Went to Lion Lake

[Quantoson]

Caught maybe 20 perch the largest being about 5-1/2'' and smallest was almost unmeasurable..  I must have been fishing their nursery. 
Then decided to try the perch eyes trick to get the big one.  All the perch down their must have thought 'oh look what they did to Abner' and the bite stopped that quick.

Moved around in the same area, took off the perch eyes and the bite started again.  Sporadic but it was fun.

[mtflyfisher]

How was the ice?

[Quantoson]

I parked on the north side and fished that area.  The ice was about 5 inches, white ice but dry no standing water where I was at.  About 2'' to 3'' of snow on top of the ice.  It was sunny in the afternoon and I left the lake about 5:00 PM.  Never had to put a coat or jacket on the whole time.

The road is decent and drivable.   Not plowed & a few ruts but still doable in my 2 wheel drive S-10.  There were a group of 3 men fishing the south side and 1 man with dog fishing the south east shore.

[Quantoson]

Went again today and caught more perch than I ever have before.  The largest was as long as a beer bottle and the smallest about 4''.  I was actually fishing for rainbow but the perch bite was non-stop so I had a blast.

[Hook them Lipps]

Thats a pretty decent perch.  I've never caught one that big out of there.  How many did you catch over 9 inches? 

[Quantoson]

As long as a beer bottle I laid down next to it, caught 5 or 6 of them, all the perch were really nice today.  I was tempted to keep them.  There were quite a few people out there today but mostly on the South & east end area.  I was on the North east side close to the road with another older guy that told me he caught a very large rainbow right where I was hitting the perch.  He caught rainbow today and he was fishing maybe 40 feet from me.  I so wanted to crowd into him to catch one of those rainbow.

He was in 15' of water and fishing the bottom and I was in 10' fishing at 8' or so.  He told me he was laying it on the bottom and bringing it up about 6'' for the rainbow bite. I did that for an hour and the bite went dead.  Then raised them back up to 2' or so off the bottom and it started again.  I left at 3:45.  There were periods where I did not have time to re-bait the second rod.  Just as soon as I lowered the jig to the strike zone they would hit.

[Hook them Lipps]

Spent from 7 am till 10 am on Lion.  Only had some small bites right around 7 to 8.  Never hooked anything so I headed for Lake Five.

[Quantoson]

What area did you fish if I may ask?

[Hook them Lipps]

North Entrance, a little to the east.  Had a couple perch bites early and then nothing.  Fished from 10 to 20 fow.  Used swedish pimple and glo hook and maggots on bottom.  2nd time I've been out there first time caught two 5 inch perch.  No Trout or keeper perch yet.

[griz901]

He was in 15' of water and fishing the bottom and I was in 10' fishing at 8' or so.  He told me he was laying it on the bottom and bringing it up about 6'' for the rainbow bite. I did that for an hour and the bite went dead.  Then raised them back up to 2' or so off the bottom and it started again.  I left at 3:45.  There were periods where I did not have time to re-bait the second rod.  Just as soon as I lowered the jig to the strike zone they would hit.

I only had a couple hours to fish before work today    With 30 minutes before my son and I had to leave I pulled a nice 7-8 incher and tossed it back down the hole you guys were so kind to drill a day or two before!    

Same thing happened to me, nothing off the bottom then come up a few feet for the bite.  Just kept walking from old hole to old hole until we found them just like you said.....

My son was hand jigging and getting bit a few minutes before we had to leave.  Then KAPPOW!!!!  12 inches, 1 pound 2 ounces. Only two inches and one pound below the state record!  We spent our last few minutes on the ice deciding whether or not to put her back, but my son decided we should take her home.   

We made sure to say thanks to the fish for giving herself to us!

[Hook them Lipps]

Darn that must have been what slammed my rod the other day.  Wish they were more common.  Where were you at if you don't mind saying.  One place is as good as another I suppose.  Good job!  Keep giving us hope.

[griz901]

Darn that must have been what slammed my rod the other day.  Wish they were more common.  Where were you at if you don't mind saying.  One place is as good as another I suppose.  Good job!  Keep giving us hope.

Hey I don't mind sharing.  Kind of funny how a forum chat can almost be like fishing too close to the guy next to you that day! My son and I have fished Lion during winter and summer for many years. Usually only small perch and the occasional trout.  There is usually some old timer hunkered down in a shack, pulling good size trout from the shallows.

We walked on at the Northwest corner where the plowed parking is. Worked the iced over holes around to the North with no luck. Finally got bites off the point as you can see the picnic area and toilets. Somebody with a sled must have done the work for us the day earlier. Found a set of holes starting next to the tooly weeds and going straight out to mark depth.

