Susky Perch Jerking

[moc]

The weater was even better than forecasted. The water was calm, there was virtually no wind until 2pm. It was warm around 50 degrees. At one point it got so warm I was breaking a sweat without even trying.

Six kayakers ended up on the Susky around Owens. Several of them were supposed to show up between 10am and 1pm, but it seemed by the time that we launched, everyone arived. I even met a new kayaker who was taking his kayak out for the first time. I encouraged him to checkout Snaggedline.com. He was quite excited about hooking up with other yakers.

Now for the fishing news, it was slow to some degree. I spent half my time cruising around looking for pods of bigger fish. When I launched my kayak, I caught two yellow perch within 15 mins. They were not keepers, only about 8 and 8.5 inches. Now worries, I now sqeeked out my January fish! I searched areas that held fish last year. This year those same areas was devoid of fish. Mike and I peddled all the way to the Eastern Point towards the Susky. Nothing was showing up on the fish finder. There were alot of fish traps out. It kind of reminded me of crabpot floats in the summer time. I turned around and made it back to Owens near the railroad track brigde. My fish finder lit up and I immediately caught another Perch. I ended up catching a dozen sub legal perch during the day between the railroad bridge and the docks. The water is very deep at the docks, around 30 to 50 feet. Minnows were the best bait by far. I did catch a couple of yellow perch on worms and the plastic curly tail, but the minnows were the best.

Hopefully the perching will only get better by the Meet and Greet.

[CB kayak 02]

Good REcon, can't beat getting out while the weather is nice!!

[Yak Fish]

It was a great day for fishing, just not for yellow perch
There were fish to be caught but they were all small...fish sticks. There were a lot of boats in a small area. You'll know where to fish. I had guys on either side of me that I could easilly chat with. It's no big deal, just how the fishing is up there when the perch arrive. I saw 6 keepers all day and they were just barely.
I didn't get a legal one all day, but the weather is much warmer this year so they may not be in full force yet. I wouldn't bother going up for at least another week or two unless you just want out on the water.

The fish were holding at drop offs at 34' of water, but nothing to write home about just yet.

There were lots of kayakers out there today. It was nice to run into chexone and moc. Chex...how did you make out today. I lost track of you.

[EDGEWATER]

I did pretty well Saturday. Caught 40+ and about 15 were keepers. Definitely a better keeper/throw-back ratio than it has been.

Fished from 8-4 on the eastern edge below the Amtrak bridge. First time this year I've fished that far down and it paid off.

I think the bigger fish might be moving in. Keep your fingers crossed.

Fished along side new2yaks11 for a while. Nice fishing with you Don.

[Yak Fish]

Nice job edgewater. You probably would have won the tournament if we had one. Did I see that you're from morgantown? I grew up around there in Shillington/Reading.

[chex]

i didnt catch any fish. i lost a bunch of rigs though so that counts for something lol.

i was using small curly tails but i suspect they werent small enough. noticed most guys using tiny little lures. mine were probably better for smallmouth than perch.

my goal to skunk out at least once every month is well underway!

aweome being out on the water with all them yakers though.

[MetroMan]

Yeah...that area is always good for a bunch of snags. That gets old fast. That's a good spot to have random junk to serve as sinkers...such as old spark plugs that I always hear old wives tales about.

[J.A. Veil]

I did pretty well Saturday. Caught 40+ and about 15 were keepers. Definitely a better keeper/throw-back ratio than it has been.

Fished from 8-4 on the eastern edge below the Amtrak bridge. First time this year I've fished that far down and it paid off.

Chip -

You have been putting your time in at Perryville and it seems to be paying off. Nice going. You are the Nedmaster of the MKF at the moment.

[chex]

Chip -

You have been putting your time in at Perryville and it seems to be paying off. Nice going. You are the Nedmaster of the MKF at the moment.

Very impressive indeed! Goes to show how important skill and experience are to catching fish. You've got me on one end of the scale with 0 fish, and Edgewater Chip on the other end with 40+!

I'm gonna spend all my waking hours getting ready for the M&G.

[chex]

Here is Moc holding his trophy January fish.

[Shady]

My dad and I fished from about 9:00 -12:30 today in his boat. We caught about 25 fish, but managed 7 keepers 9.25 - 10.5. The pick was slow, but I found the fish pretty much where I found them last time out. 20-30 feet of water just below the train bridge.

I hooked into something huge that I never got to see. Something absolutely nailed my minnow and took off. I didnt gain one foot of line on this fish, it only ran and my rod was bouncing and bent over really good. It's been a long time since I've felt a fish this heavy. My small perch jighead could not handle the fish and the hook straightened out after about a 30 second battle. I really wish I would have gotten to see it. It seems like the big one always gets away... Possibly a big Striper or huge cat?

[Yak Fish]

A few guys fishing minnows were also catching nice sized cats. They are pretty numerous up there and get pretty large so I'd bet that's what it was. I got one last year and I knew right away that it wasn't a perch....although i was hoping it was the biggest perch in the world.

[EDGEWATER]

It could have been a carp or a big cat. I did get a small striper a couple of weeks ago. Also - a buddy of mine has been catching some decent bass and tells me there are some good Walleye in the river.

Shady - the fish I was catching below the bridge were on the ledge between 30 and 50 foot. Going to have to look at this weeks weather and get back down for some more C&R YP.

[new2yaks11]

Chip,

Once again, thanks for all your help yesterday. Your help allowed me to at least catch my only fish for January but it beats a skunk. It was nice hanging out and talking while I struggled to catch any YP. I'm going to watch weather as well and plan to fish someplace this coming weekend. I heard the first part of the week is supposed to be nice but doesn't help me since I work all week. Maybe it'll be decent by the weekend.

[ictalurus]

Thanks for the recon gents. It looked like it was a good time even if the fish were playing hard to get. Plus, the pics of everyone in their hats cracked me up.