Monday, February 17, 2014

Switching to Ultra Light

On my last trip, I was in as wide open water as you can get, using the absolute heaviest gear I had.  This time, I pulled out the 2lb test spinning gear and launched into a windy little creek.  My old fishing buddy, Justin Mayer invited me to a spot out near Tappahanock to look for one of our favorite fish to target this time of year, the yellow perch.  



It felt a little funny, I admit.  Fighting some of the hardest fighting fish I've ever hooked on one trip, then getting excited about 10 to 12 inch fish the next was entertaining to say the least.  

It had been about 2 years since I chased yellow perch (aka ring perch).  The Chickahominy as well as the Northwest River had treated me well in previous years, but this time, the action was fairly slow.  We eventually found a sporadic bite and I landed 6 up to 11.5".  Silver Buddy type blade baits and little roadrunners with curly tail grubs worked very slow did the trick for me.




They are very pretty fish and also excellent table fair.

Thanks to Justin's dad, Curtis, for suggesting the roe as well. 
I breaded and fried it and it was DELICIOUS!

3 comments:

  1. The indigenous people up this way call 'em "Yellers" ... they ARE beautiful. (the fish). Staging to spawn now. Way fun on ultralight spin gear. I have an olive over white bead-chain fly that hammers them.

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  2. Great photos! We should be getting them soon in some of our tidal creeks.

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  3. Great photos! Wish we had some of those close to us. Beautiful fish.

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