Got bites from the second and fourth hole out from shore.  1st was about 15 fow - jigging mealworms from a Lindy about 3ft off the bottom.  2nd where my boy got the lunker was deeper, around 20+ fow, hand jigging prolly 3-5 off the bottom. Mealworms for both fish we caught.

Good luck!  Depending on how tired I am when I get off tonight, I may be back in the morning to catch the one I let go LOL   

[Quantoson]

Yup, those were the holes I drilled the other day.  The old guy with the single seat shelter is the guy that was catching trout.  The perch are  big in there, I wanted to say when I first posted that I thought I had caught a bass on the far west side but when I got to the hole I saw it was a 14'' or better perch that was barely hooked.  I don't think anyone would have believed me especially since I would have to say it broke my line and stayed close to the hole long enough for me to stare at it while it slowly circled the hole twice before swimming away.

Glad you posted the picture & Congratulations to that fine fisherman you were with.  Go back and catch more.  I have noticed that the perch school in sizes there.

[griz901]

Glad you posted the picture & Congratulations to that fine fisherman you were with.  Go back and catch more.

+1 I did manage to pass on some fishing karma.  A few young boys, 9-10 or so, were fishing the middle over by the road. They had their full blown little pop-up shelter and looked like they were having a great time. We walked by on the way out to say hi and see how they were doing.

They had caught a few of the smaller perch and were going at it hard. They asked how we did and when I pulled the lunker out of the bucket all heck broke loose with their excitement! The youngest instantly reached back into the shack, asked for his pole and said "I'm gonna go fish their hole!"  It was great.

They asked if they could have the fish and I politely declined.... LOL  We pointed them in the right direction as we left the ice. A good day indeed!

[westofthedivide]

Nice Perch. IM impressed, I have ice fished Lion for several years and mostly target perch in deeper water say 35 to 45. They are there but their size  is not mostly keeping 9 " few to 10" for a meal. I got tired of cranking holes in shallow water for dinks. So good for you. Maybe its some days the bigger ones go on a feed in shallow water. The deep ones are almost always tentative biters. Its close to home for me. Maybe Ill make some friends if I show up Thurs.   

[griz901]

Nice Perch. IM impressed, I have ice fished Lion for several years and mostly target perch in deeper water say 35 to 45. They are there but their size  is not mostly keeping 9 " few to 10" for a meal. I got tired of cranking holes in shallow water for dinks. So good for you. Maybe its some days the bigger ones go on a feed in shallow water. The deep ones are almost always tentative biters. Its close to home for me. Maybe Ill make some friends if I show up Thurs.

  We'll see tomorrow how many people are chasing the same holes! LOL   

[griz901]

WOW - How long can we keep up this great fishing weather 

We hit it again today - 6 or 7 itty bitty committee members - Pulling one meal worm off and then leaving it. Spikes + meal no go. We tried different fow's, bottom, 6" off, 3 ft. off bottom but no luck finding the bigger fish.     Not sure what we were doing different today 

Still had a good time and quite a few people on the ice considering it's a weekday - lots of new holes today looking for fish. Did anyone else get into them today???

Gonna try again Thursday because they've gotta be hiding out there some where.   

[griz901]

Nice Perch. IM impressed, I have ice fished Lion for several years and mostly target perch in deeper water say 35 to 45. They are there but their size  is not mostly keeping 9 " few to 10" for a meal. I got tired of cranking holes in shallow water for dinks. So good for you. Maybe its some days the bigger ones go on a feed in shallow water. The deep ones are almost always tentative biters. Its close to home for me. Maybe Ill make some friends if I show up Thurs.

I may have to try your deep water technique Thursday!  I wore myself out today....  Had the wife and a friend along. Drilled and baited for the wife and ended up drilling for my friend because he is getting over a nasty chest cold thingy.... 

I might of had 3 or 4 good hits over four hours while my wife and friend were catching "dinks".  If you are out Thursday, look for the big dude in coveralls and a smaller fellow and a big fat husky dog.  That would be us. 

I've been getting all my hits on red meal worms and spikes under a Lindy rattler - I have a couple swedish pimples left, any advice on what they like down deep? I'd rather catch a few lunkers than a lot of dinks tomorrow.

Later!

griz

[griz901]

   By the way, sorry for hijacking the thread... 

[Hook them Lipps]

If you keep it up your bound to tie into a hog trout.  Thanks for the updates.  I have tried Lion a few times but never had good luck. 

[griz901]

  Here fishy fishy - Very slow on Lion today. We fished shallow, deep and inbetween with no luck. Super slow biting, on and off... At least we didn't get skunked, one itty bitty committee member checked into the deep freeze for good... ;-)