Dave brought his son out for a perch fishing trip on Lake Erie. They had returned for a second charter with me. We started out of the harbor and the lake was very flat with no wind. Perch fishing has been spotty in Lorain so we anchored over one of my favorite perch GPS icons. We were marking fish all over the bottom and they looked just like the marks in the spring and fall when the perch school up as the waters cool. We caught a few gobies which are an invasive species brought in from the big ships who empty their ballast when entering the lake through the locks. These little critters resemble a huge tadpole. They love to clean the bait off the hook before the perch get a chance. Then a nice 22″ walleye hit the perch rig and Dylan reeled it in as his dad netted and landed him for the cooler. We thought we might have something going. Well, after quite a while of no perch, no more walleye and the lake getting flatter, I knew from the recent reports this could turn out to be one of those bleak days.
I asked Dave if he would like to change over for walleye and he said “Sure, I just wanted my son to catch fish.” I brought the rods out and moved the boat over where I had been catching walleye for the past 2 weeks. As soon as we started trolling, it was on. Non-stop fishing and we finished up with 9 walleye keepers, a bunch of throwbacks and 10 huge white bass. They both had a great time and said they would make this an annual event. Better to be lucky than good!