I'm talkin' about perch! Perch, perch, perch!

Karen and I went to the Sandusky, Ohio, area to try fishing on Lake Erie last weekend.  She made all the arrangements (it was her idea) after I found a charter service that would do smallmouth and walleye fishing on one trip.  After thistrip  I figured out there was difference between "charter" and "guide" services.  Charter = get as many fish in the boat as you can.  This time of year on Lake Erie, yellow perch are the easiest to catch.

Karen with the only walleye on the trip.

We showed up at the marina at 7 a.m. in the ominous shadow of the nuclear power plant.
Our friend Jay, who we know through autocrossing, was supposed to meet us.  We were waiting around for a little while and I heard the distinctive sound of a Subaru.  Had to be Jay.  He drove around aimlessly like we did and finally found us.

The boat captain said we were going to wait a little while before heading out because the water was too choppy.  Weird because the water in the marina was dead calm.  We would found out later about the condition of the water.

Eventually we got the nod to head out.  We loaded up our stuff and found a seat in the boat as the boat motored out of the marina.  It was fairly narrow with houses on each side, each house having a boat dock.  All of a sudden we reached "the end."  Two towers of rock marked the entrance to Lake Erie, and it was remarkably different than the calm of the boat docks.  Waves three- to four-feet high were crashing on the rock wall.  Small white caps everywhere on the open water.  The boat captain said we were going to head out eight miles into this stuff!

Crash, bang, holding on to the boat with a death grip.  I've been out on the Chesapeake Bay a few times, and it was NOTHING like this.  Capt. Tom seemed calm.  Although when he lit up a cigarette at one point, I wasn't sure if it was from habit or the end was nigh!

Finally we stopped and Capt. Tom threw out the anchor.  The seas were angry my friend!  It's all I could do to rig up bait (minnows) and grab the side of the boat with a death grip to throw the bait out.

About the rigs: spinning rods and reels, braided line connected to a fairly heavy weight with a rig with two hooks.  Both hooks with dead minnows.  We were in a flat area in 30 feet of water, and there was no casting or finesse.  Just drop the rigs over the side of the boat until they hit bottom.  Capt. Tom initially told me to keep everything hovering just above the bottom, but Karen and Jay started catching fish here and there.  Karen caught the first fish, a white perch.  Then she caught a walleye that measured 15-1/4", just over the legal limit.

After almost two hours, I didn't even have a bite.  I'd reel my minnows up, all still intact.  Did this several times.  Then Capt. Tom told me to drop the rig to the bottom and keep tension on the line, then gently lift the rig up about a foot and let it back down.

Jay with a double.

And the bite was on!  All of a sudden, I started catching fish as did everyone else!  We all had several "doubles" with a perch on each of the two hooks.  I would say from around 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the fishing was great.  We finally limited out with 25 fish per person (4+25=100) in the boat.  That's not counting the smaller ones we threw back, so I would guesstimate almost 40 perch reeled in per person.

When we got back to the dock, all our fish where golf-carted away to be cleaned.  Although it was $50 for ALL the fish, I would gladly pay for that again considering I wasn't looking forward to getting home Sunday night and cleaning 50 little panfish.

All told, it was fun but I don't think I would go out with a "charter" again to catch yellow perch.  I really, really, really want to go back to Lake Erie and target big smallmouth or walleye.

The last big fish, a 10-inch perch.