I had a free day today. As I was falling asleep last night, my conscious was convicting me of all the catching up I could do around the outside of the house... wash windows, spray weed killer, weed the garden, organize the garage... and the shoulds and the coulds kept me from sleeping. I really just wanted to go to the big lake and find some perch. Next thing I know, it's 4:30 AM and I am staring at the ceiling -- time to fish... So, I jump up, get dressed, head to the garage, hook up the boat to the chick magnet(Suburban) and off to Sleze's for some minnows. I greeted the fellow at Sleze's with an enthusiastic good morning and wanted all the perch information he could give... Well, he tells me not much is happening and I kind of sensed this as no one else was there getting minnows... bummer... So, two dozen guaranteed to catch perch minnows later and I head to Portage. Launch and am on the water by 5:30 AM... The radio said there was going to be a brief solar eclipse and man it must have been extremely brief as I watched the sun come up and never detected an eclipse. So, I headed east to fish some memories and stopped just west of the state park pavilion. I started in 20' of water and put the I Pilot on a speed of .5 mph heading north. I slow trolled perch minnow rigs to 40' with no takers. The sun was coming up fast and I decided to put up the bimini top. Man, that top is the berries when that sun is drilling down on you... So, I called my son, who knows a heck of a lot more about perching than I do and he told me he had heard of a slow bite north of Black Ditch over by Michigan City. Fired up the Mercury and headed east... An absolutely beautiful ride with an almost flat lake and this 20 minutes gave me an opportunity to just stop and absorb just how good we have got it in spite of what this world/media tells us... So, I see 3 other boats randomly placed in what I think is Black Ditch territory and drop lines in 20' of water. Slow trolled this time towards the beach and what the heck but the rod started dancing. A double with one large perch and one dink and this was soon followed by another double in a similar size pattern. Well, you know, if you catch one or two, there has to be more and before you know it, I have 13. I was stuck on 13 for about one hour and decided the shoulds and coulds were really getting the better of me so I thought I would head back to Portage. Oh, but let's try one more spot... There is always one more spot... I went back to where I started, just west of the state park beach and headed towards the beach this time - shallower... Son of a gun, I caught several more and they were a better class, size wise... So, a beautiful day with a boat that ran well and patience and persistence that paid off for a limit of nice perch. I talked with a buddy when putting the boat back on the trailer and he had headed west to Gary Light area and caught 2 and another friend fished just a bit north and east of Michigan City and caught 3. So, there you have it. Get out there and give it a try. I was home by noon and had enough time to still get quite a few things done around the house.