I’m always up for an adventure. Something new and exciting this past week was being part of the Doc’s Tackle King of Spring perch tournament at Cayuga Lake, New York. My sponsor, Doc’s Tackle, put together this awesome event last year for the inaugural tournament, and it continued to build in year two—becoming New York State’s largest-ever perch tournament, with 100 boats (a full field plus a waiting list) and around 300 anglers (three allowed per boat)!
Last year, I fished their inaugural Rumble on the River at the St. Lawrence and can attest to how professional and well-run these events are. Now, after experiencing the King of Spring, I can say all the events I’ve fished with them are top-notch. Everyone leaves with something, as so many sponsors pour in prizes, giveaways, door prizes, raffle items, and more. It’s truly a testament to the hard work and great relationships guys like David, Drake, and the rest of the Doc’s crew cultivate.
When David asked me to come fish this, I had just started perch fishing again after a very long hiatus. It felt like a good time to try something new, so I recruited a couple of fellow bass heads—Buffalo-area hammers Jeff Hippert and Brad Brodnicki—to join in for our first experience in a perch tournament.
In this event, you’re allowed to use both artificial and live bait. But since I’ve been honing back in on my jumbolina perch friends at Presque Isle Bay/Lake Erie and adding them to my guiding repertoire, I’ve found I can catch them very effectively without live bait. So, just like the bass guys Jeff and Brad are, we decided to wing it and stick to artificial lures only.
Early spring perching draws a lot of parallels to bass fishing (especially smallmouth), so the transition was fairly smooth—even on the tournament side. I spent a day practicing on Cayuga for my first time perch fishing there at the end of last week, and I located a number of schools, with two or three holding larger-than-average fish. Water clarity was key—certain areas had the ideal water color, which really made the fish more active, something I noticed during practice. I put the boat on the trailer feeling pretty confident we could at least be competitive with all these perching hammers from around the Finger Lakes.
Jeff and Brad showed up early Sunday morning, and we headed out for a day of perch jerking on Cayuga Lake. In our first area, they seemed to be scattered—probably from the hard south winds the day before and the influx of pickerel in the area. So, we bounced to my next best spot and started steadily putting quality 1 lb+ perch in the boat.
The drop shot was our key presentation. My new Daiwa Ballistic reels from Doc’s, paired with Douglas X-Matrix rods and spooled with the new Daiwa X8 sinking braid, really helped detect those subtle bites. We used Gamma fluorocarbon leaders (4–6 lb), which allowed for a natural presentation that helped get some of those stingy bigger fish to bite. Another key to this, was a #2 drop shot hook and a 1/4 oz Angler Tungsten drop shot weight to feel any slight differences with that added sensitivity tungsten gives you. We rotated through a number of baits, but my secret little Presque Isle killer paddle tail was far and away the best bait of the day.
After the dust settled, we trailered the boat and headed over to the fire hall for weigh-in. None of us exactly knew what our fish weighed since my scale wouldn’t turn on in the cold, but after catching jumbolinas at Presque Isle lately, I had a pretty good gauge—guessing within a tenth or two on our lunker and overall bag. All of our fish were in that “just over 1 lb” range (we caught and culled probably 20–30 in that range), with our biggest around 1.5 lbs.
Cayuga doesn’t usually have quite the size we see on Erie or Ontario, but it has a very healthy population and still some quality fish. That was evident when another team weighed a 2.16 bruiser to win lunker! Our bag ended up at 6.12 lbs for our best five, which took over the lead and held it for a while. A couple of strong perch teams eventually bumped us to 3rd overall, with local walleye/trout/perch pro—and fellow Doc’s Tackle team member—Craig Sleeman and his crew winning with a solid 6.86 lb bag.
We were all very pleased with our first-ever perch tournament. There were lots of laughs, plenty of fish caught, and even some money made. Most importantly, we added another fun experience—one we’ll almost assuredly partake in again next year for the 3rd annual Doc’s Tackle King of Spring event.
Huge shoutout to the whole Doc’s Tackle team—David, Drake, Jose, Caleb, and everyone else involved—for all the hard work that went into planning, prepping, and executing such an excellent event. I can’t wait for the Rumble on the River on the St. Lawrence again this fall!
Now we’re back home in Erie and getting ready for our first bass trip of the week tomorrow, watching the snow fly outside the window. The bass are finally pushing into Presque Isle, and the bite will keep getting better and better. The perch fishing is also still superb (I’ve got another perch trip Friday). We’re nearly booked out for April, with only the 23rd and 30th open currently. If you’d like to get out, contact us now to reserve a date—we’re booking farther out each day for bass, perch, and FFS trips for walleye and lake trout.
Up next on the tournament side will be my first walleye event—the LEWT Casting and Jig Open out of Port Clinton with my sponsor David from Doc’s—towards the end of April. I’m really looking forward to taking all my bass and electronics knowledge and applying it to this one too.
Tight lines!
—Captain Destin DeMarion
