Perch Lake

[10th MTN Dave]

Went to Perch Lake for the first time last weekend. Parking lot was jam packed and lot's of people out on the ice. For quantity of fish, we had a great time with many fish caught. Ice was a solid eight inches! Most of the fish were all dinks though. Lots of small Pike and even smaller pickerel. I did walk off the ice at the end of the day with half a dozen Perch and a medium sized bullhead....Just enough for a meal for wifey and me. Biggest Perch was just over 10 inches and posted in the "Shorts" for the tournament. All the toothy critters were under the legal limit and went back down the hole. Largest one pictured here:



What happened to the great fishing that I had heard about on this lake? Are the good times I had heard about all over? Is this lake just over pressured even though it is only open in Winter? All of the perch kept were female (Just a fluke?) and were chuck full of grubs. I picked out what I could see and don't worry about the rest. Grandpa used to say that a worm in a peach tastes just like the peach, so those damn grubs probably taste like perch...Maybe we were just not in the right spot on the lake...

Looking for my next hot spot...Any of you type lipped fishin folks got any suggestions in Jefferson or St. Lawrence county? Eagerly waiting for a couple more weeks of this nice cold weather so that I can hit Henderson.

[NNYIceangler]

Try Butterfield, lots of pike just not really big.  I think that the problem with Perch lake is the big fish...over ten pounds or so, get kept rather than thrown back.  Big fish need to go back too so they can reproduce.  If you take all the trophies out of a lake, it will take a long time for that lake to recover...besides, I think that smaller northerns taste better.  Just my .02