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I had my yak on my car from a trip Sunday, so I decided to hit Weems this afternoon before running some errands. The wind and weather seemed perfect and I launched around 11am. I headed up stream and stopped at the first downed tree after the small bridge and caught this guy on my first cast:
I fished that tree for almost 45 min and caught 5-6 more perch around the same size, with this being the largest:
I headed up stream and caught maybe a dozen more perch in the same size range. They were all caught casting to trees or rocks along the shore. I never found a spot as fruitful as that first tree and never caught more than two at any one spot. They were all caught on a 1/8oz Woodies spinner. I also observed quite a few small pickerel following my lure back to the boat. Baitfish/fry also seemed plentiful, with some shaded coves having huge schools moving through them.
An otherwise fine day was somewhat marred by the frustration of several large fish throwing the hook before I could boat them. On maybe a dozen occasions, I hooked up with something powerful enough to bend my Light rod almost double. I would set the hook (or so I believed) and begin to fight the fish in. Every time it would manage to throw the hook, sometimes right at the side of my yak. The Woodies spinner has a very small hook, so I tried upsizing to a Strike King spinner with a larger hook, but naturally I never got a hit on it. Returning to the Woodies, I began to catch again, but would again loose fish.
I am not sure what was happening. I suspect that I am not setting the hook hard enough, but on each occasion I was able to fight the fish for a time, and I am unsure if a perch would really hold a hard lure for so long. My rod is a 5'6" Tsunami 5 Star Light weight. The speed isn't listed, but it flexes maybe 1/3 of it's length when the tip is loaded. I would love to hear any theories as to what is going on.
In any case, it was a lovely day on the water and I will be sure to be back to Weems soon if this fine weather continues.
I fished that tree for almost 45 min and caught 5-6 more perch around the same size, with this being the largest:
I headed up stream and caught maybe a dozen more perch in the same size range. They were all caught casting to trees or rocks along the shore. I never found a spot as fruitful as that first tree and never caught more than two at any one spot. They were all caught on a 1/8oz Woodies spinner. I also observed quite a few small pickerel following my lure back to the boat. Baitfish/fry also seemed plentiful, with some shaded coves having huge schools moving through them.
An otherwise fine day was somewhat marred by the frustration of several large fish throwing the hook before I could boat them. On maybe a dozen occasions, I hooked up with something powerful enough to bend my Light rod almost double. I would set the hook (or so I believed) and begin to fight the fish in. Every time it would manage to throw the hook, sometimes right at the side of my yak. The Woodies spinner has a very small hook, so I tried upsizing to a Strike King spinner with a larger hook, but naturally I never got a hit on it. Returning to the Woodies, I began to catch again, but would again loose fish.
I am not sure what was happening. I suspect that I am not setting the hook hard enough, but on each occasion I was able to fight the fish for a time, and I am unsure if a perch would really hold a hard lure for so long. My rod is a 5'6" Tsunami 5 Star Light weight. The speed isn't listed, but it flexes maybe 1/3 of it's length when the tip is loaded. I would love to hear any theories as to what is going on.
In any case, it was a lovely day on the water and I will be sure to be back to Weems soon if this fine weather continues.
2014 Hobie Outback
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