1st place and big bass at another club tournament so I was happy. I wish I had figured out a pattern earlier in the day to win the tournament but just being able to place after my 2nd day was a blessing.

On the way home we decided to take a different route back home to avoid a stop light and traffic in Washington Courthouse. I had thought I came in on highway 50 the first time. I was wrong. Highway 50 took us through Cincinnati and cost us an hour on the way home. I'm sure the guys in the club will have a good laugh on that one.

Fish off Details

Twin Rivers meeting was at 7:00 at the Donato's on Polaris Parkway. I arrived around 6:55 and was the last one to get there. There was pizza along with the drawing and I had a few bud lights too.

All of the fish off qualifiers put in their votes for the lake they wanted then we ate pizza and talked about the lakes. Lake Erie was eliminated due to possible windy conditions this weekend. John the tournament director called it off as it would be unsafe.

After we finished eating we had the waitress draw the lakes. Delaware lake was first so it will be on Saturday. Rocky Fork was drawn second so it will be on Sunday. There will be a big bass pot both days and will be a standard tournament as far as the buy in goes. Anybody in the club can still fish it but only 8 of us will be fishing for the fish off money. If I can squeek out a win that would result in several hundred dollars.

After the meeting a few of us went to Quaker Steak and Lube where another club member was working the patio. We kicked back a few beers and visited for a while. Ken and I agreed to fish together during the tournament. We are using his boat the first day and possibly my boat the second day. It will be more fun and we will be able to get in the side pot both days this way. The side pot is 10 dollars a boat and the boat that brings in the most weight for the day wins the side pot.

They had Lienkrugel (spelling??) Octoberfest on tap, so I tried it. It was one of my favorite beers I have had in a long time. It had a medium full flavor and a nice sort of spice to it. It was better than soda! I would love to try one with a steak and baked beans.

Twin Rivers Fish Off

With the clubs 2-day fish off coming up this weekend we have a meeting tonight to decide the lakes we will be fishing.

The decision will be made from a drawing. Each person that qualified for the fish off gets to include 1 lake we have fished this season. There were 8 of us in the club that qualified. Also, each lake we have fished this season also gets put into a hat for the drawing. We will be fishing 2 different lakes unless lake erie is drawn first. Then we will fish lake erie both days.

Deer Creek will be eliminated out as that lake recently closed due to the Algae problems we have had in some of the lakes around here. Knox lake is also eliminated due to the size limit being 18 inches.

There are some lakes that I like more than others. I am hoping lake erie is not drawn. I don't have enough experience on that lake to have much of a chance. That and I'm scared to take my boat out there. The waves from the other boats out there are enough to scare me.

Here is a list of the lakes we have fished and why I think they would be good or bad for me.

Lake Erie - 8th out of 10 - Poor - Long ways from Columbus to pull my boat. Not enough experience on the water and hard for me to make the decision to boat to the islands. I won't have a partner so I would be alone on Lake Erie.

Delaware - 4th out of 13 - Good - I have quite a bit of experience fishing on Delaware and have a few good bass spots. We had a another club tournament and a large tournament there the same day we fished it and still caught quite a few fish. If we had the lake to our small group we could catch a lot of bass.

C.J. Brown - 6th out of 9 - Neutral - I had a great practice there 2 weeks prior to the tournament 5 keepers in a little over an hour. During the tournament I only caught 1 bass. Nobody in the club did well the day we were there. There are quite a few smallmouth and largemouth in the water but can be difficult to catch.

O'Shaughnessy - 6th out of 14 - Neutral - I have a lot of experience on O'Shaughnessy the last couple years. Mostly bad experience. I know the bass are there and I caught a couple this year. My skills as an angler have improved since last year but not catching a keeper out of there all last year in multiple tournaments has left a sour taste in my mouth.

Clear Fork - 9th out of 11 - Good - I didn't do great at Clear Fork, but it was my first time fishing it and there was another tournament there at the same time. I didn't know where to start for the morning bite and it cost me. If we go back I think I could have a good chance at bringing in a good limit. It is also a big fish lake. Some good ones come out of there.

Griggs - 2nd out of 10 - Good - I had a good practice and a decent catch there. I know where the larger fish are hanging out. It's just a matter of getting them to eat my bait. The lake is low now so that would affect the fishing. Not sure if it would be good or bad though.

Rocky Fork - 1st out of 12 - Good - I won here and have big fish for the year. How could I say Poor. There is a good amount of bass in the lake and it is fun to fish. The only drawback is the distance from the other lakes.

