Perch fishing off Edgewater 6/15

[Mirage]

My daughter (20) hadn't been out this year and since the forecast was 2' or less we decided to launch out of Rocky River around 5:30 pm. Wind was stiff out of the E-NE and there were easy 2-4. Took a wave over the bow of my 19.5' boat and got drenched. Turned back and pulled out.

We weren't the only one...one guy who came in with a Boston Whaler said he took 40-50 over the bow. But since I had all the stuff and knew we could get some shelter by the Edgewater Lighthouse, we trailered over to Edgewater.

Tried by the Cuyahoga mouth lighthouse along with four other boats. Nothing.

By then (7:45 or so) the winds had died down and we decided to look for better marks. I saw a flurry of sea gulls diving in about 39 ft just west of the Edgewater ramp. We set up about 8:10 pm and the bite was steady until we left around 9 pm. Ended up with about 20 nice sized perch (sorry, none over 12"). A couple sheephead but no white bass or white perch.

My daughter had a great time and caught the biggest perch (about 11.25").

[bajuski]

Too bad you didn't get into the bigger ones. Don't give up on the area, there's plenty of fish in the 12 to 12 1/2 inch range and they are fat, they look like they're full of eggs even though they've spawned.

[Sculpin67]

We got our limit yesterday in the same area. My 12 year old son and I fished from about 8am to noon. We only kept about 4 under 9" (because they swallowed the hook), and most were 9.5" to 10.5". I think we had about 5 in the 11" to 11.5" range. Caught over 100 fish, and only caught perch - no other species.

We were both using Capt Curt's perch rigs. Fishing on the bottom to 2 turns up. We had 2 old guys with spreaders park near us, and I bet they caught 1 fish to our 10.

[bajuski]

Originally Posted by Sculpin67

We got our limit yesterday in the same area. My 12 year old son and I fished from about 8am to noon. We only kept about 4 under 9" (because they swallowed the hook), and most were 9.5" to 10.5". I think we had about 5 in the 11" to 11.5" range. Caught over 100 fish, and only caught perch - no other species.

We were both using Capt Curt's perch rigs. Fishing on the bottom to 2 turns up. We had 2 old guys with spreaders park near us, and I bet they caught 1 fish to our 10.

The rigs definately can make a difference. Big Jim Dunn is a good fisherman and he was using beaded perch rigs. I was using just a sinker with leadered hooks and outfishing him with more and bigger fish. He swiched over to a rig more similar to mine and started catching the bigger fish! I think on light bite days the less flashy stuff I use the better I do, maybe because of less weight and I can feel the bite better.