Perris...One Word... INSANE!!!!!!

[Pete Marino]

So Mike (KaralM) called me up and told me he wanted to get back out with me on Perris. The last time Mike was out there with me we completely slayed the bass with both topwater baits AND the trusty dropshot. We had over 30 bass that day and the action was awesome ....BUT... that paled in comparison to INSANE action we had last FRIDAY.
In the last couple weeks the bass at Perris have really been on the move in transition. Alot are still shallow, also alot of bass in the midrange depth of 25-35 ft and there are also even more fish out in 40-50ft.
When I met Mike in the morning I told him that we were gonna cover each zone starting with the shallowest then progressively move deeper. I also told him that I expected to have the bite get better as the morning wore on because of the front that past through Tues and Weds last week.. And because the deep water bass usually bite better as the morning and day wears on.
So off we went to start our day... We were gonna start with the topwater baits...
We get to my first spot and start firing away... I noticed 3 things with in the first 10 minutes..
1. There was much less grass in 4-6 ft of water in my area.
2. The bait i was seeing being chased was super shallow and "Micro" bait..Literally 1/2 inch - 1" long.
3. The bass that were chasing the Micro bait were small bass up to maybe only 1 pound.

I instantly knew that the topwater action was gonna suffer because of those reasons. Every year since I started bass fishing at perris in the early 90's the telltale sign that the bass are in the transition from the Fall to Winter patterns is the Small bass busting the micro bait. And that seemed to be the case.. But we kept firing our topwaters... Finally after about 30 mintues Mike bait gets bit but Its a small bass and it doesnt stay buttoned. Then again after about 5 more minutes he gets blown up on again...another small bass misses his bait. Then 10 mintues later his bait gets bit again. This time it hooks up and he swings a 2 lb bass into the boat..
We worked the area over for another 30-40 minutes pounding every patch of grass we could but got NO more bites.. Finally I say "okay, lets move" and we head out to 15-20ft. and start working rockpiles and deeper grass with Tailspins.. I got smacked twice in 15 mintues but neither hooked up. I wasnt really feeling it so we made another move.
Time to go a bit deeper.
Now the plan is to work a sunken boat I know of in 31 ft of water. Within minutes its GAME ON and we begin to hammer the bass. The action was back and forth.. Id catch one, then he'd catch one..etc etc... After about an hour of that action we had about 10 bass each but didnt quite have the quality we were looking for so i told Mike..."Lets make a move, I have a deep structure spot that is great for the winter transition".
This spot is a really good deep water ledge that the bass use to transition to their deep water Winter spots. And early in the transition from fall to Winter (Like Now) the bass that use that "Highway" so to speak, are usually bigger bass. (The bigger ones will head deep first)
So we head out there and I drop the marker bouy right on the break in 44 ft.
I asked Mike if he wanted to try the Carolina rig but he said that since he had so much new found confidence in the dropshot that he'd start with the dropshot. In fact his exact words were..."I'll use the dropshot and Pete you start with the carolina rig and we'll see who gets bit the most." I just laughed and said..."Okay, your on!"
You see, Throwing the carolina rig in the deep water is something I LOVE to do... I used to HATE it but ive spent the last 4 years practicing it by using it all the time, perfecting it and building my confidence in it....It is now One of my favorite ways to fish deep water for bass.
So we both fire out a cast with our different techniques.. I moved my bait along the center of the ridge towards the top of it... as my bait got to the top, I paused and dragged it up over the top of the rocks that line its crest. (There is a line of rocks along the top of the ridge about 8 yards long) This spot is EXTREMELY specific....if you dont drag your bait up onto the rocky ridge then you wont get bit.
So as soon as my bait crested the top of the ridge and touched the rocks i began to drag it about 6-8 inches at a time.. Within about 3-4 ft of that..I feel "TICK"...so i reel down and cross its eyes... A solid 3 1/2 lb Perris beauty!!!
Mike smiled and said "Good Job" as he continued working his first cast with the dropshot.
So I take that bass off, fizz it, and release it. Then I fire out again....Its time to find out if that was just a fluke or were they actually really here in numbers..
This time I cast a bit closer to the top of the ridge so I can get my bait in the strike zone earlier..
I move my bait 6-8 inches at a time with 5 second pauses between pulls... This time after about 2 ft I feel "tick tick"..I reel down and swing as hard as I could (God I love the Carolina rig) and I swing a solid 4 lber into the boat... I look over at Mike and hes shaking his head.. All I said was "Their Heerrrree!!" Two NICE bass on back to back casts...on the sweetspot.
Thats all Mike needed to hear and see for him to want that carolina rig rod..hahhahahahaaha I actually had another carolina rig rod set up ready for him sitting on the deck because i knew that would happen.. hahahah
So I set Mike up...I explain the sweetspot on the ridge by having him look at my graph, I explain how to move the bait, show him where to cast, and lastly say..."HANG ON, Its about to get ugly!!!" So Mike fires out a cast EXACTLY where I told him to. His bait hits bottom and he begins to drag his bait 6-8 inches at a time...Within 3-4 ft...He pauses his bait and then his rod is ALMOST ripped out of his hands!!
HE GOT CRUSHED...This bass absolutely hammered his bait and Mike crossed its eyes!!
It bit so hard that it scared the bajeebers out of Mike. As he swings a solid 4 lber into the boat, I get bit the same way he did... This bass STEAM ROLLED ME!!! And I swing a solid 3 1/2 lber into the boat. Thats when I told Mike that these bass are eating the bait so aggressively because they are down there competing with other bass to eat the bait. Thats a good thing!!
This crazy aggressive action lasted for hours and could have lasted as long as our baits were down there.. It was literally bass after bass and Mike couldnt BELEIVE how great the action was especially after having such an epic day with me last month.. This day made that day look like a slow day...
Time literally flew because the action was so good... before we knew it, it was time to head in.. So I called for "Last cast" and I put my rod in the locker and started retreiving my marker bouy. Right as I pulled it out of the water Mike got bit yet again but he missed it.. hahaha The perfect way to end an EPIC day on the water.. BY THE BASS GETTING THE LAST LAUGH!!!!!
Mike ended up with EXACTLY 25 total bass boated, 2 missed blowups on the topwater early, one lost Big bass on the rig that came unbuttoned 1/2 way up for some reason, and about 5-6 other missed Rig Bites.
I ended the day with 26 boated bass with about 3-4 missed bites on the rig lol lol
We had OVER 50 Bass total on what was a completely INSANE bite!!!

