After hearing some reports that the ol chicken coop was producing some fish, I decided to run up to the lake and check it out. We had some light SW winds with air temps in the mid-60's for most of the days, which made for perfect perchin weather on the Coop. We had some thick fog for Wednesday but none the rest of the time. The water temps were running in the 50's, which to me is still a little too warm for tightly packed schools of white perch.
We tried launching at Newell's, which is just around the corner from the Coop. When we arrived just before sunrise, we were greeted with the longest line of trucks and boats I have ever seen! I pulled out my phone and mapped how far we were from the launch....1.5 miles!!
We left and drove all the way back to the camp and launched there and idled across the lake in the fog. People we talked to while fishing said it took them 2 hours or more in line to launch!
The action wasn't crazy fast, but it was steady enough to keep us interested the whole time. We managed a limit by 11 each day. The quality was mixed, with some small ones along with some true slab perch.
On the last day, we had some real excitement. We were finishing out our limit when we heard a loud 'SPLOOSH!', an angler about 50 yards away had fallen into the water! We immediately started to untie to assist, as his fishing partner bumped his boat on stump after stump in a frantic effort to reach his fallen partner, who was by now clinging to a large standing piece of timber. As I am untying, I hear another loud 'SPLOOSH!'. I turned to see that the other angler had fallen into the frigid water trying to retrieve his friend! By this time there were several boats who were fishing closer, that had already untied and made their way over to assist. Both men were pulled to safety, given towels and helped to dry off. A couple of guys on the pontoon boats actually gave the cold, wet anglers the shirts off their backs! One of the guys in the pontoon boat is a client of mine and I just wanted to say Kudos to him for his lightning fast reactions and his selfless actions when giving aid to anglers desperately in need!