Pleasant Hill - 5th out of 10 - Good - This would be good because we fished here the last tournament. It was like a practice. I learned quite a bit about the lake and would be able to go back and give a decent showing. I have a better idea of what to throw, when and where.

I only get 1 vote and have all these lakes to choose from. Only 3 are below good. This argument has gone on in my head for a while now on which to vote on. Right now it's between Delaware and Clear Fork. Delaware I might have a better shot against the guys I'd be fishing against. Clear Fork was probably my favorite lake I fished this year. For sheer numbers of bass Delaware is a blast but getting a fish longer than 12 inches is tough.

The vote I will put in is Clear Fork. It is still new to me. Fishing is phenomenal there. A lot of patterns work there. It is also a of Columbus, so hopefully it will be drawn and paired with Delaware or Pleasant Hill. Then I can stay between the lakes over night and have fun with the club members.

Late Season Buying Spree

Here are my newest purchases for the end of the season. I ordered the roboworms online. All of the ebay stores shipped quickly. The strike king super finesse worms, the luck e strike, and the bass pro flick n shimmy worms were purchased at bass pro on the way back from the Ohio River.

The first finesse worms I started using this spring were the strike king. They were on sale at Gander Mountain for 2.00 a pack. I have since purchased about 6 other packs at full price. That is why sales work.

Luck e strike are on the lower price scale but work well. I like the cotton candy color. The bass seem to like it to.

This will be my first experience with the flick n shimmy worms. I won't be able to compare them to the flick shake since I had never purchased the flick shake.

I also purchased some flick - it jig heads by buckeye lures. I have missed several fish this year on the hook set. I have used a 1/16th oz. ball jighead all year. Most of the fish I miss I assume are bluegill but if they have been bass and the curve of the hook, or strength of the hook, is preventing a better hookset then I have cost myself hundreds if not thousands of dollars on missed hooksets this year.

The cost is quite a bit higher for these but with the design they look like they can improve my fishing so I have to give them a try. Each improvement I can make will potentially put that many more bass in the boat and hopefully earn me more checks to help me pay for the higher prices I am starting to pay for baits.

I generally go through a lot of worms and not that many jig heads so if they work, they will definitely be worth it.

I have 3 tournaments left for the year. The fish off for the club is a 2 day tournament at two of the lakes we have fished in the regular season. We draw for those this Thursday and fish the fish off Saturday and Sunday.

The next tournament is 2 weeks after that. It will be our clubs Open tournament at Alum Creek.

The last tournament of the year is the regionals at Kentucky Lake the following week. I will need to make another lure purchase for there. I fish Kentucky lake a lot different than most of the lakes around here so I need to stock up on a couple things that worked well for me last fall as well as what I think would be good there.

Ohio River BFL Buckeye Super Tournament

I left work early Friday to make it to the pre-tournament registration early. I didn't run into any problems on the way there and actually registered an hour early. I was ranked 24th in the standings in the FLW BFL Buckeye Division as a co-angler. They mentioned at the meeting that to ensure a top 40 finish for the year I would probably need to catch at least 1 bass. I had already thought that but now I was really feeling the pressure.

After the pairings meeting I visited with a few of the other anglers, one of which was Jacob Wheeler. He's a super nice person and I have a feeling he will be a superstar in this sport eventually. He's already really good. We were talking about next year. I have been doing some thinking on it, and figure that if I can, I should use the FLW to fish some bigger waters. I will probably, if my job allows it, fish the American Fishing Series Central Division or Northern Division next year as a co-angler.

If I can sell my boat this winter and buy a new used bass boat I might also fish the BFL as a boater. I still have a little time to decide. I like being a co-angler but also like to be the decision maker on where to fish and when. In actuality I will probably remain a co-angler if I am fishing the American Fishing Series since I would not have the time off to pre-fish each of the tournaments.

I might go south this winter to fish a BFL tournament as a co-angler on a larger lake. I would like to try Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, or Oklahoma. It would give me a chance to fish for bass while the ice is still on the water here, and I could learn how to fish on some different waters.

I called Dad and talked with him as everyone was leaving the meeting area. I had plans on a place to stay but that fell through so I was thinking of staying at a campground or in the van. I decided to stay the night in the van and met some other cool people doing the same thing.

I ended up going out to get drinks and a sandwich for the next day and drive around to check the area out a little. There was a barbecue place down the road called Big Daddy's Barbecue and Lil Momma's Fixins, or something close to that. I decided to stop in. The pulled pork was great and came in a healthy portion on the bun. My stomach was stretched out from the pulled pork sandwich, onion rings and the 2 corona's I had so I decided to head back to the ramp to sleep.