The big bass of the day was over 4 lbs (We each had a few of them)
total bass 50+

shallow water bite 2-6 ft= 1 bass
shallow/mid range 10-20ft= 0 bass
Mid range 27-32 ft= 20 bass
DEEP WATER Ledge 40-47 ft= 30 bass
Topwater= superspooks
Carolina rig= Creature baits, 3/4 oz weight, 4 ft leader.

Im not saying that there arent shallow bass and Im NOT saying you CANT catch them shallow...Because they are there and you can catch them as well...BUT
Im just telling you that this is what WE caught on this day.. and that these bass are absolutely in transition to their deep water haunts.

We only took a few pics this time because Mike always wanted to get his bait back out there...hahaha But Ill ask him if i can post the few pics I do have.
I also saw Mark (Fishboy) out there and he asked me to take a pic of a Nice bass he caught. So Ill ask him as well and posibly post them all.


I just bought my new Lowrance HDS7 with Structure scan and I CANT WAIT TO GET IT PUT ON SO I CAN GET BACK OUT THERE WITH EVEN A CLEARER PICTURE!!!! ITS ABOUT TO GET STUPID!!!!

If you want to experience this deep water bite call me and book your trip...Ill be sporting the new graph to do even more damage on these deep water bass...
PM me or call me!!!

Pete

PeteMarinoGuideService.com
(909) 241-8283 cell
(909) 510-5679 office

[TheAsianGuy]

Dang Pete!!

Looks like the big boys are doing deep, and on the need for feeding. Good fun for us, bad loss of calories for them That was what they did with on that Sat. They ripped on my two medium-heavy rods so hard, I thought my rods were going to snap like my old medium one. Lord mighty. They didn't just bounce-bounce-bounce the pole. They grabbed onto the poles, and pulled it way down. The crazy bass-trout-panfish hunt is on!

Looks like I'll be doing some major workout again. I think I might want to bring my motor this time around to cover more ground. If you're in the water this Sat, I'll be swinging by to say hi time time in the blue toon. Don't run us tubers and tooners over

[Sublime-Steve]

I'm jealous :-) thanks Pete you know perris VERY well. when things get better for me I wanna go out!

[stepchild]

wtg on the deep water bass action,,great read...felt like i was there..lol..need pics

[Natethegreat]

man pete you have that lake dialed man

i will be scheduling a trip with you in the near future possibly

[HawgStalker]

Another very informative report by Pete Marino! I will be booking a trip with Pete someday.....

Great job guys!!

[fishboy12]

Ahh man I left too early that day. I was not getting bit so I decided to get home (had to pick up my daughter from school). Good to see you out on Lake Marino, errr Perris.

[Pete Marino]

Hahaha... thanks guys!! I appreciate it!!!! When you guys are ready to get out there with me let me know and we'll go rip it up!!!!! Maybe you guys can get together and share a trip...it would be cheaper to share the cost of a trip rather than footing the whole cost...But if you want a one person trip thats cool Ill give you each discount...either way, just let me know.

Fishboy you need to email me again so I can send you your pic of that 1 lber...hahahah

Pete

[adiablo420]

Good report Pete... You put everything into clear prospective.. With the cooler weather coming in,they are starting to go deeper. Good job

[bassgrabber1]

WTG Pete!! Fishing the trench is hard with my little boat because the wind just pushes me so fast.