took one of our dog sitters fishing on long lake saturday about 6:30am. caught a few small bass and little perch. was kinda slow for the first hour and a half until he hooked into a big fish. he had been trying to convince one of the giant carp in the area to bite, and i knew that's what had happened. he was using some kinda powerbait grub/leech that was tan... weird lure. anyway, the fish was under the boat and i had the net ready. when it came out from under, i was convinced it was a large carp. then it turned sideways.... HOLY COW! monster small mouth! i flailed at it a few times with the net until i finally scooped it. biggest small mouth i have seen in person. 19 inches! when i dropped it in the basket with my little perch, i was kinda afraid it would eat my trophy.... :-)

i tried like heck to find one for myself, but instead found a school of perch. the water was clear enough to see about 20 feet down, and on the edge of a milfoil patch, they were congregated. we anchored and dropped worms and crappie jigs at them, and caught a mess of them by sight. many bit and shook the hook, but we ended up with 15. could have stayed and caught the whole school, but it was getting warm and the play boats were coming out, so we headed back to the dock. what a day!

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