Dinks at Stone Lake?

[ispoman]

Does anyone have an idea on why the perch dont get real big in Stone? I have caught near a hundred a few times and nothing over 6-7"s. You can catch them all day but no size................ne ed input

[abishop]

I have the same problem. I only got into larger ones 1 time in 15 20 fow. They were 8-9 looked like moby dick. I guess with all the weeds they keep multiplying. They are good eating if you can handle the cleaning.

[h2.0shaver]

When we fish Lake Mich, and we are running into smaller perch, we use larger pimples,jigs, bait. Seems the larger perch are more agressive to a larger offering. Not sure if this would help but worth a shot.

[high_flags]

        Maybe they can stock more Walleye's to eat all them Dinks.

[ispoman]

After watching that one perch video, I was just gonna use a dink for bait.

[tonsaholes]

be patient with stone lake there are monsters in there use crappie minnow heads, and in the summer baby shiners on lindy rigs in 20 or 30 fow. htey are there the largest i've seen was almost 13 inches and that wa sthrough the ice. good luck

[h2.0shaver]

Instead of starting a new topic, I dug this up from last year.  While we are down waiting on ice, I was curious as to some opinions on why the perch DO seem to run small in Stone Lake, or any lake. It seems as though Stone would produce large perch with all of the weeds and breaks and flats. Theres a gazillion perch in this lake. Are they stunted? Looking foward for some theories.

[Irish Jigger]

 Overpopulation leads to less food to go around and the larger fish can't get enough food and the ones that are geneticly programmed to be smaller thrive and take over. We have a pond at work that was drained years ago to build a new dyke system, it had big largemouth and bluegill, it was never restocked with bass and the bluegill came back naturally, now the bluegill are all midgets with no predators to control thier population.

[percheye09]

If you want to catch the big perch out of stone there is a defined patern these big fish follow in this lake. I'll give a couple hints and ya'll can figure out the rest, after fishing this lake since I was 8 I am now 30, i have caught thousands of perch big and small, About 7 years ago I got into a school of perch in late feb big ones 12-16 inch females with a few very few males,(hint)as i was hauling these hawgs on the ice out of 5 fow(2), they were puking out lake shiners(3), and they were big like 4" so I made me a homemade spoon out of what else a spoon that was almost identicle to these shiners, And I use it every year and catch these big girls every year like clockwork, and have caught a ton of bass and even a few crappies on it, Match the hatch, small perch bait small perch, this is'nt always the case but using my vex and this spoon and staying mobile you can and will find these big fish schools, sounds easy but it just boils down to tons of holes and staying aggressive.

[h2.0shaver]

percheye= Thx for the tips. I usually try to go bigger presentation for the bigger fish, Ill keep at it. I know theres some decent fish in this lake. Id also like to get into some nice gils out here. Maybe Ill see ya out there this year.

[Super Yooper]

I regularly fished through a lot of Dinks, but got into some real nice gills out there this summer. Caught bigger gills in Stone than Pine.

[percheye09]

Yes I am more than ready to get out and chase these schools, as far as bluegills go in stone , I have caught some monsters, but not nearly as many through the ice probly because i focus on perch so much. And pine has everything that stone has and more, just a lot more water to cover, I'm actually focusing on pine for first ice this year. I was told by a oldtimer that the way these two lakes work is stone acts like a nursery while water levels are low, then when we have a good water level year the fish move to pine, he also explained in more detail why, it has some thing to do with the natural current that flows through these lakes from stone to pine. He also mentioned water clarity in stone actually hurts aquatic vegitation and sets off a domino affect wich led to a kill off about 12-14 years ago. He also believes with the introduction of zebra muscle and certain weeds that are bad will compound this problem. I love talking to the oldtimers but some times it can waste a few hours, I guess they call that paying your dues. I want to wish all of you a safe year and remember no fish is worth your life take a buddy and be safe, Dont let eagerness ruin your day patientence is key. My goal this year is to ice a 14"+ perch out of stone and pine. I hope you all meet your 09 ice fishing goals, Feel free to question me on concerns or whatever you really never know your knowledge unless you practice it.

[Piggyn]

My goal this year is to ice a 14"+ perch out of stone and pine.

If you're successful, then make sure to post some pics... We all like seeing quality local fish!

[percheye09]

Will do, Hint to guys fishing on pine and stone or anywhere really, photograph your catch in a shanty or blur your background, I'm not stingy but you would be suprised how people study your pics and land right on your spot. Just study a topo map and you can pretty much key in on them. I don't know maybe I'm a freak.

[percheye09]

percheye= Thx for the tips. I usually try to go bigger presentation for the bigger fish, Ill keep at it. I know theres some decent fish in this lake. Id also like to get into some nice gils out here. Maybe Ill see ya out there this year.

Since you are interested in gills and I really don't focus on them in the winter I will give you what I know for gills in stone, First the larger bull gills tend to spawn in the lillies buy where you rent boats, moving off the weed line directly west of these lilly pads afterwards 15 to 18 fow, and in the dead of summer as deep as 35 fow, crickets work great mid to late spring, I then go to small crappie minnows and these big gills are glad to eat them up, Cant stress enough about light line these fish have grown big and lasted a long time for a reason, so as if you were walking out on the docks from shore work the whole area directly in front of and to the left of these docks. Beware there are also a large amount of predators in this area also,I.E. Bowfins,Pike,And some really large bass. These fish can turn off in a heartbeat when mister big mouth shows up to the party, Through the ice for these hawgs I would use a blood worm pattern sticking to the weeds early then move out to the basin directly in front of the beach. Just my 2cents let me know what you find and keep me posted.

[percheye09]

And I meant right side as your going out on the docks, I just saw that as I was reading.

[hardH2Owalker]

We fish pine and stone every year, on a regular basis.  Last year we found some nice bull gills on stone.  That was really first time we found them ever.  They were hard to catch though.  We found them east of the public access site on stone.  There is a small bay there, that is normally grown over with lilly pads in the late spring/summer. In this small bay, the depth varied from 3' back in the bay, to 15' at the mouth of the bay. I would say be prepared to move, even once you do find them.  When we found them, we would catch 2 or 3 of them, and they would disappear for 20 to 30 minutes.  So, we would catch a few, and them jump holes to try to catch them moving.  Alot of drilling, but for some 9 and 10 inch gills, a sore elbow it is worth!

And i think that Pine will be the lake to fish this year, as water levels were rising all year.