Orillia Perch Derby

[jjcanoe]

Got a late start on Saturday in the derby. We went to Tromblays to pick up some minnows and a few other things and was impressed by the service and helpful staff they had there. After that it was off to the headquarters to pick up our pre paid tickets. We were not very politely told that we couldn't park in the almost empty lot there to get our tickets but had to park way out back on the grass. After spinning the tires and covering the front of the boat with a nice coating of mud, I remembered my new pickup has 4WD! Me and jr. walked across the soggy muddy grass to pick up our tickets. Did I mention the rain and lightning?

After we picked up the tickets we saw the girl who told us to park it on the grass. "Sorry about the lawn" I said and then asked were there was a car wash to hose off my boat and cover. The one she sent me to was a drive thru so I found a wand wash and hosed the caked mud off. We went over to the port Launch just about the time that the rain died off and stuck the boat in the water. The starting battery was dead. I unhooked one of my trolling motor batteries to get us going.

Through the narrows into Simcoe and off to the crowd of boats we went. After about an hour of nothing we decided to move on, we went back under the bridge to Couch. and pulled up to a spot at the mouth of a channel, dropped anchor and were immediately into fish. For about 3 hours it was non-stop perching action with a few bunch of doubleheaders and a few quadruple headers. (2 hooks per line X 2 guys= Quadruple header!) Average size was about 7" but got 3 or 4 in the 12" range.

Jr. was all about the minnows but after a while I decided to try something different. I had a 1/16th oz jighead with a tiny plastic crayfish. This worked about half as well as the minnows, meaning I got one every third or fourth cast instead of every other cast. Funny thing about this spot was that although there were a few other boats within casting distance (within 50') of us we seemed to be the only ones having any sort of luck. Don't know if it was the setup or the spot or the "Lucky Fishing Hat" We managed easily over 100 fish in total. My son was really happy with the fishing there.

We managed to get off water and bring the perch 2 biggest to the live release "check in" station with about 3 minutes to spare before the next thunder storm rolled through!

 

Here's the R's

 

the Ride

 

the Rig

 

the Region

 

the Radar

 

the Results

 

the Reason

 

Had a great day out there.

Please note the presence of the Lucky Fishing Hat!

 

jjcanoe and jjcanoe jr.

Edited April 27, 2009 by jjcanoe

[SlowPoke]

Remarkable!

[jjcanoe]

Thanks Brian, If I had my knife with me I'd be calling you over for a perch feed!

 

jjcanoe

[Terry]

must be the lucky hat, I lost mine years ago

 

sounds like a great day of perching

[Radnine]

That looks like a happy kid! Congratulations!

Jim

[b2kptbo]

Well done, glad ya's got into some good action...

[tinbanger]

Really Really Really ...GREAT!

 

TB

[jjcanoe]

used to be MY lucky fishing hat but it has since changed hands!

 

jjcanoe

[tbayboy]

Great post JJ - big points for the R theme

[Leecher]

Great report and pics jjcanoe

Congratulations to both of you

 

Your son's quite the fisherman!!! His smile says it all

Leechman

[fishboy]

Nice work and glad you got out. I had a friend and his son report that with the lightning on Sat and the wind on Sun they got precious little fishing in.

[jjcanoe]

Nice work and glad you got out. I had a friend and his son report that with the lightning on Sat and the wind on Sun they got precious little fishing in.

 

We timed it just about right on Saturday!

 

jjcanoe