IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Perch => Topic started by: big_buddah on Feb 02, 2003, 01:40 PM
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>:(Wanted to know if anyone could help me with catching some finiky perch. For the last three days now I have been on top of perch. I have been using small jigs of every type know to man tipped with wax worm or a maggot. You can see the perch come right into the bait hard then they will stop and just peck at the worm. They will come back to the jig three or four times and then just move away. I tried a maggot thinking that they would suck it in but this did not work either. Catching the dumb bluegill was not problem. But the perch was another story. Thanks for your help
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Are you watching this on camera? I`m guessing thats how you knew which were perch and which were bluegill. Have you tried a bigger bait? I had many troubles Saturday with lite biters. I ended up catching them regularly just dropping down the front half of a minnow on a size 10 or 8 jig. I was jigging with maggots on a size 12 jig. You might alos try hanging the minnow on a jigging spoon.I was catching perch also. You might try raising the bait up whenever they come close. This may trigger a reaction strike which will let you hook them easier. Good Luck.
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you could try a jigging spoon with a dropper too
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Buddah, besides other hints try a spring bobber. either taped as an extension of your rod tip or taped bent 1" past and 2-3" over your rod tip. and use 2-4lb test clear mono.
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for jigging, its hard to beat a swidish pimple...
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It is not an efficient method in deep water, but I am convinced I can catch anything that swims with a #14 Marmooska with a single spike barely hooked through the skin. Pound the jig to bring them in and let the spike wiggle in front of them with the jig paused. I keep fishing tough bites when others go home with this presentation. A flasher is crucial too. Watch line closely if a no spring bobber.
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use a siver/blue rapala jig the smallest one put pink power bait on the treble.Its fish in the pan
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not to sound like an idiot but u are using 1 or 2 pound test right i dont know much about the perch u are targeting but i always seem to find something that finicky perch like just keep changing up till you find what they like ive always had best luck with glow jigs
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finnicky perch can ber nightmares, if they become unresponsive.
1st - dont bother fishing for smaller finnicky perch - its not worth it if they wont respond.
2nd. - keep moving - eventually you will find willing biters. make sure that you try very deep AND very SHALLOW.
3rd. - If they are big perch, and they are being finnicky, try using 2lb test, and a smaller jighead, and then tailhook a tiny minnow(1"-1.5").
4th. - be very precise with depth - often times the biggest perch only feed at a certain depth, and if you are out of that area by 6 inches, you wont get bit.
5th - experiment with movement - often times, finnicky perch will only hit a bait that is moving - albeit miniscule movements.
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Another thing you may want to try when very picky is to get some scent from Berkleys either walleye or bluegill and squirt a little on your bait sometimes it helps convert sniffers to biters
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::)
i always have good luck using wigglers.
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use teardrops, change colors often, play keepaway, gently tug it away from them when they come in to look, often times, theyll follow it up and suck the bait in eventually.keep changing colors, use all live bait available, waxworms, moussies, wigglers, maggots, that usually works for me.buy every color available
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p.s. very important use lightest line possible 1 lb test or less if possible
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play keep away try to triger them to bite. keep the bait moving. it works for me on any thing.
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big buddah experienced exactly the same thing last winter--no matter what was presented i got the same reaction-zippppp--found out later that the oxygen level in the lake was down and even though they appeared interested, they must be dizzy or something-find somewhere else :'( :'(
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had the same problem this weekend we used a dropper with a small #10 hooked a full minnow behind the dorsal with a small bobber and a open bail let them run out a few feet of line before you set the hook good luck.
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Nils master, Rapala, or Pimple. Do small, fast vibrating movements with your hand and feel the lure through the rod tip. Basically, try to make the lure look blurry underwater. Works every time on those finicky biters.
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I'm surprised the perch are finicky. I catch them regularly on tip-ups alone that are so small that the diameter of the shiner was as big as the mouth. I've caught them no bigger than 4" and never have a problem hooking into them. It's sounds more like Crappie fishing the way it was described. :-\
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Try Mr. Seaguar's advise. I used to think small all the time. If they wouldn't bite, I'd go smaller and smaller and smaller. Early this year I went to the smallest jig I had in the box and still couldn't get them to bite. There were walleyes around, so I said to heck with it and tied on an 1/8 oz rocker and tipped it with 3 or 4 waxies to see if I could get the walleye interested. The perch pounded it. I've used this approach throughout the year so far with about 50/50 results. Sometimes they just want the Big Mac, not the plain burger.
One "secret bait" to try - take a #16 treble hook and tie it on. Put a sinker right above the eye and hook on three mousies, one on each point just through the head so they wave around alot. Jig where you can watch the action so you get and idea of how it behaves. You want a kind of "squid" action. Like any other bait, sometimes it works great, and sometimes you might as well be fishing with a spark plug, but more times than not it does work.
kero
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when i posted perch were finicky because of low oxygen levels, it was the cause. not all lakes are susceptible to this phenom. heavy snow cover, combined with thick ice and shallow lakes, reservoirs, will reduce oxygen levels rather quickly. waters that have good inflow/outflow will seldom have this problem. if in doubt, check with your local resource dept. or fishery people... lol with picky perch grumpymoe
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Grumpmoe is right iv'e experinced this with Pond fish....They are there but because of the LOw oxy levels they just wouldnt hit..Like BLondes they just don't understand....lol...Ti ght lines!