My search for Yellow Perch

    To be a member of an awesome fishing club like the Tidewater Kayak Angler Association (TKAA), means having some awesome friends that are part of a group that will always have fun and safe events to participate in.  One of the things we do to have fun is to hold monthly tournaments/competitions.  By doing these tournaments/competitions, I feel it help’s an average angler paddle out from his or her comfort zone and teaches them to become a more than average angler.  This month the fish on the list to catch are the Yellow Perch and Crappie.  I’ve caught many Crappie in youth but the Yellow Perch was never a fish I considered before.

 

    My latest quest took me to the Northwest River located in Chesapeake, Virginia.  The site to launch from was Bob’s Fishing Hole.

 

The first time I tempted my fate at Bob’s Fishing Hole, I met up with some friends from TKAA.  The forecast for the day was said be set for a high of 50 degrees.  But when we arrived at about 8 o’clock in the morning, it was a different story.  According to my truck temperature sensor it 27 degrees, we prayed it was going to warm up some.  Pulling the kayaks to the launch we were greeted with a nice layer of frost on the ground.

 

Even with cold temps we paddled out to try and find the fish.  Using my fish finder we figured we try and mark fish on the bottom.  Our bait of choice for the day was a mixture of minnows, and jigs.  But even after we found the fish, we were having no luck in hooking any.  We figured out why the fish were not biting.  We had just had some serious rain fall the last few days and the water was really muddy.  With still having bait to use, we fished on.

 

After we got to an area to be known for holding good fish, we were greeted with more friends of the plastic navy (more TKAA members).  We later joked about the TKAA taking over the Northwest River, ha ha ha.  There were quite a few of us out there that day.

 

Every now and then a few small fish were caught, but none by me L.  I found a spot on my fish finder just up the river that looked like a good hole.  So we set off in that direction to try our luck.  After we arrived I saw some good fish below, my buddy Patrick figured he would be funny and cast right next to me.  Sure enough he hooked into a 22” Bowfin.  It was the biggest fish of the day.

 

We fished for a while longer and then tried the bridges out next to the boat launch.  I still had nothing but my other buddy Mike was able to land a few small Crappie.

 

It was time to go home.

 

The following week, I headed to the Northwest River again.  This time I went out on my own.  I needed some time to myself.  I just loss my grandmother during the week and needed to get out on the water at that moment.  I needed to clear my head.

 

I set out with my fish finder in an attempt to find the fish.  The bait of choice today was minnow’s.  After about an hour and a half, I was greeted with a hefty tug on my line that spun me in two complete circles.  I fought this fish for about five minutes and brought it up to the surface.  Low and behold I was surprised with a 31”, 15 lbs Blue Catfish.  It was my first fish of the year, yeah baby!   My largest fish to date ever caught out of my yak.

 

About an hour later while talking to a boater about the local fishing, I was greeted with my very first Yellow Perch, 10 ½ inches.

 

Still having bait, I decided to keep fishing the bottom.  A hefty tug to the line and being spun around in circles again, I was beginning to think this fish was aiming to tip my kayak over by going under and around.  After a short fight and remaining dry, I was then greeted by a 29 ½ inch, 12 lbs Blue Catfish.  This day was turning out to be a rather great day even though I didn’t get to keep my Blue Catfish since they were just shy of the 32 inch keeper mark.  This will not keep me from trying again another day. 
**UPDATE** BLUECAT BELLOW THE VIRGINIA FALLLINE HAS NO LIMIT BUT ONLY ONE CAN BE KEPT OVER 32 INCHES. I HAD THE WRONG INFO.** 

 

I would like to say my Grandmother was with me that day and she was the one to place the fish on my hook.  Thanks Grandma for a wonderful day of fishing.