Yellows!

[VTMatt]

Last weekend, I had a successful day at a new laker spot I'd been eying for a while, so when I saw the wind forecast for Sunday, I knew I wouldn't be walking over 2 miles in that stuff again.  I decided to drive out to an old honey hole on Champlain where I'd gotten some of the biggest yellows in the past.  The wind was brutal, so I stayed in the car for the most part.  I did manage to find some hogs though!  They weren't were I thought they'd be in shallower water.  These were hanging in water over 45' and the bibet bite was hot for a few hours.  Chartruse, orange, and pink with glow were the hot bibets of the day.  No need for minnows!  I couldn't stay the full day but managed to fill up my bucket 3/4 of the way before leaving.

These were some of the biggest of the day.  Three were above Master Class size(2 13.25" and 1 13.5") and most of the others were around 12"



Yesterday I took out someone who's never been ice fishing in hopes of getting him into lakers.  The bite was tough for us, and we were forced to keep a good distance away from a friends shanty who was on a honey hole because of flasher interference.  He hooked into 3 sizable fish, but lost them all close to the hole.  I'd landed a small one and lost a few myself.  We did get to see a flurry of action 5-10' below the ice though.  We had 2-3 fish whacking our jigs but just barely missing the hooks.  Man, those fish are ferocious!  We ended the day early after we hadn't seen a fish in hours.  I was bummed for him, but we had fun. 

Looking at todays forecast last night, I didn't even bother thinking about lakers with a 20-30 mph wind from the North.  I planned for yellows again and slept in.  Got on the ice and started drilling around 9 ish.  First hole in 47 FOW I pulled up 3 slabs - then nothing.  Since the temps and wind was even worse than last Sunday, I dreaded having to drill new holes.  Went into some deeper water and hit the jackpot.  The Marcum was showing a false bottom because the yellows were so thick! It stayed thick for a few hours and they were on a bibet diet yet again.  I'm sure minnows would have worked just as well, but a bibet is always easier, cheaper and faster    I was pulling out some hogs every 5 or so fish, and was having a blast.  I was the only car on the ice as far as the eye could see for most of the day.  The bite slowed after a few hours, just as I was started to throw fish in my sled because the bucket was too packed.



Dumped half the bucket off at a friends and kept half for the freezer.  Guessing I've got a few more Master Class still left in the bucket though.  Not a bad day at all. 

[wmhunts]

Nice job Matt! That catch would have covered my expenses and put some tasty filets in the freezer! Catch em up!

[Troutmagnet]

Are you topping off the bibets with spikes? I was up in the Woods Island area Saturday and the wind was tough enough. I was the only one in our group that was catching any quantity of yellows but they were running smaller as I was using a Hali with spikes. The rest were using perch bait and they were catching jumbos but only catching a perch at about 1 per hour. Too slow for me. As the pike weren't biting well, one guy started to use his jumbo pike bait on the perch and caught for huge yellows on the pike bait. Funny to see the bait partially sticking out of the perch. That is definitely a nice bunch of perch you got there! Nice job.

[fishy1]

nice yellows matt. the perch bite is on here for the last 3 days but the wind stinks. i use fat heads on my jigging sticks and no jigging.

[Troutmagnet]

We tried perch eyes for a while and they wanted nothing to do with it. The guys using minnows were fishing live minnows on a #6 hook.

[VTMatt]

Are you topping off the bibets with spikes? I was up in the Woods Island area Saturday and the wind was tough enough. I was the only one in our group that was catching any quantity of yellows but they were running smaller as I was using a Hali with spikes. The rest were using perch bait and they were catching jumbos but only catching a perch at about 1 per hour. Too slow for me. As the pike weren't biting well, one guy started to use his jumbo pike bait on the perch and caught for huge yellows on the pike bait. Funny to see the bait partially sticking out of the perch. That is definitely a nice bunch of perch you got there! Nice job.

I very rarely use spikes for yellows. I've found that they attract the dinks. Eyes are hit or miss but they can work tipped on a bibet.

[fishingidjit]

Nice fish, gotta love the spring slabbers !

[perch bait]

Those are big perch for Champlain! look more like Carmi or caspian perch. I have yet to find perch like that on the big lake. Good job, what a haul!

[thefishingweatherman]

Nice job Matt! Sorry about the flasher interference on Saturday!

[Lavman]

Great catch! That wind was crazy yesterday, kept me from venturing out

[Mr.Seaguar]

What's a bibet? Google doesn't even know.

[VTMatt]

What's a bibet? Google doesn't even know.

http://www.icefishin247.com/forum/index.php?topic=392.0

[troutcrazy]

Nice fish!  I got into some big perch for a few days, but I seem to have lost them.

[Chris338378]

They're nice perch, congratulations.

[pikeaddict]

Nice catch.
The slabbers are certainly out there in the deeper water.  Only problem is if you want to release any, its pretty hard to with their bladders in their mouth.

[VTMatt]

Nice catch.
The slabbers are certainly out there in the deeper water.  Only problem is if you want to release any, its pretty hard to with their bladders in their mouth.
[/quote
I only had to toss a few back. I just prick em with a hook and they can swim back down. I've watched them go back to bottom on my flasher. Whether or not they live after that is a mystery to me.  I know guys burp lakers from deep water or use a needle. Must be the same with perch.  Not gonna burp a 6" perch though

[ICE_HOOK]

Nice perch! Was catching some perch on Sat. till my Marcum vx-1 pro died! 2 yrs. and one month old! They said motor died and honored 2 year warranty. Sent it back today and said rush ! The fish are biting! Hopefully quick turnaround!

[Hardwater Hound]

Nice bunch of Perch!!