The following is a recap of my recent experience at the 2013 Perchin for MS Tournament….a story of competitive angling and anglers coming together for a good cause. Enjoy!

Personal Story:
Perchin for MS is a fantastic local tournament held on Lake Simcoe. This event has been described as a ‘premier’ event and this is the ABSOLUTE truth! I have been watching this event from a far for the past couple of years. However, during that time Multiple Sclerosis (MS) has really had an impact on many of my close friends in various ways. I was determined to fit this event into my schedule. A close friend, Jeff McNiece, contacted me a week or so leading up to the event and asked me if I would be interested in teaming up with him. I jumped at this chance. Jeff and I have been friends for years but with changing jobs and growing families we have lost touch with each other! This was a perfect situation to participate in a great event with a good friend. I was pumped!! Let’s Go Fishing!!

Tournament Day – The Plan
My schedule did not allow me to pre-fish for this event. Not that I needed much time to break down the relatively small area for the event. However, I was hoping to spend one day just cruising the area in hopes of finding an area or two holding a few more fish than others. Without a pre-fish I was set to try and cover some water and simply avoid the crowds if possible. Finding areas that had few people and traffic in hopes of a few more active perch. After registration, we headed out to our fishing area. It was really nothing special, just an area where we could get away from majority of the crowds and hopefully find some fish. We set up in 27ft of water and went to work. I am a big fan of small jigs, lures and all tipped with Maggots! I have been loving the maggots for ice fishing. To the point that I nearly avoid minnows now. Good or bad….maggots are handy to use and catch lots of fish!

Tournament Day – The Gear
I primarily used a Fiskas Tungsten Ice Jig tipped with 6 to 7 maggots. I had this tied on 2lb Berkley Trilene Micro Ice Mono on a 23″ Fenwick Elite Tech Ice Rod (Model ETI23UL) and a Pfleuger Presdient Reel (model 6920). This tungsten jig would travel quickly to the bottom on 2lb mono and the waiting hoards of perch. We did not focus on and patterns as we only had ~4 hrs of fishing time. We just focused on moving and doing our best to intercept bigger perch. If I did not catch or mark perch (camera or flasher) within 20 minutes we would make a move and try again.
Jeff and I managed to cover lots of water and catch lots of fish.

Tournament Day – The Summary
We landed over 60 fish for the day. We managed to bring 2.25lbs to the scales for a final place of 44th. We are pretty happy with this result considering we were never on any winning fish. Our big fish was 0.58lbs. The remaining fish were all clones of ~0.19lbs each (~7″ in length). We did not place near the money but we did stick with our plan and we were really happy with this result.

I had such an amazing time! The People, The Prizes, The Food and The Cause! OUTSTANDING!!!! Already made plans to fish with Jeff next year!

Great Friends! Great Fishing! Great Cause!

As with all great stories….I had to share the day with my kids. My kids, Trevor and Stefanie (5yrs and 3yrs) were quick to lend a hand with some fish cleaning at home. A Fishing Family is the best kind to me!

Yours in fishing!

– Jason