Pressure Drop Bassin' and a Perch Fishing Surprise

The weatherman's crystal ball showed warmer temps, but lots of wind and rain...

while my mind envisioned the barometer dropping 

and largemouth appetites growing.

Soft mud squished under my boots as big drops plopped on the hood of my Kokatat Goretex Full Zip. Sharing the same anticipation, Drew Camp slid into the clear dimpled water first. The smile inducing "fish on" came before I even sat down on my kayak.

Drew quickly picked up several fish on various baits but we couldn't really pin point a good pattern.  A few fish were caught a little deeper on jigs.  A few were also caught on shallow diving crank baits so we went back and forth not focusing enough on either... until we ventured into a cove where the water temps were a few degrees warmer.  They were stacked up and it was literally hook up after hook up for what felt like an hour.  My preferred lures were a Sebile Magic Swimmer (realistic sunfish pattern for clear water and no shad population) and the new Rapala Shadow Rap in olive. 

We both lost count of fish but I can definitely say that Drew outfished me by a lot.  He's got a great detailed report here (link).

In my defense, I was busy playing around with cameras all day.  Here's a short little video of some violent splashing recorded at 120fps 1080 resolution.  




The following afternoon, I was given the opportunity to go grocery fishing since my kids loved the previous week's perch so much.  Jeff and I went to the same spot as before, hoping for similar results.  Unfortunately, the perch were not there anymore.  Small catfish dominated the action until Jeff hooked into something very, very different. His tiny 4' super ultra light perch set up withstood the nerve racking dilemma of trying to land a 25" snakehead with no net and no lip grippers. 

Lip grippers borrowed from Chuck Wrenn after landing it.

Textured plates on the side of it's head.

We could have sworn it was too cold for snakehead, but then again, snakeheads don't cease to amaze those who have encountered them.  Jeff was generous enough to share a fillet off the invasive specie and my son and I can definitely say they're delicious.  Interesting note: it had roe in it.  Prints coming soon...