Murray at Clouds Creek

I had not been fishing since I was out in Oregon the first of September, so my buddy Harry and I went up to Clouds Creek this AM to see if the Perch or Crappie had moved in.
We had no more than got in the water and our DF was lit up. It looked like this all morning, but the results were not what you would expect.
Attachment 175929

Caught a nice perch right off the bat, then started catching little ones that were throw backs. I know, keep'em and kill'em but I did not have anyone wanting catfish bait or garden fertilizer so back they went. I probably caught the same one 5 times if the truth was known. Least he got a full belly.

Attachment 175928
This was one of about a dozen we kept for the pan.

We saw some fish breaking water and thought maybe it was Stripers and we motored over and I threw a Pencil Popper, which is about 7" long into the fray and got a hit. I set the hook and felt something then thought it got off. But something was still on so I reeled in and this is what I had.

Attachment 175927

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but this rascal was about the same length as the plug and he managed to get all 3 of the hooks on the treble in his mouth. Course you can't keep small ones now so I tried best I could to release him unharmed. Not an easy task with all three hooks in his mouth which was hardly big enough for the hook to even go in. I give him credit for ambition anyway. I think I got him back in OK and he will live to fight another day.

We proceeded to feed these little boogers the rest of our minnows. They were mixed in with the White Perch, being 1st cousins and all, so that is part of the reason we only had 12 Perch in the well.

It was good to be back on the water and see the fish were moving into the creeks again. Hope to find a few crappie at Secession next Saturday.

Glad y'all had a great time Ray.Hey Ray where is a good landing to put in at up that way? Did you get your minnows at the traffic circle? Are they open on Sunday? I went last Sunday and played around with the DF in the wind. Thanks

I always stop at Dooley's for breakfast and I get minnows there. I guess you know, Charles Dooley is selling out and closing the store. Sure hate to see it go, been eating breakfast there every Saturday for over 5 years. JCs up Hwy 378 has minnows and the store at the circle has minnows also and they sell them by the pound like Dooley's. The SCE&G ramp at Clouds Creek is excellent. They replaced the dock last year and it is a very good landing and will handle any size boat. It is located just past the Boy Scout Camp.
One more place is Big Mans at Blacks Bridge. They also have a landing but it can be real shallow at times, unlike the SCE&G one.
Are you going to Secession next Saturday?

Ray, sorry to hear about Dooley's closeing. If you see that they still have the bait buckets that I like let me know and I'll go up one day that I can getaway and pick up 2 or 3 of them since I can't seem to find them anywhere else. That should last me for the rest of my time here...

Good to see you made it back out onto the water. When the DF lights up showing a lot of something it can light a fire in you quickly. Been seeing a lot of screens like that lately but getting the bite to match is another thing! Good to hear y'all caught some and find some to keep you busy. Perch sure can clean out a minnow bucket :) Thanks for the report Ray.

Sounds like a fun morning regardless if the bigger fish bit or not! Congrats on getting out and catching a mess!

Gerald, they have several more in stock and they have marked most things down, Varies from 10% to 40%. I bought two 12 foot Pinnacle Limits at 25% off today. If I can remember I will check the price at breakfast in the morning.
Ray

Yea Ray I noticed the sign and it hurt to see it. He's been there along time, I hate to see it go. My buddy lives close to JCs and goes there a lot. I want to go Sunday morning but i don't know who would be open to sell minnows. I have not been around the traffic circle in over a year so I'm lost. I've been to Boy Scout Camp 1 time and that's it. I would like to go to Secession but my oldest daughter is getting married that day. Do they have any 12' Pinnacles left?

Might want to check, but I think they had just the two. You can get them from Grizzly for a bit less anyway. I paid $20 each and they are 4 for $60 at Grizzly but shipping is extra so I probably got them for about what it would have cost from Grizzly. I got my others from Grizzly, Dooley did not stock them, these 2 kind of surprised me.

Hey Ray how many dozen are in a pound, size(s or m)? How much are they a pound? Were y'all TL? Thanks

Been a while since I bought a 1/2 lb. We were going to Friday but he only had about 6 dozen. If I remember correctly with tuffies, if you are buying 8 dozen or more it is better to buy 1/2 Lb. I think for the price of 8 doz. in a 1/2 pound you get about 12 dozen.
Some of you guys help me out here, I have not been using minnows much since the spring and I can't remember the counts. I can tell you that even in the heaviest perch bite, I have never used up 1/2 lb. of tuffies. There may be more like 15 dozen, I am just not sure.
Not sure what you were asking about TL??

Sorry, didn't know if y'all were tightlining or trolling out the back. Just called Big Mans and they open a 6, just worried if it's deep enough to launch boat?

We were just moving slowly across the creek using his I-Pilot and we would use it to anchor if we started getting hits. We had two rods each set up lite tight lining with 2 hooks and wt. underneath. When they are feeding like that you can hardly work two rods. We got doubles several times and those dang stripers will break off a rig if you get two on at once. I am going to start using heavier line on my rigs than the 4# fluro I had been using.

Ray, I've got to go out early Sunday morning, I may see if I can run by there. Thanks for checking.

Gerald,
I don't think they are open on Sundays.

Good show Ray, even if the size was down, the action seemed good. Thanks or the pics and report.

good to hear you got out again and caught enough for supper Ray

did you catch any keeper size striper? bout time to get after them bad boys aint it