Fishing with Steve and Jeremy Chapman 10/25/19

I got to the launch at 7:05 and shot Jermey a text asking what their ETA was. He said they were 20 minutes out. That gave me time to ready the boat and rig up some Bandits on the rods before heading out.

The plan was to target walleye first, and then if we put some in the box, we would go try to find some perch out of Vermilion. Fall used to be fantastic for perch'n out of Vermilion, in years past, so I wanted to see if it still happened there.

We trolled the Bandits at 100 back (unassisted), 30/30 2oz, and 50/50 2oz at 1.5-1.7mph just NW of Vermilion at the 27/24 line.  The 100 back, and the 50/50 2oz back, caught 8 walleye. Red Headed Wonderbread, Black Headed Wonderbread, RC Crush, and Seasick Frog all caught fish. The common denominator was the white bodies.  

The water temperature was 56 degrees.

After we put the walleye in the box, they wanted to go try for some perch.  We headed in towards the mouth of the river and when we hit 36 feet of water, I slowed to boat down to look for some fish on the bottom with the Helix.  We stopped in 33 feet of water about a mile west of the mouth of the Vermilion River and set the Spot Loc on the Ulterra.

We had Emerald Shiners today, so we hooked them up on the crappie rigs and sent them down. After a lot of missed bites, by all of us, Steve finally caught a perch...the smallest one of the day by the way, and that one was 7 inches. The next one, was on the end of my line...it was a piggy perch that went 12 inches. A good sign that we were in a decent area. It gave them positive thoughts at the very least.

It wasn't a fast bite, but steady enough that we never thought about moving. Only 24 perch were caught before it was time to head in. They went 15 pounds at Bay's Edge Fish Cleaning....or, 1.6 fish per pound. ;)

Several times today, I heard them say to each other, "This is the best trip we've had so far". Now, mind you, Steve and Jermey have fished with me several times each year for the past 8 years now. I know we have had fast walleye bites and filled the cooler with our limits, and we have had perch trips that were "up and down" and filled the cooler with our limits. So, I had to ask, "Why?".  Jeremy said, "We've caught some nice fish today, and had a lot of fun!" He added,  "It's not all about how many we catch".  Steve agreed. 

I understood. I also understand that as a new Dad, and the fact that this is the first time back on the water in over 4 months, that just being out on the water today, was probably enough to make him very happy. The nice fish we caught were just a bonus. 

It was a very fun day, and that makes me happy. :)

I'm waiting until the AM to make the call on tomorrow's scheduled trip with Jack Marcus and his two boys. They had a Saturday/Sunday trip scheduled, but it looks like Old Mother Nature is going to blow again. Sunday is out for sure, but I'm holding out  hope we can get out of Catawba and try for some perch on the protected side of the island tomorrow. It's not looking good right now. The forecast kept changing all day for the worse....deep sigh.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls