[drjon]

Hit Randleman again today, after skipping it during the hot months. Water temp now down to less than 80 degrees, reasonably clear in spite of the recent rain, a pretty nice day of mixed overcast and blue sky, light breezes,no sign of rain in spite of the 40% forecast. Seven boats on the lake, most of them anchored for crappie in the cut and cabled trees. We cast brokeback Rapalas, squarebill cranks, and top waters in shallow water along
the Deep River arm. Lots of blowdown wood in that part of the lake from last spring's storms. We spent most of the day in the backs of the creeks and hit several blow ups of white bass in the flats. Total count was 11 bass of various sizes from little bitty to fairly nice, many brim with delusions of grandeur, and three small white bass. Lots of shad and minnows on the surface and suspended. The lake isn't what it once was, but still provides a fun day on the water. Talked to one other boat that had a better day than we did, landing several bass between 3 and 5 1/2 pounds.

 

[glsmith]

Thanks for the report, I just may try it again soon myself
too much work and not enough time

 

[SurfRider]

In my opinion Randleman gets tougher this time of year for whatever reason. I don't know if the fish are orienting to shad in the channels and thus off the cover or what, but it seems like it always slows down for me by late September / early October. Maybe this year is a few weeks early, like everything about Fall so far.

You sure the fish you caught were white bass, or could they have been white perch?

I have had only had time for a few trips out there in the last couple of months so I have definitely don't have my finger on the pulse of the lake at this point. Glad you got on some fish.

 

[thebradybunch]

I bet they were White Perch. Cam and I hit a school of them 3-4 weeks ago and had a blast catching them on traps. The first time I saw them I thought they were white bass but later realized they were perch instead. Last year it was late October before the fish went into a true fall pattern but when they did it was awesome.

 

[drjon]

In my opinion Randleman gets tougher this time of year for whatever reason. I don't know if the fish are orienting to shad in the channels and thus off the cover or what, but it seems like it always slows down for me by late September / early October. Maybe this year is a few weeks early, like everything about Fall so far.

You sure the fish you caught were white bass, or could they have been white perch?

I have had only had time for a few trips out there in the last couple of months so I have definitely don't have my finger on the pulse of the lake at this point. Glad you got on some fish.

Surely could have been perch; didn't look real closely, being busy trying to catch more. My son caught them at the other end of the boat, and tossed them back to cast again. Didn't seem to have stripes, just clean white sides.

 

[gambusia]

I'm surprised the fishery folks would put white perch in the lake.

They would definitely compete with the bass.

 

[jerry condrey]

I'm surprised the fishery folks would put white perch in the lake.

They would definitely compete with the bass.

They're in the Deep River watershed, of which RRR is a part. Oak Hollow and HPCL have them in numbers. But recently HPCL has had a few hybrids taken, which haven't been stocked there for years, almost certainly came down from Oak Hollow.

 

[SurfRider]

I'm surprised the fishery folks would put white perch in the lake.

They would definitely compete with the bass.

I wouldn't think they were stocked on purpose, but they are apparently native to the Atlantic drainage watersheds from Quebec all the way to South Carolina. I look at them like bream species... they are just there.

 

[jerry condrey]

Never seen them at HPCL or Oak Hollow til the last five or six years.

 

[SurfRider]

When I was a teenager, and I would fish Oak Hollow for hybrids, I would sometimes run into large schools of fish feeding on shad on the surface. I thought at the time they were little freshly stocked hybrids by the hundreds, but in retrospect I think they were white perch. If that is the case, they have been in OH for a while now. Maybe they slowly infiltrated City Lake over the years till reached critical mass in the last 4 to 5?

 

[Fishscalz]

One of the interesting things about White Perch is that Salem Lake used to have them in the Early 80s, and they seemed to have disappeared.
We used to drift fish for them and catch them by the dozens. I am curious if they will go away in other lakes, kinda strange now that I think about it.....

Fishscalz

 

[SurfRider]

One of the interesting things about White Perch is that Salem Lake used to have them in the Early 80s, and they seemed to have disappeared.
We used to drift fish for them and catch them by the dozens. I am curious if they will go away in other lakes, kinda strange now that I think about it.....

Fishscalz

Based on what I have heard about them, I doubt it. I wouldn't miss them, personally.

 

[gambusia]

Wow strange they would completely disappear.

 

[Fishscalz]

SurfRider, just something I happened to be thinking about the past few days...but if they can appear in significant numbers as they have recently, maybe they can disappear....who knows...fish are strange at best.


gambusia, more questions than answers, I'm afraid....I asked asked couple of the former Lake Wardens, Brian and the lady (Diane, I just remembered) that was the Warden before him at that time, and neither seemed to have an answer, although both mentioned this to the state biologists. I have not seen or heard of a White Perch from Salem Lake in many years.

Fishscalz

 

[SurfRider]

SurfRider, just something I happened to be thinking about the past few days...but if they can appear in significant numbers as they have recently, maybe they can disappear....who knows...fish are strange at best.

Fishscalz

That is true to some degree, as Nature is a mysterious lady... but it's like the difference between kudzu appearing in a forest and then spontaneously disappearing; or hydrilla popping up in a lake vs. hydrilla suddenly just vanishing. One is very common, the other is almost unheard of.

 

[jerry condrey]

Maybe they did slowly infiltrate, or maybe what you saw as a kid were schools recently stocked hybrids? Either way, I'd like to see them gone.

 

[jerry condrey]

I seem to recall, now that I think about it, the first ones we noticed at HPCL were ones caught by the kids during the second or third TAKTF clinic. We thought they may have been young hybrids from Oak Hollow,as young white perch will have faint stripes.
The things relish fish eggs, even their own, and will, when other supplies are exhausted, eat themselves to extinction. Problem is, female white perch can lay 150,000 to 300,000 eggs. I believe they have impacted the bass fishing there in two ways.
First, I believe they are taking a toll on bass fry and or eggs, and one fact may bear this out. We are not catching as many small fish (dinks) as we used to.
The bass at HPCL seem to be larger on average than other piedmont lakes (a fact borne out by surveys), but I believe that this is because of fewer fry surviving to adulthood.
Problem is, the bass are getting harder to find. Just ten years ago, it was no big deal to catch 20 bass in eight hours there, and several of those would be short fish. Ten pounders were not rare, and things were in balance. But now, you have to work to catch over five fish, and even though the ones you catch are good fish, how long before these diminish to only the occasional bass? This lake is just under 400 acres, and I believe that unless something can be done, we are looking in the near future at a carp and catfish pond.