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View Full Version : Perris gills massacre 10/29



TheAsianGuy
10-30-2011, 12:56 AM
All focus on gills and crappies today, after learning that there more than 4 sunken boats in the lake :!!!: The search begins at Bernasconi ramp.

Water temp: 68°F down to 7ft from 0622 to 1000 hrs. Once the sun hit the surface at full power, temp went up to 72°F down to 5ft. Perfect for trouts! Learned that there were trouts dumped earlier on Friday too.

Air temp: 52°F from 0520 to 0800 hrs. Guys, wader may be considered for the first part of the morning. But, warm enough if you have thick skin. After 0800 hrs, if you're above the water like me, warm clothing off. Carlos, one of the tuber, was shivering until 1000 hrs before he decided to shed a bit this warm clothing.

Water level: raised by 2 feet. Not bad. Outlet was not running.

Baits: Rapala X Shad floater, YoZuri bean, dropshot with cricket, jigging with crickets and worms.

Barely arrived, and 6 others were pulling in, and headed to the shore line near the dam. Three tubers and myself hit the water at 0627 hrs. All three tubers aimed for basses. Me, gills, crappies, cats, carp, what ever that plan on biting my bait arsenal on hand. First toss with Rapala X and YoZuri bean tailing combo, tiny gill of 4.5" decided to jump it. What a ham. The stomach is bigger than its mouth.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c347/elusor/Perris_2011_10-29/IMG_2112.jpg

Barely got tiny off the line, and toss my dropshot into the tules at the ramp cove, and wham, another tiny :Rolls Eyes: at 4", swallowing two cricket on the dropshot. Barely unhook and release tiny, and wham, another one took on the Rapala, ignoring the bean. 5" :Confused: So many tinies.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c347/elusor/Perris_2011_10-29/IMG_2116.jpg

Okay..okay..smallies are all over the cove. Let's move out from 3ft to 11ft. Wham! CARP on my Rapala snagged it as it jumps right of the water, and something on my dropshot within 10 seconds. Forget dropshot. Focus on the Rapala. 300ft of 2lbs braid line gone within 2 minutes. Holy carp. That sucker is fast and strong. It pulled me into the tules, and the ultra light rod was bending like a weed. Attempted to turn the toon around, but there's not a fight any more. Reel in the Rapala, and found a piece of meat was on the hook. OUCH! :Shocked: The hook torn a part of its lip out. Rapala got a bent treble hook.

Schools after schools of bait fishes everywhere! Basses lurked beneath the water. The 3 tubers landed dinks, 2lbs at max. No crappies and gills at 15ft. Heading out beyond buoys near the outlet towers, and the fish finder lit up. From 3ft to 22ft, nothing but fishes :EyePop: casted out both jig and dropshot with double cricket rations. One after another, gills are chewing. Size between 5.5" to 7.5". YEAH!
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c347/elusor/Perris_2011_10-29/IMG_2117.jpg

I lost count of how many I caught. Toss anything less than 6". Keep anything move than 6", but not more than 9". Keep those larger ones for the breeding program for next season.

1000 hrs, and I wonder, what the heck happened to the water flees :???: See some boats parked dead smacked in the middle of the boat zone, so, I took the liberty to venture into deeper water. Water depth at 39ft, and HOLY SMOKE! There are tons of life beyond the buoy line. Found a huge underwater tree, and a boat turned to its side :???::!!!: Love the quad sonar. Jig and dropshot down with double crickets. SNAGGED! This 9.5" popped out from the depth. This puppy was fighting with every part of its scales and fins. Took nearly 4 minutes to haul it up.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c347/elusor/Perris_2011_10-29/IMG_2118.jpg

Took it out, but the belly looked a bit inflated. Oh crap. The bends. The needle is way too big for this puppy. Pulled out my trusty McGuyver drop sinker to help the fish back to the depth. Hook it to its upper lip, rig to a 15lbs mono, drop it and the fish down to roughly 30ft, and pulled the line fast upward. Wait..wait..wait..no fish belly up for the next 5 minutes while continuing tossing jig and dropshot into the school below.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c347/elusor/Perris_2011_10-29/IMG_2121.jpg

Plenty of 5" to 9" coming up from the tree structure. Loss a few jigs at the boat, but manage to haul up a few keeper at 7" to 8". After 10 fishes, hauled from the structures below, they don't want to chew any more for the next 30 minutes. Oh well, time to move on. 1115 hrs, there are the fleas. Time to move to safer water. Some idiots in fishing boats and large pontoons going against boat traffic at high speed. Then another pontoon flies right into the 5mph zone at 15mph. We did the stare down while the husband drives past me. A couple followed up with jet skiis, with the male acting like a drunk moron trying to splash the buoys doing side skits. The tubers indicated that were the same couple that splashed them not too long ago, of which I witnessed. They were 10ft inside the 5mph buoy line, doing 15mph. Wish I had my 0.22 to take out that freaking motor.

Hit the tire reef, hover over the 7 tires furthest from shore. Found the sunken boat, and the grass were growing over 10ft around the tires. FISH ON! From 2.5" to 8.5", gills were all over the place. Fish finder did not detect any crappie, trout, bass, or cat within the areas. DANG IT :Crying: Oh well. Tires and boat snagged a few jigs. No problem. As long as gills keep on chewing. Gills stop chewing after 3 to 4 of them are caught from the same school. Keep switching from one school to another in different structures along the tire reef. BEHOLD, 3 huge tree structures in deeper water at 32ft. More jigs loss, but more gills come up.

