some decent fox chain perch

[John_BZ]

we hit the chain the other day looking to get some perch. started off slow as i couldnt find the fish. i drilled a bunch of holes in a 500 yard area and no dice so i decided to poke around a bit deeper. after some more drilling we found em piled up and aggressive ! we managed about six or eight fish out of the first attack then it shut down. it slowed down to a fish or two every half hour. well, come sundown, the action got hot. we started popping decent perch, crappie, and gills as fast as we could get the jig down. we managed probably 40-50 crappie a handfull of gills and about 15-20 perch. threw most of the crappies and gills back as well as some of the perch. kept a few for dinner. pictures are from my phone so the quality is poor. we didnt catch anything huge but certainly have nothing to complain about. moral of this story when it gets slow start drillin !

this is a "highlight reel" of the afternoon


mrs fatty and yes my phones camera sucks


for those who want to know where we got em. it wasnt too far from here 

[Tricounty]

congrats, those are some nice fish. some nice open water it looks like too

[Soozookie]

Nice fish John, wish i could find perch like that in my area....

[John_BZ]

thanks fellas. i have been finding that there are decent perch in alot of lakes people dont know about. these fish see relatively little pressure because most people simply dont know they are there. had i stopped drilling at any time i wouldnt have found them. on any given day i will drill holes and poke around with the vexilar more than i will fish. alot of times it costs me some good fishing but the times i hit it have made up for it.

[Tricounty]

The chain is only about 2 hours away, Maybe I should venture out there, I got a nice deal on a jiffy 10" that will punch alot of holes.
Are most people walking out there or using wheelers?

Thanks, Tony

[John_BZ]

i use a snowmachine. some spots walking is alright but i generally have to tow quite a ways to get where i am fishing. alot of people just walk though.

[Tricounty]

a friend of mine has a boat on fox lake so I have been out there in the summer, I know it can be a hike, depending on where you want to go. My wheeler is up in Tomahawk. I heard that it is decent out from dangerous dans, that wouldn't be that much walking.

[coreyl302]

gotta love the open water

[John_BZ]

There is some decent fishing within a walk all over the chain. I wouldn't let a lack of a machine stop you. My advise is to get out on the water early. We usually catch most of our walleye at sunrise and the gills and crappie turn on shortly after the eyes turn off. This time of year the fish will be schooled nicely and often times suspended so mobility is the key ! The school of crappie we found was massive but always moving. I like to start looking at depths of 15 feet and go deeper until I find the fish if the lake allows it. Lakes like fox won't go that far but lack of weed growth keeps oxygen levels alright. What kind of fish were you looking to get into ?

[Tricounty]

John_BZ: some walleyes would be sweet, but I would be happy getting some gills og crappies for dinner.

Thanks, Tony

[ultraguy]

I've been getting an earful lately about Mineola. Might be a plan for next weekend. Just need to fill the tank on the wheeler and the auger and it's good to go...Those are some nice perch also! Freezer is packed with Perch so targeting the eyes on the night bite is my game...

Poorboy

[John_BZ]

Let us know how the night bite goes. I ride my snowmobile over there almost every day after work and do some spying. It seems like almost everybody clears out of mineola by sunset. I haven't seen many stick it out into dark.