August continues to be one of the better Augusts in the last few years for Perch fishing near shore. The cold june and july temperatures delayed the exodus of perch into deeper water. Limits have been taken as recently as yesterday, August 7th (which happens to be the Great Lakes Angler's Birthday for anyone out there who's interested) at Burnham Harbor, Northerly Island. Minnows on jigs fished just over weed beds have taken fish. It sounds like it has become primarily a minnow bite again, softshell crawfish have stopped producing as well.
Artificials have been productive as well and have taken handfulls of fish at Montrose Harbor.
Boat fisherman are finding generous schools of Jumbo Perch just off Navy Pier, some boaters don't understand why there aren't hundreds of boats out there parked over the perch taking quick limits.
The Perch shouldn't stay around for a whole lot longer in these numbers. So far the shore Perch fishing season got off to a slow start, then closed in July, only to re-open again to some die hard August Perch anglers who are finding them from shore.
Congrats on the gig! Your blog is fantastic. A lot people like myself have learned from your website. It also lets me fish vicariously a bit. Definitely will be looking for tips on how to fish from the harbors this fall...Tim
ReplyDelete