I have a lake a relatively close to home with a fairly healthy perch population. We ice fished it twice last year, and had decent success on crappie, gills, a couple sunfish, and one 7" perch. We were fishing 5-10 FOW (near the pinpoint on the map), on a drop off with a tree on it. It dropped from 5fow to 8fow in about 2'.
Map scrolled to the east:
I wish the map was a little more detailed, but that's what Navionics shows. I believe there is a paper map available at the marina, but I haven't made it there yet.
There is dock in the tip of the bay where the pinpoint is, where I will be putting in. I'd like to stick to that side of the lake, as the waterfowl keep much of the center of the lake open during the winter.
Well, I fished off that dock today, trying a variety of baits and presentations. All I could do to catch the perch was a slip bobber and worm, which is fine, but I couldn't keep the bluegill off. I tried 1" Gulp minnows, which caught nothing but gills, along with Gulp Minnow heads, and fish fry. Drop shot-ing the same baits yielded similar results. Don't get me wrong, I love catching gills, but when's there are 10"+ perch out there, they are kind of a nuisance.
So I have a couple questions about fishing this on the ice.
On a large, very deep lake such as this, where would you target Perch? (keep south side in mind)
I know it's not perch related, but where would you target walleye? We spent a little time jigging for walleye out a little deeper on the ice last year, but only managed to find a 2lb Rudd.
As far as I can tell, most of the bottom is soft, with rocks near the shore where they have been dumped. There are quite a few brush piles that have been put in over the years, mostly close to shore.
Like I said, I had my best luck on half a nightcrawler under a bobber, on a chartruse octopus hook. I brought three keepers home, filet'd them, and cut their guts open to find out what they've been eating. Found 2 of the 3 with 1" crawfish inside!
Looks like I need to find something to match them!
