First off, let me say that I absolutely love this fishery. There is not a tremendous amount of fishing pressure and once you figure out where the fish are it can be outstanding. We are in Perth for the second last stop on the tour before the two day event out of Woodstock. My regular partner is away on vacation so I am fishing with long time friend Phil Barrett. Philip used to say that it seemed like I fished under a cloud most of the time and today was no exception.
I drew fifteen for a takeoff number so we moved back in the field a bit to let the lower numbers have a clean takeoff. When our turn came Philip put the throttle down and the boat took off- sort of. We didn’t seem to have any power and Phil figured we were running on three cylinders. After plowing water for a bit it finally caught and off we went. We immediately cut through a boat wake and I had my morning shower and then for good measure we did another one. I am awake and wet.
When we got to our first stop Phil threw a big Fire Tiger Skitter Pop into an eddy by a big rock and it barely hit the water when a 2lb smallmouth came charging through the surface film and nailed it. Not a bad start to get a nice fish on the first cast of the day. The next fish also hit the Skitter Pop but it was on a short line right beside the boat and it broke the line. Most of the time he was fishing the topwater I was throwing a Blue Fox in-line spinner in the flatwater behind the boulders and I put a couple of keepers in the boat. I was using a 6′” Crucial medium action rod, 25oo Stradic FH reel spooled with Seige green mono. I still like mono for throwing these little spinners. It certainly wasn’t fast and furious but it was steady enough that we weren’t stressing over the bite. We just needed to bump it up a bit.
Phil’s Skitter Pop was getting the most attention so I switched to a topwater as well. My first cast produced our biggest fish of the day at 3lbs 14 ounces. We went to put it in the front livewell and the pump wouldn’t come on so we were down to the back livewell only. By ten thirty we had worked up to about 15.5lbs and we were pretty pleased with ourselves. The next guy to catch a fish that culled was in for a free ice cream so the pressure was on. I like freebies and I did score the next fish that would cull. This is where the day took a big downturn.
After we had culled the fish the livewell pump did not get turned back on. A bit later as I was fishing I noticed the light was off on the livewell switch and pushed it. Philip asked if the pump had been off since we culled and if I had looked in the well to see if the fish were ok. I hadn’t, they either were good or not and looking wouldn’t change anything. Long story short, he came back and looked and they were all belly up. Small livewell, pump off and high temperatures did not leave any room for error. It was pretty quiet in the boat for the next hour or so but we kept on plugging away.
The Skitter Pop produced a good number of fish for us throughout the day and I think Phil threw it for the whole day. He lost one on the second fish when it hit him short and also broke one of his favourite rods. He had seen a bit of a nick in the blank that morning and it was just a matter of time. They are out of production so it was irreplaceable.
We left twenty minutes for the ride back to the weigh in as we headed back downriver. About half way back the engine just shut off and we were dead in the water. After the way things had been going for the day we just looked at each other and laughed. It was almost funny. Philip got the boat started again and we did make the weigh in with a minute to spare. At this point the light also came on for the front livewell.
We ended up weighing in two dead fish and finished in fifth place which we felt was pretty good considering what we had been through. The livewell issue cost us second or third place.
The moral of the story is that it is a lot easier to check everything at home than it is to deal with it on the water. Phil had been away all week at dealer meetings and the only thing that got checked was batteries and one of them had been dead. We just hooked onto it and headed for Perth.
The next tournament is on Labour Day weekend out of Woodstock, New Brunswick. A great community to fish out of and very angler friendly. It will be a two day event which I always enjoy. JR. will be back from vacation and we will give it our best shot.
What caught fish in Perth:
I fished with 6’6? Crucial MH rods/ 2500 Stradic FH reels/ 15lb Power Pro and Seige green mono except for the times I used the Blue Fox and I used a Crucial Medium 6’6? rod instead.
Lots came on a SP9 Skitter Pop in Firetiger
A #3 Silver Blue Fox
Lucky Craft Splash it
Green Pumpkin Flutter Worm
Take a kid fishing, you won’t regret it.
Rick Greene
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