Perris Lake 10/7 Sail Cove Pier with Onemore

[Natural Lefty]

I took a late afternoon/early evening trip to the little pier at Sail Cove, Perris Lake yesterday which turned out to be a very fun trip in which history sort of repeated itself, as I met a fairly new fellow FNN member. (In April, I met SirBluegill there when he recognized me.)

I got there pretty late, around 4:45 p.m. and noticed a couple of guys leaving with a basket that appeared to have about 20 fish in it. They were sort of far away, but it looked like a mix of Bluegills and Redears to me, some pretty large. One of the men came over and talked to me, and said they were biting on crickets cast out from the end of the pier. That was something different for me, since I usually catch fish straight down from the pier or casting out to the sides of the pier. I did notice that the water is a couple of feet lower than usual though, so the pier is shallower.

I heeded the men's advice and went to the end of the pier. I casted out with one pole, and worked around the pier with the other. Since I only had splitshot on for weight, I wasn't casting very far at first and nothing bit. Thus, I put a 1/2 ounce weight on my 6 pound line and two small hooks dropshot style, and heaved it out about 100 feet or so. Still, nothing bit. Eventually, after a few casts, my bait was missing although I saw no bites. I brought homegrown redworms and some of my compost pile grubs. I was seriously considering heading for the marina at this point as it had been probably 45 fishless and nearly biteless minutes where the previous occupants had said "they were biting."

Around that time, a family showed up with mom, dad, older daughter and younger son. A little after that, my pole with the dropshot line which I had heaved out to the left at an angle from the end of the pier, bent way over, and I proceded to pull in a nice, fat, 8inch male Bluegill. The father said "nice," etc. and really liked my catch, so we started talking. He mentioned checking "the fishing website," so a little light went on in my head, and I asked him if he was checking FNN. When he said yes, I introduced myself as "Natural Lefty" from FNN and said I was pretty sure he had seen some of my posts. I also introduced myself as Robert. He said he was "Juanmore" on FNN, but as you can see below, I kept remembering him incorrectly as "Onemore" as in one more fish before I leave. He told me he had started fishing regularly about a month before and was learning and teaching his kids how to fish. He had just recently joined the site and said he was having trouble posting so far from his cell phone.

Anyway, we had a nice chat as we fished, and the fishing got better and better, only the size of the fish went down. His wife and son went back to the car, and "Onemore" stayed with his 9 year old daughter, Evie. All they had brought was crappie jigs to use, which weren't working, so I let them use my worms and grubs. They put on small hooks and my bait, and soon they started getting bites, but missing them. Meanwhile, Bluegills started biting all around the end of the pier, mostly small ones but a few decent size ones. Eventually, "Onemore" caught a Bluegill almost as large as my first one, on the right side of the dock. I was catching quite a few small ones right at the end of the dock almost as soon as the bait hit the bottom. Evie asked if I had walked to the end of the rainbow and found a pot of gold. What a charming little lady she is. I told her no, but Bluegills like me, plus practice helps. Finally, Evie managed to haul in a couple of small Bluegills at the end of the pier. At one point, things got really funny, when "Onemore" asked me if I had seen the post about Lasselle Lake. It obviously hadn't registered with him yet that I was the person who wrote that, definitely a sort of quietly hilarious moment for me. Actually, I was quite flattered. I reminded him that it was indeed me who had written that report, and he said he had checked out where the place I went fishing was just the day before, but hadn't gone fishing there yet. I recommended he try it.

It was getting dark by that time, my new friends had to go somewhere, and I was concerned that they were probably closing the gate at 8 p.m. now instead of 10. I caught one more decent size Bluegill by simply dropping my dropshot line straight down, around 7:20, and figured that was a great way to end the trip, so we all left together. For the record, I only caught 3 fish by casting out 100 feet or so, and the first one was the biggest. The third one was about 3 inches. Anyway, the action appeared to move toward shore with the coming of dusk.

Evie thanked me and said "Goodbye Sir," so I said "Goodbye Evelyn" and waved to her since she was being so formal. "Onemore" shook my hand and we said goodbye but were thinking of possibilities of meeting in the future and fishing together.

Totals were for me: Sixteen Bluegills (I think) of which 5 were kept, mostly caught on redworms, with only 1 or two on the grubs.

"Onemore" caught the second largest Bluegill, which he gave to me since he said he didn't have anyplace to put it, although he was interested in learning how to cook the Bluegills.

Evelyn ("Evie") caught two small Bluegills, which she released, although earlier she had asked me why I was putting so many of them back. (I said they were too small and not grown up yet.)

I didn't take any pictures of the fish, as today I was called away from home on a sort of medical emergency (sick daughter) but "Onemore" took a few photos, so I am hoping he can post them. Anyway, I think everybody here knows what 6-8 inch Florida strain Bluegills look like.

[Sublime-Steve]

Great post as usual man, good time's with good ppl make's time seem to vanish. how big are these red worms you use? the ones from walmart wouldn't fit on a needle..

[Natural Lefty]

Wow, that was fast Steve. I was adding a couple of details when you posted. It was a real blast even though we weren't hauling in many big ones, except for a couple of good size Bluegills. First thing we knew, it was getting dark and it was pretty chilly for this time of year. Good thing I wore a jacket. The weather didn't seem to bother the fish though.

I would say my redworms vary in size but are mostly pretty average size, like 2-3 inches long and are pretty easy to put on a small hook. They are larger than the little redworms they sell at some places, but smaller than the "Trout Worms" which some places sell (which I think are actually "Euro Worms"). Fish really like them. My wife says they taste better to the fish because they eat natural yummy food such as fruit peels.

[juanmore951]

yeah we had a nice time we didn't want to leave. Ev can't stop talking about her first fish. Thanks lefty.

Let me know when you want hit canyon lake, or perris...
Thanks again.

[old pudd fisher]

Thanks Natural Lefty, I like reading your posts.

[SirBluegill]

Nice report Robert, funny that you met another FNNer on the pier. I fished today for gills and did pretty good off the dam. The water was a little colder today compared to last week. Always enjoy reading you're reports.

[TheAsianGuy]

Great post as usual Lefty. Always fun to see other FNNers at the waters as we all bond over a good session of fishing. Hope your daughter feeling better. I'll keep a prayer for her.

[Natural Lefty]

Juanmore, that's it. I know you told me that, but sometimes I have a lousy memory. I kept thinking "Onemore," as in catching one more fish before leaving. Sorry about getting your user name wrong. My name didn't register with you about the Lasselle Lake report until I told you so, on the other hand. Now, I think we have got it straight who each of us is here on FNN. I am glad to see you managed to post on here.

SirBluegill, were you in a float tube? There are a lot of fish in the west end of the lake this time of year, so I am not surprised you did well, especially considering your growing fishing skills.

OldPuddFisher, it is a pleasure doing them. Maybe we will run into each other as well.

Asianguy, daughter Isabella has a painful throat infection, but it wasn't as serious as her mother made it sound. I think she mostly wanted me to do heavy work like moving her piano, plus take her shopping for a music keyboard among other things which I bought for her. She teaches piano and keyboard playing to children.

[SirBluegill]

Yes I was tubing near the dam, I could see steam coming off the water early morning. I got a few bites deep 20 ft plus but a vast majority of the action was in shallow water 12 ft. I caught a couple 9 inch plus gills and several 7- 8's. I released the large gills and gave the smaller ones to an asain couple on the shore. They had some nice sized redears, using redworms. heres some pics

http://bigbluegill.com/photo/albums/lake-perris-oct-08

[old pudd fisher]

Very nice photos Anthony.