I started the weekend with a yearly tally of 578 fish. My goals were first to break the 600 fish milestone then put a dent in towards the 700.
600 Fish on the Way to 1000
The fun in the numbers of Perch I can catch is to experiment with different flies and combinations. For now I am throwing them a Trout fishing combination, the hopper copper dropper. That’s a foam grasshopper as the floater with a bead head copper John as the dropper fly. The Hopper – Copper – Dropper.
The combo proved to be quite successful. Friday night, in only 10 casts, I landed 3 perch. For Saturday, I switched to my new #12 hoppers (see below) with a Copper John dropper. Saturday was a day with more time available to fish, in-between yard work and some other recreation. Unfortunately I never had my phone/camera with me as I was thrilled to land a 9″ Perch along with 46 other perch throughout the day. That included 2 Perch that I was able to catch on the hopper itself.
Fishing for Perch Like Trout
I tried this after just returning from a fly fishing trip in southern Alberta where it was the most productive pattern combo of the trip, so why not try it on perch? The Copper John has always worked well so may as well give ’em two flies. The #10 sized hoppers I was casting for the rainbows and browns last weekend was getting hit by the Perch but seemed to be too big for them, only one Perch actually hooked and landed on the hopper. So I have tied some smaller #12 hoppers to see if I can hook up a few more Perch on the slightly smaller fly in addition to the Copper John, which I know will catch dozens of fish.
On the way to 700
With the next milestone in sight, I know the timeline is running short. It’s September now and besides fishing, I have plans to spend time knocking down some geese and ducks. Then there’s the annual maintenance tasks on the cabin and of course at some point, depending on when I have help available, it will be time to take the boat, Sea Doos, lift and dock out of the water before it gets too cold.
I’m now at 630 fish and my time out will be spent chasing after bigger fish, Pike and Walleye, with some time at the Last Call spot for Perch and likely off the dock as well. The timeline, and other activities planned, suggests that the target of 1000 is a far outside chance. But if I don’t cast a line often enough, then there is no chance, so I will continue to fish on.