Perch'n with the Fassler Boys Aug 12, 2013
by Capt Juls on 08/12/13Matt Fassler and his family are from the Cincinnati area and were on vacation; staying in the Maumee area for the week.
His son Gabe wanted to go fishing, so Matt checked around. He was given my name, so he contacted me last week.
We made plans for a 4 hour trip, and had arranged to meet on the west end of the lake, at Szuech's bait shop. I had reports of a decent walleye and perch bite over there recently, and it would be a halfway point for both of us to meet up.
Scott Bogen, a good friend and long time fishing partner, was back in town from his recent move to the western Wisconsin/MN border. He and I took a fishing trip over to the west yesterday and checked it out. To make a long story short, we failed miserably.
I decided to call Matt and let him know what we found, and that I would be more confident in the perch bite I had going over by the islands. I also said that he should meet me at my house, and we would ride together to the launch. He agreed and showed up right on time.
The wind gods were good to us. We had a 5-10mph wind out of the southwest when we launched at Mazurik's. I set a course for the tip of catawba, about a mile west of Mouse Island, and went for a short boat ride.
The bite for the yellows started off slow, but we were into biting white perch...which meant there would be yellows mixed in the bunch....and, the seagulls would be eating well....wink wink.
An hour into the trip, the yellows started coming at a much faster pace, and the fun was increasing.
At first, Gabe had a little trouble "feeling" bottom with the weight, because the bottom was mucky, and he couldn't tell when the weight was all the way down. Explaining about slack line didn't seem to help. He still struggled.
He moved over by his father on the other side of the boat and tried again.
After much frustration, he didn't give up. He kept trying.
Matt explained about how the rod tip should look when the weight is on the bottom, compared to when it was off the bottom, and it finally clicked. He "got it". Suddenly he was catching fish as fast as we were.
At one point I noticed a weather front moving in and kept an eye on it in case we needed to break out the rain gear. Thankfully, most of the nasty weather stayed just to the north of us. I kept an eye on it out of the corner of my eye to watch for any lightning though. I won't fish with lightning around...ever.
The wind direction went from SSW to directly West in an instant, and was picking up.
Matt was a little concerned and asked about the wind. I had a feeling that the wind would die down again after the front passed through, and reassured them that they were in no danger. Luckily it only lasted about a 20 minutes, so it didn't get the lake too riled up.
I have to tell you though, that the perch bite lit up when that west wind hit hard. Woot! Woot!
We ended up with 90 decent size perch (out of about 200) in 3 1/2 hours. Luckily I make a habit of double checking my count, because I know I don't always hit the counter if I get distracted.
Sure enough, I was a few over. I tossed them to the seagulls and headed in.
It's a good thing we counted, because for the first time this summer the DNR was at the ramp when we arrived and he wanted to check our cooler. The officer smiled and said, "Thank you", and we went about my business of loading the boat out.
We took the fish over to Bombas Fish Cleaning, since it's close to the ramp, but it was going to take approximately an hour to finish them.
I suggested we go over to Big Boppers restaurant and get some lunch while we wait for the perch. They agreed.
After nice chit chat and a good meal we headed back to the cleaners, picked up the fish, and headed back to the house.
Arriving home, I said my goodbyes, and they headed back to the resort with smiles on their faces.
I like smiles. :)
Tomorrow's trip with one of my regular is iffy...I'm still looking at conditions. But, if the forecast holds, that NW wind at near 20 is not my cup of tea on Lake Erie, and I know my customer wouldn't like it either, so it might be a no go. I'll keep you posted.
Capt Juls
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