[Jay K]

First and foremost, a thank you to RonG for sharing his lures of choice for using artificials for perch, and a hearty thank you to mplant1 for sharing his rig of choice for said artificials.

Fished 63rd St Pier from 12:00-5:00 and it was tough going. Morning crew picked up a few, but the afternoon was tough fishing on everybody - didn't see a single perch caught... except for the 2 jumbos I landed using jigs and artificials. :-D

First time ever catching fish off 63rd, and first time ever catching jumbos. It was pretty satisfying given my last disappointing venture out to 63rd (involving a bucket of dead minnows and tons of snagged gear). Only lost 1 jig and fluke today.

Saw a ton of baitfish along the pier, but nothing big (aside from carp) following 'em.

Hope to make it out tomorrow for the morning bite. I've tied a few more jig rigs in anticipation. I'm not certain I even know what I'm supposed to be doing when "jigging." I'm just using a simple lift, reel, settle to floor, repeat - I guess not the most effective means of jigging.

 

[RonG]

Nice fish!

Thanks for the honorable mention. What kind of plastics were you using on your jigs?

Soon when the perch are in thicker you can get a better feel of what presentation best triggers strikes that day. With a little more catching, you get more confidence. Arriving with confidence with any type of fishing produces more fish landed.

I used to show up with minnows as a backup, then weened myself of that. Then I kept an empty minnow pail in the car, just in case I wanted to run off of the bait store, then weened myself of that. I kept building confidence, now I only show up with artificials this time of year. It also gives you determination to keep pushing your skills and knowledge each and every day to be successful when you have no live bait to fall back on.

Last year it seemed like there was some curiosity on the artificials for perch thing. And some boneheads that just wanted to argue against it. This year many are jumping in and many are surprising themselves with instant success.

 

[mplant1]

damn dude. those are some jumbos! i love 63rd too. not too many people out there and the guys are mostly regulars. i spend some time down there in the fall for kings.

ron is right - once the perch are in thicker, you'll gain more and more confidence by not using minnows. i'd suggest gaining confidence in those jigs, then try a shad rap. oh man... now that's fun!

no problem on the tips. ask away and we're happy to help out. that's what fishing websites are for (sometimes fishing websites are good for arguments too...that's always fun)

one suggestion if you are able to - get out there EARLY. best bites are always in the early am hours. it's much tougher in the afternoon

 

[mplant1]

Last year it seemed like there was some curiosity on the artificials for perch thing. And some boneheads that just wanted to argue against it. This year many are jumping in and many are surprising themselves with instant success.

no one backed you up last year. in my 2008 reports, i wouldn't really go into detail on the baits. this year i'm trying to be more "helpful"

i wonder if the minnow dealers read your posts and consider you a bad guy for advocating artificials...