IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Perch => Topic started by: bearnoob on Dec 10, 2017, 12:14 PM
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I never seem to catch perch on my local lakes except though the ice. Most winters I mark huge schools of what turns out to be 3"-4" fish. My question is, do larger perch typically school up with the dinks and, if so, how do I weed through the stunted ones?
When I upsize my presentation I end up with no bites. Should I just move on to the next spot?
Thanks for the help.
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use an eye of a perch
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use an eye of a perch
I would but it's not legal here.
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Try fishing higher...above the schools....tip downs work well as they draw in fish ...think decoying ..they also will let you know which way the school is headed .If fishing a large flat it can be tough as they will roam ...look for features that will slow them up as they pass through ...weed patches...inside and outside turns etc .Larger perch act like their predator cousins the walleye ...preferring larger prey... minnows ...even their own kind.
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My experience in stunted lakes is that the larger perch tend to be lone rangers. If I were you I'd fish walleye sized baits under tip ups and spread them out.
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+1 on the tip up idea. Don’t hesitate to use larger minnows. A big perch will take good sized shiners.
How deep are these lakes? You might have a situation where the small fish are grabbing your bait before it gets to the larger fish. Along with the suggestion of fishing higher up you can use heavier baits and let them hit bottom...then slowly lift it up. This approach has done wonders for me in similar situations but it’s over water that is 25+ feet deep.
When I run into those smaller fish and can’t get into the bigger ones trying the stuff mentioned above I’ll keep sliding out deeper until I do find them.
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one of the places i go to target perch, it's pretty much a swarm situation; hundreds upon hundreds of fish under 5 inches, with the occasional 8-9 incher, and a slim chance of encountering fish in the 10+ inch range.
small jigs with bait are totally worthless. i spend more time unhooking finger-length perch than i do fishing. i try upsizing, and the bite pretty much shuts off (notable exception, a large jig tipped with a bit of bait fished deadstick a few feet off bottom, and a few feet from my jigging hole often gets bit by larger perch).
so rather than upsize, i've been doing a couple things:
1. use soft plastics rather than bait. small fish may nip at the tails on a soft plastic, but they don't commit and inhale it like larger perch will. i like the bro bloodworm or a tungsten jig tipped with a makiplastics maki.
2. upsize, but add a dropper fly about a foot above the lure. a woolly bugger, pheasant tail or hare's ear are all fantastic options. don't add bait to the fly, and pay close attention for light bites. that'll usually be a larger fish skipping the crowd of small ones that come to investigate your lure, and just sucking in the little fly.
3. smaller, but more aggressive lures. i'm fond of the smallest jigging rapalas and salmo chubby darters in gold, silver, glow, or perch colors. maybe tip the center treble with a single maggot, or some other small morsel for a bit of scent to seal the deal. flashy jigging spoons are good too, and you wanna be pretty active. pop-pop-pause... lift-pause... tap-tap-tap-tap-drop-pause... set the hook when you feel a tap or when you all of a sudden feel like your lure has gone mushy. most often, i get hit on the pause.