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After Saturday's effort to catch a trout was a bust, I decided that Sunday I was going to catch a trout come hell or high water. This time I shamelessly copied the guy who caught the fish Saturday afternoon - powerbait with a long leader. I was in the water by 6 am.

It was an eventful day. Lots of people - I'd say on average, 5 or 6 poles in the water until I left at 6 pm. WITH NO TROUT.

Early, maybe 7 am, the guy who got there last who only had over by the lily pads to cast, pulled in a nice ... smallmouth I think? Maybe 10 inches. Worm on the bottom in 8 feet of water.

I had my powerbait out for trout, and worms on the bottom. But at first the perch were having none of it. It's interesting to see, over the course of the day, how the bite changes.

The sun finally came over the trees about 7:30, maybe 8 am. Until then, nothing but a few tiny pumpkinseed were volunteering. I can now tell the bite difference - I dont have to even set the hook to know perch or pumpkinseed. Anyway, until a while after the sun came up, maybe 1 perch, all pumpkinseed biting.

Then between maybe 9 and 10:30, the perch started. 10-11 range, one of the guys with a worm on the bottom for trout got a HELL of a bite. I saw the tap, and then as he was running toward his pole whatever it was damn near took the pole in the water. He set the hook but 5 seconds later it was off. If it was a trout, it was the biggest trout in the lake. I would bet it was a gigantic smallmouth or something else. Whatever was on that pole had to be 3 or 4 pounds to pull like that - it was no 12 inch rainbow that's for sure.

So between 11 and noon or so, perch stopped. Only to pick up again in early afternoon. If the perch are biting, apparently they chase out the pumpkinseed cuz those almost totally stopped biting until evening.

Then around ... let's say 3pm or so, I had a sure hit on my powerbait. Earlier I had a hit, in that the bell didn't ring but suddenly I had a huge belly in my line and my bait was gone. The fish must have taken my bait straight at the dock. Other people would lose bait off and on, but by the time I left at 6, there were only the 2 bites - the guy in the morning, and the trout that hit mine about 3pm. 6 or so poles in the water, 12 hours, 2 bites.

By the end of the day, I had the perch in the pic. Two decent ones toward the end of the day, 18 total, probably 80 bites from pumpkinseed and I guess small perch that couldn't take the chunk of nightcrawler into their mouth.

As with yesterday, 4 stars not 5. Star deducted for no trout. I've decided I'm going to slay perch until I get a trout. No other lakes until I get one. I have an idea though. I think I will get a trout this weekend. But I also plan to take my rubber raft out, so we'll see - maybe I wont be on the dock this time.

Stansjoy

8/26/2014 7:19:00 PM

whorde... Have fished Ballinger for years. Probably won't catch trout for another month or so, depending on when we get rain. Trout are stressed by the warm Summer water (probably at about 78 degrees off the pier). They stay in the deeper waters at the south end of the lake... and I mean, "deep". Once in a while one will venture in close to shore looking for food, most likely a Cutthroat. The bigger problem is that in the Summer, the trout become infected with a parasite (copepod) which creates large open sores on their skin... unsightly, but fish are edible, but in my experience, makes them poor tablefare. The parasite will quickly disappear with cooler temps, and the trout will heal quickly. Good fishing for Rainbows in late September and October, good for Cutthroat all Winter. Congrats on the mess of Perch. Even though small, they are great eating! PTL!

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