07-17-2003, 11:00 PM
[cool]Hey, Special K, if you have never fished the lower Colorado, you oughta put it on your list for physical abuse. Below the Laguna Dam, the big old flathead cats move in to feed on various small fishes at night, and a magnum bluegill is the favorite bait for them. Those are the primary sunfish species used in that area, and some of the ones we catch for bait would be trophies in many waters...up to a pound. But, the SERIOUS flathead fanatics fish for small carp...up to about two or three pounds...and use those for bait. There are a lot of big flatties taken out of there each year over 50 pounds. There was one over 70 taken last year.
On the subject of using whole dead perch...lemme share a little secret. In the olden days on Yuba...when there were lots of gorilla perch...one of the best ways to catch the big perch was to bring one up and then pull a couple of the little ones out of it's throat, if it had been feeding on them. they were usually about three or four inches. We would hook a fresh munched perchkin through the head, on a glitter-painted jig head and send it back down to the bottom. Big perch, walleyes and even a few cats through the ice on these whole perch.
The same tactic worked a couple of times on Deer Creek too. And, some of the best catches of big perch and walleyes I have ever had were on my prism tape doctored "perch urchins"... big 3/8 oz. Kastmasters with green stripes and chartreuse eyes...and a slice of perch meat. Hardly ever caught anything small on them.
Jordanelle is now producing some prodigious smallies and most of them are feeding on small perch with gusto. I know of more than one smallie fan that first catches puny perch and then sends them down in deeper water...whole...with a plain hook or a jighead. There were quite a few fish over 20" wrestled up on this rig before they shut down last year.
Wherever there are perch, you can figure they figure into the food chain..both as predators and prey. Once they get big enough, they eat each other too. Double whammy.
Having fished all over the country, I am continually amazed at some of the "UNIQUE" and creative regulations in the Utah proclamation. There are more than a few that are found nowhere else in the USA. It's like they say in some bureaucratic companies..."AIN'T NO GOOD REASON FOR IT. IT'S JUST POLICY."
[signature]
On the subject of using whole dead perch...lemme share a little secret. In the olden days on Yuba...when there were lots of gorilla perch...one of the best ways to catch the big perch was to bring one up and then pull a couple of the little ones out of it's throat, if it had been feeding on them. they were usually about three or four inches. We would hook a fresh munched perchkin through the head, on a glitter-painted jig head and send it back down to the bottom. Big perch, walleyes and even a few cats through the ice on these whole perch.
The same tactic worked a couple of times on Deer Creek too. And, some of the best catches of big perch and walleyes I have ever had were on my prism tape doctored "perch urchins"... big 3/8 oz. Kastmasters with green stripes and chartreuse eyes...and a slice of perch meat. Hardly ever caught anything small on them.
Jordanelle is now producing some prodigious smallies and most of them are feeding on small perch with gusto. I know of more than one smallie fan that first catches puny perch and then sends them down in deeper water...whole...with a plain hook or a jighead. There were quite a few fish over 20" wrestled up on this rig before they shut down last year.
Wherever there are perch, you can figure they figure into the food chain..both as predators and prey. Once they get big enough, they eat each other too. Double whammy.
Having fished all over the country, I am continually amazed at some of the "UNIQUE" and creative regulations in the Utah proclamation. There are more than a few that are found nowhere else in the USA. It's like they say in some bureaucratic companies..."AIN'T NO GOOD REASON FOR IT. IT'S JUST POLICY."
[signature]