Every time I talk to the boaters in the boats chasing basses, nothing more than 2lbs, max at 3lbs all day. Guys, gills are still biting like mad. However, get yourself a fish finder. Chasing them blind will leave you empty handed, such as a few of the boater that spend the entire south and east side just tossing lines blindly. I had my limit. Headed home at 1545 hours. Next time, I will venture deep into the middle of the boat zone, with heavy display of colors and reflectors. I want those monster crappies!

BiGPaC
10-30-2011, 01:08 AM
Nice detailed report. Wish I could use the info this weekend... life is to busy some times.

Jason

bob sr
10-30-2011, 05:17 AM
thanx for the great report......with the help of your fishfinder you were killing them...which make and model of fish finder are you using, it must be a real good one!

Fishnfun
10-30-2011, 08:49 AM
How do you like to hook, rig and fish your crickets? Thanks.

fishmounter
10-30-2011, 01:21 PM
Good fishing Leo. You know, where there are underwater snags, like trees and big tires, I just use a drop-shot rig with an 8 inch dropper-loop and an 1/8 oz round split shot, and #10 Gamakatsu TW hook baited with a cricket or mealworm. Better to loose this rig than a jig, especially if it is a hand-tied one. Sometimes too, with a drop-shot rigged with a split shot sinker, it's just the sinker that gets wedged in a snag and the split shot will just slide off if you pull steady and slowly. The black, green and pink jigs do usually work better than a plan hook and cricket, but I'll use these where there is not so many snags.

Natural Lefty
10-30-2011, 03:56 PM
Wow, Leo, you are really rigged to the hilt, aren't you? Fishfinders, pontoons, specialized stringers, thermometers, and gobs of fishing equipment. It must be working for you with all those fish you are catching. Compared to you, I am really low-budget, fishing with the kids and the novices. Good job on the Bluegills.

TheAsianGuy
10-30-2011, 04:13 PM
which make and model of fish finder are you using, it must be a real good one!

Running off the Humminbird 728, loaded with quad sonar and GPS puck. Got it as a present from wife. I smiled from ear to ear for months.


How do you like to hook, rig and fish your crickets? Thanks.

I simply use the basic dropshot with 1/8oz sinker, and single hook roughly 20" from the sinker, running on the PLine flouro/clear 48" leader, tied to 2lb braid Pro. Fishmounter has the best mono-flouro hybrid setup. May way to consult with him. He's a freaking master! Beside dropshot, I use 2 of 1/16oz slip sinkers a 1/32oz jig head to do a quick descent, while another rod only has the 1/32oz jig head for a very very slow descent presentation. Trouts, panfishes, and carp love the way the jig head slowly sinks.


Good fishing Leo. You know, where there are underwater snags, like trees and big tires, I just use a drop-shot rig with an 8 inch dropper-loop and an 1/8 oz round split shot, and #10 Gamakatsu TW hook baited with a cricket or mealworm. Better to loose this rig than a jig, especially if it is a hand-tied one. Sometimes too, with a drop-shot rigged with a split shot sinker, it's just the sinker that gets wedged in a snag and the split shot will just slide off if you pull steady and slowly. The black, green and pink jigs do usually work better than a plan hook and cricket, but I'll use these where there is not so many snags.

Great suggestion Jeff. Will put that in my list of rig for 11/11 outing into the deeper water. Join me? If you are, I'll charge up the battery and load up the motor.


Wow, Leo, you are really rigged to the hilt, aren't you? Fishfinders, pontoons, specialized stringers, thermometers, and gobs of fishing equipment. It must be working for you with all those fish you are catching. Compared to you, I am really low-budget, fishing with the kids and the novices. Good job on the Bluegills.

Robert, it took me a while to work out a saved budget to get all my gears. $10 here, $5 there, all went into the fishing gear account. Everything else go to the wife or the family. I'm low budget as you are. As James (bassgrabber1) would call us "Broke A$S Bass Anglers" :LOL: Good grief. Everything beside the main components, I simply rip existing old parts from computers, electronics, and simply rig the toon and tube until they reach their limits. The geek in me I guess.

fishmounter
10-30-2011, 04:24 PM
Why don't you post a good photo of your pontoon rig fully set-up, for everyone to see.

TheAsianGuy
10-30-2011, 04:45 PM
Will do on the next outing. I want to make one more modification and hopefully it will be done by next time. Rather than having only 1 wheel below it, I would like to have the blacksmith weld a 2nd wheel attachment so it will be balanced when there's a motor and battery weighing the entire system down. It's a freaking pain to balance everything on one wheel setup.

fish-o-haulic
10-30-2011, 05:30 PM
Leo we gotta fish together. With your advanced knowledge of the habitat of fish and there eating patterns its hard to beleive you have ever skunked a day in your life.

TheAsianGuy
10-30-2011, 05:42 PM
Deandrew, you be surprise how many time I skunked at that lake along the shore until I got myself the tube. Even with the tube, I barely got away with the skunk when I hit the water late in the morning, without the fish finder. However, learning from the masters like fishmounter, SirBlueGill, Pete, and the rest, I slowly develop the mapped habitats of the lake over the years. It doesn't mean that I can nail those fishes every time even when I know where the habitats are. They are very picky at time.

I skunked at so many different water bodies, including the ducts. But, skunking means more time to do researches from masters. No matter how much knowledge I obtained, I am always a student. One day, I want to declare a statement just like an old gentleman did when I purchased the crickets at the liquor-bait store near the lake. The white, round-belly, heavy grey beard, in his late 50s, said, "I don't need luck with my skills. I'll hauled in my limit of gills in a few hours.." as I bid him good luck as I drove away. Man, that is some awesome confident I sure like to have.

fish-o-haulic
10-30-2011, 06:19 PM
Trial and error got it, thnks leo. LOL