Perris Lake Once Again, Likely The Last Time This Season

The Fugly saves me again from the skunk.

With clouds forecasted this morning until 11am, Chul and I played hookie and tired once again our luck at Perris.  Chul had unfinished business since he got the skunk last outing.  I wanted to make sure I had one last opportunity for a bass on topwater here before they go deep for the summer.

 

The morning looked promising as fog rolled through the lake.  Visibility was minimal and we actually got disoriented and almost made a complete lap of the island without even knowing it.  We were way off course.  Finally we were able to orient ourselves and headed to the direction we originally wanted to go.  This though proved difficult as the water has dropped and the weeds have grown.  We were constantly pulling weed off the motor as it stalled us.  We finally made it to the cove we wanted to go and Chul managed a 2 pounder on topwater.  I missed at least two here.  For the life of me, for whatever reason, I can not seem to hook a fish on top this year.  It began frustrating me to the point of me becoming very irritable this morning.  We left the cove toward the eastside.  The fog now lifting and the wind starting to pick up.  Here we manage to miss a few more in the jungle.  I was pissed.  Fed up with constantly missing fish and manging line through garbage, I switched to a few subsurface flies eventually tying on a Fugly S.O.B. as the skunk was looking more and more likely.  I threw in a patch of tules as we drifted past.  My rod went heavy, initially I thought I was just hung up but as I stripped line I felt movement.  I thought it was the weeds moving as the trolling motor was going but soon enough as I pulled it in closer I saw a bass within a clump of duckweed.  I pulled it out and it was probably a 1.5 pound bass. The Fugly saves me again from the skunk. 

 

As the weeds were causing havoc on the propeller we decided to call it quits around 10:30.  As we made our way back to the launch ramp, the battery started to die once again.  Chul paddle us most of the way and I took over once he tired.  At least we didn't have to beach the boat and carry it 500 yards in 100 degree heat like last time.  This is likely the last time we'll fish here this year, as the heat increases this place will become more and more impossible to use the trolling motor. 

Overcast and foggy, the morning looked promising.