Corny Bluegill Fishing at Perris

[Natural Lefty]

I haven't posted a trip report in a long time, but I have some very interesting observations from my trip to the little Sail Cove fishing pier on Monday.

Some of the pier isn't in the water, so there is less room than when the lake is completely full. There were several people on the end part of the pier and a plethora of poles in the water. I think some people were using too many poles. In fact, one guy mentioned that he hopes the ranger wouldn't see him because he had 4 lines out.

Anyway, I found a spot on the side of the pier, and lots of fish were biting on worms nearby the pier. They were small though, about half of them Bluegills and about half dink LMB. I think I caught about a dozen fish in all. I kept the two largest Bluegills, which were mediumish size, and let the rest of the fish go. But that's not really the most interesting thing about this trip. There was a Chinese couple on the end of the pier, using a carp pole (a very long pole with no reel and a about 15 feet of line attached to the end, like a Tenkara rod). Before long, they hauled in a good size Bluegill, about 3/4 pound. Then they hauled in another and another, etc. All I could see that they had for bait looked like some kind of yellow dough in a plastic container. The husband didn't speak English, but the wife speaks English pretty well. I asked her what they were using for bait, she said her husband made it from "corn and white wine" (probably rice wine). I was pretty astonished. Some people might think I am putting them on, but I never do that unless I let people know that it's a joke. They wound up with about 25 large Bluegills between the two of them, all cookie cutter 3/4 pounders that they put in a basket in the water. They put their line in the water about 10-15 feet beyond the end of the pier, with one of those thin bobbers and a long leader with two treble hooks baited with their dough bait, and these fish just kept biting. The wife said that they have been in the U.S. for about 10 years and live in San Gabriel. I don't think she knew that catching Bluegills on corn dough (masa) was anything unusual. LOL Later, two guys came with a teenager and a little boy, and set up a bunch of poles with dough bait, and some with pieces of corn, casting out from near the end of the pier. They only caught 2 fish, and both were large Bluegills just like the ones that the Chinese couple caught, one on corn pieces, and the other on dough bait. Everybody was friendly and the 2 guys gave me their Bluegill. They only had one because their basket had a hole and other one swam out. They said they were fishing for carp, but had been catching Bluegills anyway.

I kept thinking that larger fish might move under the pier, but they never did. I fished from about 4:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. when it was dark. Anyway, I was happy with the results and as expected, the fishing seems much better now than it has been in several years at Perris. The fish have put on a lot of growth, and apparently the Bluegills have developed a taste for veggies and wine. I think I might try the docks in the marina next time though, where there is a lot more room. Maybe I should bring the dough bait too. LOL

Other than that, there was a couple who said they caught 14 Bluegills and Redears earlier, who left around 5:30 p.m. There was a guy fishing plastics along the shore to the left, who caught at least 3 LMB, but they were small, and there were several people fishing to the right along Sail Cove. I think they were fishing for carp but I didn't see them catch anything, although I could hear one of them talking about large carp that he had caught recently.

This was my first time to Perris Lake since May or early June, and the fishing definitely seems to be on the upswing. I have had really bad allergies recently (and I have been taking antihistamines), but the pollen count was down and the weather was nice, so I went to Perris and had no allergy problems. It might rain next week, which would be nice. I am sure the fish will still be biting.