I was planning to hit Magnussen Park shoreline in my raft on Saturday, and after Friday night's success I definitely did not change plans.

At 6:30am there were only two hardcore boaters launching in the dark - me in my rubber raft, and this guy with an enormous triple engine speed boat so huge I can't believe he could pull it with a regular pickup. The dissonance amused me.

This is going to sound like an exaggerated fish story. But the absolute truth is that I cannot tell you to within 20 how many fish I caught, as I caught fish from 6:30am to 7:30pm basically continuously. The perch were in about 18 feet of water. At least 50% of casts into 15-18 feet of water resulted in a fish. I cut 24 nighcrawlers into 5-6 pieces each and ended the day with zero nightcrawlers.

The wind was a problem all day. I let it push me down the coast, past the park, down around the corner, all the way down to the next corner. I caught perch all the way down. I kept the first perch of the day as it was about 8 inches. I thought that was a keeper. How wrong I was. I got a real lesson on perch. Half way down the float, give or take, I hooked into that megaperch in the picture. Solid 12 inches. Makes the 10 inch perch next to it, which equalled the biggest perch I had ever seen previously, look silly. For you fans of catch and release, you can reward me the gold medal any time you want. I only kept what was in the picture - the 12", the 10", and a variety of others that either flopped and stabbed me hard, or I gut hooked. I threw back 6 bluegills, 5 pumpkinseeds, 1 largemouth perhaps 8 inches, 6 or 8 smallmouths from 6-8 inches, and this is no exaggeration, 80, or 90, or 100, or more, perch. I honestly have no idea. I could have filled a 5 gallon pail with perch. For a large part of the day I intentionally cast into 25-35 feet of water, hoping to maybe pull up a smallmouth, because I was tired of cutting worms and reeling in perch. Yes, I said it. I was too tired to catch any more fish.

Speaking of smallmouth, in the morning I had a decent bite. Probably 10-12 inches I would guess, but it got off early. Around 1pm I hooked a dreadnought, but the f-ing net was tangled in a hook that was somehow sticking out the back of my tacklebox and the line got slack and it got away. I smash barbs so loss of tight line = loss of fish. Then maybe 4pm I had another decent bite, again probably only 10-12 inches, but again the net was tangled, this time in a bit of plastic on the side of my raft so it got away. So then I decided I would fish till I was out of worms. I had 5 worm pieces left, 7pm, 12 1/2 hours into my marathon fishing expedition, when I set the hook on another dreadnought ... this time I ignored the net, which had screwed me over twice already, and just hoisted it over the side and into my lap. Mission accomplished. Only took 12 1/2 hours. I had an appointment at 11am, so I thought I would get that handled, do some errands, head back out later. They cancelled on me so I just stayed in the boat clear through. Rowing the last 3 hours since battery for engine was dead heh.

Oh, and the crayfish? 4 small ones between two pots in almost 24 hours. Dont waste your time trying to catch them there. I would guess the bass eat them all. One pot in 10 feet of water, one in 15 feet of water. Then again, I dont know anything about crayfish. Maybe I needed to be deeper? Do they even live deeper? I really dont know what I'm doing.

But I do now know what I"m doing on perch. Keepers are now 10" minimum heh.

Overall, if you can fish until you're sunburned and have a dead battery, it's a good day. If you can do that and catch fish, it's a great day. If you can do that and catch so many fish you can't even estimate to within 20 how many you caught because there were so many AND you get a 14 inch smallmouth? The day is clearly 5 stars.

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