Perch are biting!

August is almost over, and that signals a great time for us fishermen. The big perch will be moving in to strap on the Fall feedbag. I got out this past Sunday with my son Nick and buddy Walt. No walleye this day. It was a perch fest from the start!

We watched the wind and wave forecast again and the morning brought a Southerly breeze and nice chop on Lake Erie. After getting some minnows at Shine's Bait and Tackle, it was off to Wildwood State Park to launch. I had heard reports of perch hitting off Cleveland, all the way East to Conneaut. The magic depth was 52 feet of water, so out we went.

After a nice ride, I slowed to check the sonar. It read 43 Feet and man, were there marks! Great ones. We decided to toss the anchor and give it a shot. No need to go deeeper if the fish are in close. First couple fish were dinks. I mean small, probably last year's babies. After about 5 or 6 of them, and just as I said "maybe we should move", WHAM! A keeper! Then a couple more! Then a double! It was ON! Some big fish had moved in and the action was up and down. At one point we managed FIVE doubles in a row! It was awesome!

The whole time, we were all laughing, digging on each other, telling bad jokes, and most of all having a great time catching fish. It didn't matter they were small. We weeded our way through them and put together a nice 3 man limit of fish. Took about 3 hours and 7 dozen minnows, a lot of which were cut in half. The fish didn't care. They were HUNGRY.

It was a great trip. One of those we'll all remember for a long, long time. That's one of the reasons I love to fish. Sharing fun like that. With all the stresses of daily life beating you up all week, it's good to get out and have some fun.

With the Fall bite just getting started, there will be a lot of opportunity for more fun trips! I can't wait.

I'm Carl "Big Daddy" Bachtel and thanks for stopping by.

If you have any questions, shoot me an email at cbachtel@wkyc.com and I'll get back with you.

Catch a bunch!