Short trip yields two near trophies

[J.A. Veil]

I fished for 3 hours this afternoon from my kayak. I tried to ignore the heat as I launched my kayak at Jonas Green park in the Severn. I paddled to an area that has been productive for me recently. I was testing out a new safety pin spinner lure I got last week from another Annapolis area angler who makes the lures. It worked well today, clearly outfishing my previous go-to lure, a spinner arm with small jighead and swim minnow.

The cove where I fished produced lots of white perch, including several at 11" and a whopper of 12.5". Toward the end of the trip, I hooked something that fought modestly like a small white perch. It turned out to be a huge 13.5" yellow perch, my first summer YP this year. Both of the big fish were just 1/2" shy of Diamond Jim trophy status size.

The photos do not show them measured next to a ruler (not easy in a kayak). I do have a stick-on measuring tape on the inside of my kayak so i can get a quick length measurement. With the water so hot, I don't like to leave the fish out of the water very long in order to pose them for a better picture.

Both of the largest fish were caught in a shallow full-sun location in mid-afternoon on a 90+ degree day. I also caught plenty of fish in shady areas with less than 2 ft water depth.

[jet]

nice catch!

[jffoley]

Couple good, light tackle action right there. Nice!

[Shady]

Those are some nice Perch for anytime of the year. Would that happen to be one of Woody's spinners?

[ictalurus]

Nice work, John, especially on the yellow perch. I guess they all don't head downstream after all. Too bad you couldn't stretch them that extra 1/2 inch.

[DOGFISH]

Those are fine perch. I bailed myself this afternoon, after seening the weather forecast. Looks like your 3 hours were put to good use.

[Grady-Black]

Thanks John,
Saw those spinners on another one of your post, they looked like they would work well! Nice design to work on this winter..

GB

[J.A. Veil]

Those are some nice Perch for anytime of the year. Would that happen to be one of Woody's spinners?

Although they look and perform a lot like the ones that Woody makes (Maryland Tackle), these were made by a guy on the Tidalfish board who goes by the name of Jack Hart. When I fished with him last week, he told me that he made a bunch of spinners and was selling them on ebay. I bought a few from him at the end of the trip. The weight on his spinners is a painted worm weight rather than a molded lead head.

I have fished several of Woody's lures -- they work very well too.

I may try making some of these next winter. I am not keen on melting lead, but by using worm weights, that issue is avoided.

[chirotrout]

You failed to mention if you kept any and how you prepared them?

Always looking for a good perch recipe!

Jason