Perch advice

[PerchReaper]

Any advice for someone trying to get on some fish without electronics and with a hand auger?

[FreshwaterPhil]

Keep drilling until you locate big school. Basic flasher very helpful for panfish.

[bootstrap]

i did it for years and years like that, perch are pretty easy to catch.

[mudchuck]

Any advice for someone trying to get on some fish without electronics and with a hand auger?

If no electronics, then you just have to drill & hole hop.
Suggest if you can look at a contour map (F&W has some on their website of ponds etc.), look for big mud flats with weedline edges and small humps, fish the weedline edges and small humps, and also look for big drop offs into deeper water onto the mudflats, fish the edge of the dropoff.

[fishingidjit]

Drill, drill, and drill some more-you will find them.

[gogetthegaff]

If no electronics, then you just have to drill & hole hop.
Suggest if you can look at a contour map (F&W has some on their website of ponds etc.), look for big mud flats with weedline edges and small humps, fish the weedline edges and small humps, and also look for big drop offs into deeper water onto the mudflats, fish the edge of the dropoff.

Another good way to search if you're drilling multiple holes anyway, is to set out a half dozen or so tip ups with shiners while you're moving around and jigging. That way you're covering more area and potentially reducing the time it takes to get on fish. Get a flag and go catch the fish and then jig that hole. Frequently you'll be on a school and will catch several before they move on. When the action stops, re-bait and set up the tip up and continue moving around. This approach has saved me on days when the fish aren't particularly active.

[flagup!]

With Mudchuck all the way,   At least a contour map to get a clue.  Use the landmarks on shore to get close to the areas he suggests.  Use a sounder, 1-2 ft off the bottom. 

[mudchuck]

With Mudchuck all the way,   At least a contour map to get a clue.  Use the landmarks on shore to get close to the areas he suggests.  Use a sounder, 1-2 ft off the bottom.

I use boating app (Navionics) for lake/pond maps, and have flashers, so when I've studied an area, I can usually do well and only need to drill a few holes, and sometimes I can set up and stay on the same hole for long periods of time and don't have to hole hop...sometimes action is so hot & heavy, that when the school does move on its good because it gives me a break to pee, drink coffee, eat or redo bibbet/jig.

Just last Satuday I caught over 200 yellows, albeit most were dinks that went back, had @ 20:1 ratio on dinks to keepers, only drilled a pair of holes and stayed on them all day 6 hours.
It works good to study the contour maps.

[Champlain Islander]

Lots of the perch grounds are pretty well known and produce year after year. I just go to those places and drill until I find them. There are always perch to be caught and once you find them the trick is to stay on them.

[woodyvt]

Once you find them........smash up some old bait and throw some in the hole now and again.

Creepers do a great job....lol

[spb802]

I often use a hand auger when I’m looking for perch, depending on ice depth. In shallower waters the noise of a power auger will often spook fish, along with any other noise on top of the ice. You’d be surprised how well sound travels down through, was fishing with a buddy years ago and at 15 ft down you could here us talking plain as day on his camera. Once on fish keeping bait in the water is key to keeping the school around your area, thus Bibets work best for getting your bait back down quickly. Hope this helps a bit. Tight lines

[JMailbox8]

Once you find them........smash up some old bait and throw some in the hole now and again.

Creepers do a great job....lol

Does mashed perch egg sacks keep them in?

[LittleFishin]

Does anyone use a drop-shot type technique? If so... do you have any length of line coming from the main line before the hook? I know with summer drop-shots I tie a Palomar knot directly on the main line with no slack before the hook; Would slack before the hook get tangled? seeking options to get deeper quicker (not going to buy heavier tungsten jigs). thanks!

[Champlain Islander]

I fish a single lead bibbit for perch. If I am in deeper water I put on a bigger bibbit. The question on drop shotting is interesting to me since it works really well for deep water bass in open water season. Depending on what lure you are using why not rig it like summer set up? Only way to stop tangles if the lure has a leader would be to use really stout line from a swivel to the sinker and the lure if lite enough would kind of stand out. One of these days Ill try a 2nd bibbit on a drop shotting rig with the first bibbit on the bottom as a weight. Don't see why it wouldn't work.

[mudchuck]

I fish a single lead bibbit for perch. If I am in deeper water I put on a bigger bibbit. The question on drop shotting is interesting to me since it works really well for deep water bass in open water season. Depending on what lure you are using why not rig it like summer set up? Only way to stop tangles if the lure has a leader would be to use really stout line from a swivel to the sinker and the lure if lite enough would kind of stand out. One of these days Ill try a 2nd bibbit on a drop shotting rig with the first bibbit on the bottom as a weight. Don't see why it wouldn't work.

Heavy bibbit/pimple/spoon or haji with a fly/streamer tied direct to the mainline about a foot above works wonders, albeit the fly sometimes gets caught on the edge of the hole.
Catch doubles a lot this way...works for perch and smelt.

[Champlain Islander]

Yeah several years ago I used to rig a purist on a leader above my main jig on my flat fishing rigs. Hanging up on the hole made the double catch something that wasn't worth it at least to me. The first time i lost a crappie on the bottom when the purist hung up ended that. LOL

[LittleFishin]

A little upper bibbit action will be in my near future then! thanks. Islander- I will let you know as soon as I lose a trophy because you are right, it will inevitably get hung up. 

[Champlain Islander]

LOL...cut a bigger hole

[bootstrap]

bell sinker on the bottom 2 flys above it. is the ny way.

[LittleFishin]

bell sinker on the bottom 2 flys above it. is the ny way.

What type of flies to you like best? That is an item I am lacking in my tackle box.

[bootstrap]

i dont use them much anymore. most tackle shops carry them. like he said the upper one will get hung up getting thru the hole and snap the line off, then loosing an expensive spoon on the bottom was how i was fishing them.  if you just ran 2 flys and a sinker wouldnt be so bad. always sucks tying on the ice. also making loop knots in the line weakens it. i am sure there is a better way of doing it. if i want to get down fast and deep i just use hand lines.

[LittleFishin]

Hand lines are the best for that...

[putback]

Be happy, you gotta auger and a foot of ice, not a chisel and 3 ft! You don't "need" electronics, count your ranks to bottom. After a few holes in an area you'll have a mental image of topogaphy. You're fishing tabors, good choice. Go a couple hundred yds off the point, look back, it continues underwater near the same, but it do'es split. You can see a nav map on the net. Start on top of the rocky point 8ish fow. Small or no fish after 20 / 30 mins move east or west "over the side" or farther out for a few feet deeper. Keep working the area 'till you find what you want. There is an advantage to this for someone presistant and savvy enough. Even the top dollar maps do not show some of the BEST topo on tabors. Small pot holes and depressions, and most importantly small draws and gullies that go from deep water to the feeding shallows, fish highways. Only way your gonna find them is look for them! Bore, test fish, move, repeat, keep track. Over time you'll know where / when to go. 90 % of the fish are in 10 % of the water & you can't catch fish where they ain't!!!!!!

[Light liner]

Thats a good area. Theres big boulders on the point good place to start.
Fished theyre this last week, did well in a few hours.
2pm till dark.