The ramp area was unlit so I fell asleep pretty quickly. Dreams of poor fishing went through my head. In my dreams I would cast to all these great looking spots and not catch any fish. I woke up and was disappointed in my dreams. They were brought on by my previous experience with the Ohio River.

I got up and prepped my equipment for the day. My partner called and was entering the ramp area. I met up with him and were one of the first to get our boat put in. We were second to last boat to get to leave the area though.

We pulled up to a bank and waited as everyone got to pass us and leave to fish. Finally they called the last 2 numbers and we were off. We made around a 15 minute run and were fishing pretty quickly. My boater caught 2 keepers pretty quick.

I caught a few short fish then had one on that was close. Upon measuring the bass, he was barely short. I caught a few more that were just barely short. Then I was lifting my worm out of the water at one point and a huge bass came up out of the water after it. He just barely missed it and my side of the livewell was still empty.

It was getting later in the afternoon and I was still catching just barely short bass. I kept thinking any one of them could be a keeper but just couldn't bring one in. finally I had a nice bite next to a dock. I set the hook and the fish seemed like it wanted to surface and jump. I kept my rod tip down to keep the fish in the water until I got it to the boat. My boater dipped the net and I brought it up and into the net. It was about a 3 pound catfish. I felt devastated. I really thought it was going to be a keeper bass. I needed 1 bass for points in this tournament.

We continued fishing then my boater said we were going to hit a spot on the main river where he usually can get a keeper.

I had several bites and was getting low on the finesse worms I was having luck on. My boater brought in a barely short bass, and right after that I have a hook up that feels like a nice bass. I get it to the boat and my boater nets it. It was a 14 incher, 2 inches into the keeper category. I sigh of relief ran through me. Then the excitement hit. I was more than likely going to make the regional cut. I looked at the clock. It was 2:30. We had about an hour left to fish. I started working to try to catch a second keeper and try to make the 2nd day.

I caught 2 more nice sized catfish. One of them even jumped completely out of the water when I hooked it. The second 1 I caught came out of the same spot I had brought in the keeper. My boater was retrieving a lure he had caught up and I fought the fish to the boat and into the net thinking I had a big bass, again to turn out to be a catfish.

The time ran down and I weighed in my 1 bass. It was 1 pound 7 ounces, good for around 33rd place out of 72. The cut for the next day was a little more than a half pound away.

I had a good tournament. My boater was really fun to fish with. We caught a ton of fish, just not enough of the right size or right species. The Ohio river left a little better taste in my mouth this time. I look forward to going back now.

Thoughts After the Tournament:

1. The reason I think I caught so many short fish without keepers - the creek we were fishing was not a long ways from Tanners and is pretty well known. There are a lot of tournaments out of Tanners so a lot of the keepers probably get plucked out of there and hauled back to Tanners.

2. There was not a lot of water being pulled on the first day of the tournament. There was abut a 15 minute pull and that is when I caught my keeper. He was in a current break.

3. There were large schools of shad and fish blowing up in them. It might or might not have been a good idea to spend a little more time casting an imitation shad bait right under the balls of shad. Looking back it couldn't have hurt. It might have been a good time to try a swimbait.

4. I went through 2 1/2 bags of worms. It was good fishing.

5. I finished the season in 18th place overall. I'm within the top 40 cut so I get to fish the Kentucky Lake regional tournament October 21st through the 23rd.

Pro Tackle Solutions Ebay

I ordered 5 bags of straight tail roboworms off ebay on Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday, Thursday, I had 1 bag in the mail already. Pro Tackle Solutions had the fastest shipping I've ever seen.

I was expecting to go into this tournament with 2 roboworms left. I have some other finesse worms but like I said in the last post these things are great for me. Now I have 12 and feel a lot more comfortable.

There was a thought in my head that I was going to need to swing by Columbus on the way down to the Ohio River to see if any came in. Now I can go straight down from work and will not have to take the 45 minute detour.

This will be my first 2 day tournament. I can't wait to leave it all out on the water and try to make the second day and the regionals.

My confidence level is soaring way above where it was last year. I have been catching bass this year in all but one trip out, even if they were small. The one time I didn't catch a bass was the Ohio River.

It scares me but at the same time I love tough fishing. I have a bait I know will entice a bite and am starting to get a little experience on the Ohio River. Maybe this will be the time that everything works out.