After my dismal catfishing trip Saturday, decided that I needed to rediscover that fishing is fun rather than just frustrating. Went to I82 Pond #6 with the pontoon in hopes of spiny rays, particularly bluegill. Didn't get there until probably 3:30 pm or so, and fished until sundown.

Fishing was fabulous ..... for 3-4" perch. That's all I could scrounge up for most of the day - it was slow. Never put much credence into solunar tables, but according to them it was a poor day for fishing. Coincidence? About a half hour before sundown the bluegill started feeding and hitting on the south side of the island, and I was able to salvage a meal out of the trip. Took home probably six nice bluegill, one nice perch. Caught and released a smallish bass, and caught about a billion small perch (or had bites thereof). The south side of the lake (unusually) didn't produce squat, nor did the east side. Didn't try the west side.

I'd noticed the large numbers of small (i.e. unharvestable) perch in this lake earlier this year, and it is kinda starting to look like one of the stunted lakes up in the Columbia Basin (i.e. smallish lake with poor predator-prey balance, and with a bajillion 3-4" yellow perch). Hope the WDFW stocks more largemouth bass and channel cats in Pond #6 to put the hammer on the perch explosion.

However, unlike yesterday, it was kind of a nice trip. Got to watch an osprey fishing in the lake, and it was nice and calm (if not a wee bit hot). The lights finally went on in terms of Jigmeister's jigs - they are incredible. Casting into the weedbeds would frequently produce a series of continual strikes during the retrieve. I can't wait to try them in Pond #4 or some other spiny ray lake without the irritating perch...

Rocky

7/1/2013 11:32:00 AM

Thank you for your report you need to see if Jiggy makes jigs for cat fish lol. Hang in there and don't give up you will get some one day take care rocky .

fishinChristian

7/1/2013 3:26:00 PM

Jigs work well for catfish. Jiggy's tend to be just a bit on the small side for most of the ones I go after, but for up to around 5 lbs are great. Mostly with cats it's getting something that tastes good or triggers predator instincts in front of them. Glad you got some of your mojo back tl!

tluedeke

7/1/2013 6:27:00 PM

Curious, is anyone experiencing this same observation on too many small perch in I82 #6, or is this just observational bias on my part (with a sample size of 2)?

To continue my comically unscientific analysis, I've talked to quite a few fisherman, and almost all fish for either bass or trout - and only a very, very few for perch or bluegill. I'm wondering if we're seeing an overharvesting of predators, and underutilization of prey, leaving an unbalanced lake.

Either that, or I'm an ignoramus who just happened to find the schools of 3-4" perch...

jbball50

7/1/2013 8:33:00 PM

Pond 4 was full of bluegill in the shallows today with bass when i stopped by for a hour before I headed back to Kennewick just in case you head back that way for bluegill with your pontoon.

tluedeke

7/1/2013 11:43:00 PM

Well, that's good news. The whole island plus south side of the lake were swarming with 3-4" perch when I was there Sunday. Glad to hear that things have improved.....

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