by Wayne Wooten
Patrick is my neighbor, friend and fishing buddy. He has talked about perch fishing since I’ve known him, and we have tried to put together a perch trip for a while. Weather, schedules and in this case illness, prevented us from going.
This past year Patrick has been battling cancer, taking rounds of extreme chemo. He finally was able to get a few weeks off of treatments and has regained some energy. He called me and said “I need to get out of this house. Can you go fishing with me on Wednesday”. The forecast Tuesday evening for Wednesday was 72 degrees with a 5 mph WSW wind; great for February 1st. I said sure thing. What are we going to fish for? He replied “perch”. I have caught a few perch while fishing for other species but had never gone targeting them.
So the next morning we were off to Lake Russell, but when we arrived around 10 AM it was in the 60’s, but the winds were blowing 17 mph not 5! I dumped the boat and Patrick in the lake and off we went. During our ride to the lake Patrick told me that his passion was to perch fish year round, but he needed to find where they go in the warm months.
We went about a mile from the ramp right out in the middle of the Savanah River and began to check out the channel on his HDS 9 looking for brush and timber in the 50 to 60 foot range. Patrick stops the boat and says let’s try here. I took a look at the screen and said are you kidding me; there is a jungle down there!
We were fishing minnows on 7 foot medium spinning rods with 8 pound fluorocarbon or 10 pound braid, rigged with a 3/8 ounce egg sinker pegged with a split shot about 12 inches above a #4 Aberdeen hook. Even though the fish are small, you need a rod heavy enough along with minimal stretch line to set the hook fishing 60 feet deep. Note; we switched to ½ ounce egg sinkers because of the wind.
After baiting up, we dropped straight down to the bottom and then turning the reel 2 or 3 rounds. You may have to play with the depth some to find the exact strike zone. It is important to keep your line straight down to detect bites. We didn’t have to wait long for the action to begin, rod tip bouncing, set the hook, and I have my first perch of the day! With the wind blowing so hard we could only fish for about 5 minutes before we got blown off our spot. Then it took 10 minutes to fight our way back to the spot but we stayed at it, white caps and all. We wound up catching 20 or so. Most were 4 or 5 inches, but we did manage 4 keepers.
When you catch perch, their air bladder will bubble out of their mouths. You have to puncture it before releasing it so it will go down, allowing the fish to go back to the depths it came from.
While waiting on perch bites, you can drop shot in the sticks. Patrick nailed a 4 pound spot doing this.
The best part of this trip was being able to fish with Patrick again and getting him outdoors, which he really loves. Continued prayers for Patrick’s healing from cancer and looking forward to more escapades with him.