Avid outdoor people stay on the prowl for opportunities that may never come their way again, and Kevin Ballant knew one was at hand when he drove by deep-blue Glen Lake and saw the forecast.
Perch fishing on Christmas Day from a boat wearing a ball cap?
Ballant was not about to pass up the chance. With the traditional Ballant Christmas celebration already disrupted by family members contracting COVID, the day was open.
And what a day it was for Ballant, his 20-year-old daughter Emilee, and good friend Jack Deering. They searched for fish for 2½ hours over traditional perch grounds near Inspiration Point and the Narrows before the graph on their boat lit up with marks.
“It was 50 degrees. With the warmth, we decided the day before that we were going for it. We marked pools of bait, and perch were coughing up blue minnows. At times there was 15 feet (vertically) of perch. It was good to see,” Ballant said.
And, of course, they had all of Glen Lake — little and big basins — to themselves. The party limited out on perch from 8-12 inches in length, tossing back about half of the yellow bellies boated. Hits came as fast as they could drop lines, and doubles were plentiful.
“I don’t know if it will ever happen again in my lifetime, Fishing out of a boat on Christmas on Glen Lake, but man was it fun,” Ballant said.
On typical years, ice shanties dot little Glen Lake between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Little Glen did skim over about a month ago before temperatures warmed, and stayed that way until this week.
Word spread of the Ballants’ success, which inspired Beau Harrigar of Empire to head out the following day. While he did not enjoy the same level of success for perch, he did catch and release a giant lake trout.
Proving again that you don’t need ice to fish Glen Lake in December.
