For the yellow perch of Cass Lake, a day that will live in infamy

PK and Hesler joined the Man of Constant Leisure for a weekend of cabin closing and perch fishing at Cass Lake. We drifted around the Lodge Point bar on Saturday afternoon. After a half hour or so, we nailed the pattern: the fish were feeding in nine foot water along the eastern drop off.

The action was fast and furious. PK got sick of opening the live well for the new arrivals, so he decided to leave the lid open. "When you have to leave the live well lid open, that's the definition of good fishing, " he said.

We landed a bunch of nine to 12 inch fish (my definition of jumbo perch) and twice as many smaller ones. PK also snared a nice, eating size walleye. We quit after burning through our minnows--a scoop of fatheads and a scoop of spottail shiners. Added bonus: we got plenty of comic relief from the radio broadcast of the Gophers/North Dakota State football game in which the Goofs shit the bed yet again.

The butchering took an eternity. But as you can probably guess from the impressive mountain of fillets, we feasted. By the end everyone, including guests Melissa and Keith, were gorged. PK took the remaining fillets to Duluth, where he fed his friends the evidence that October perch fishing on Cass Lake can be mighty fine.