Though there was frost on the grass in the morning, by 11:00 the sun felt warm and the wind was calm. And I thought, what the heck. So I hooked up the boat and went to American Lake. I figured if I couldn't get a smallie to bite, maybe I could get a nice batch of perch. After all, I had used up my last bag of perch filets about a week ago. After a half hour of fishing I hooked one smallmouth on a dropshot rigged with a 2 1/2 inch swimbait I make in watermellonseed. I lost it at the boat. It was close to 2 lbs but didn't put up much of a fight. Of course the 38 degree water may have had something to do with that. Caught it in 39 feet of water off the end of a point. But that was the only bass. But I was getting pecks from time to time, hooking a half dozen or so perch. I finally switch to a smaller hook and a one inch split-tailed grub I make and targeted the perch. I caught somewhere around 20, keeping 12 that were 10 to 14 inches. All were caught in 30 to 40 feet of water.

Also field tested both the Stand-Out Hook and the Spin Hook. Both did a fine job of hooking fish. But I think I actually had more hook-ups than when using the standard Palomar knot usually used with dropshots. I believe that was because of the upright hook of both setups. I found a slow lift of the rod hooked just as many fish as a solid hook set, and lessened the problem of tail-grabbers ripping off the tail of the grub I was using. Over all I preferred the Spin Hook. Like the Stand-Out hook, it keeps the hook standing upright, but the Stand-Out hook Hook doesn't eliminate the problem of line twist, whereas the Spin Hook does. Besides, I can make my own Spin Hooks much cheaper than buying them. Anyway, sunny skies, flat water and a fun day.

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