Strange day - I'll take it !

[Spoonminnow]

Yesterday I fished a new water and had no idea the fish species or bottom. It was cloudy with a bit of sprinkle during the day but no big deal. I surveyed the bottom contours and depths and noted the extent of flats and changes in bottom hardness as well as the deepest water.
Caught perch, sunfish, crappie, bass and one giant carp. All except the carp were on the small side, but interesting were a few things:
1. water temperature 55 degrees and fish that were found hit hard !
2. even with that cool temperature, fish were blasting minnows near the surface thereby indicating where to head the boat. Plus, when the boat got near an inactive school near the surface, they started to scatter near all around me. All I had to do was back the boat away and cast to them to catch fish.
3. the carp and others like it were moving a lot of water on a large 2' deep flat ! - the huge one was one of them caught there feeding on something. Never got to weigh it.
4. my lure got caught on something that had a flat surface when looking down 3' but in 7' of water. Pushing on it released a small oil spill to the surface. Turned out according a senior angler I spoke with on shore was that it is an overturned boat that'd been there for years. Strange to say the least, but also that perch were schooled near it.

A few shots:





One unfortunate thing happened - fell out of the boat flat on my chest when getting ready to leave. Man that hurt especially when sneezing or coughing. Thought I cracked a rib ! The only launch is a short steep bank with a narrow opening in the brush - not easy to launch a small row boat. I'll have to be more careful and never leave the boat except from the side and with an oar as a prop - never the bow.

The gent that stopped to ask questions how I did filled me in on the lake. He told me about the submerged boat and confirmed the poor quality of the panfish and giant carp that can reach over 25 lbs. He confirmed my depth readings and the lack of weeds in much of the lake. (Triploid carp ?)

Well worth the excursion !

[DockShootinJack]

Sounds like a great day. Except for the falling out of the boat. Those are some good looking yellow perch

["G"]

Man.....i hate that you fell....your going to be sore tomorrow morning

[SuperDave336]

Ouch, hate that for you. Good looking catch and fun to learn new places.

[Spoonminnow]

Man.....i hate that you fell....your going to be sore tomorrow morning

Worse the night after - today not so bad but still sore. Too bad, today was the last nice day for 48 hours : cloudy and 60..
Tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night rain, rain and more rain. Fri. in the low 50's but sunny and hopefully not windy. Should be well enough by then.

For some reason I value crappie and perch no matter the size more than other species except giant gills. Bass? - a big yawn; pickerel and catfish - YUCK!

[TerryD]

Spoon, Glad to see your able to get out so soon. Sounds like you had a good day on new water. Sorry to hear about your fall and wishing you a speedy recovery. Be careful out there and good luck with the catching!

[Spoonminnow]

Hey, but at least I'll be in the workshop organizing new and old lures for the next outing such as crankbaits and small swimbaits to troll, new short stick designs for wacky rig, different lures to use with a Beetle Spin, small flukes to nose hook and others not cast for years.

It pays to revisit that which worked in the past and get out of the groove of always limiting myself to the small group of lures I know can catch fish. Not doing so narrows where and how I'm able to catch fish resulting in not too many oh my! moments at any rate.

[funfishers]

Those Perch are pretty, I don't believe we catch around here.
Be careful out there!

[Ketchn]

real nice yellow perch there , and to be sure I took a spill or 3 in my time , mostly hurt my pride more than anything ,but to be sure in water that chilly it wasn't fun to get wet I bet .

[Spoonminnow]

be sure in water that chilly it wasn't fun to get wet I bet .

Did avoid the water or loosing the boat (rope in hand) as I fell flat on a rock. Still sore under my right tit* but will give it a go tomorrow as long at the cold front wind isn't too strong. May even go back to that lake to explore what it's like post-front. Strangest water I've ever fished !!!

(* good thing I'm a D cup or the injury might have sent me to the ER. Sometimes it pays to be a bit overweight no matter what the experts say. )