Icing Perch by Bob Jensen

ICING PERCH
By Bob Jensen

In the open water season, it seems that most Midwest anglers like to chase walleyes. But during the ice-fishing season, perch get a lot more attention. That’s good. Perch are fun to catch, they’re plentiful in many bodies of water, and they’re great on the table. Following are some ideas for catching perch through the ice throughout the ice-fishing season.

It has been my experience that perch are almost always very close to the bottom. For this reason, it often works well to use a larger bait for the perch when they are active. A Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon is a perch-catching spoon, but you’ll catch even more perch if you use a larger size when the perch are biters. The big spoon gets to the bottom faster than the smaller spoon, so it gets into the fish’s strike zone much quicker. I’ve seen times when two anglers are fishing the same area and both are catching fish quickly. However, if one angler uses a larger spoon, that angler will catch more fish just because that spoon is in the “perch-zone” more of the time.

Ice Perch... lovin' It

Keep moving if the hole you’re fishing gets cold. This is where a sonar unit really pays rewards. Keep an eye on the screen to see if fish are present. If there are none there, don’t spend too much time at that hole. Sure the fish may come back, but it usually works better if you go looking for them. The MarCum LX-3 sonar that has been gaining favor with ice-anglers does an excellent job of revealing those perch that are holding tight to the bottom.

If you can see fish down there but they won’t take your lure, you should stay at that hole for awhile and make the perch bite. Try a smaller spoon or a different color. Work the spoon slower. Go to a horizontal jig like a Bro-Bug or a Micro Minnow. If a hole has been hot, and there are still some fish down there, you can usually get a couple more to bite.

On the other hand, if you have been catching fish from a particular hole and they quit, and if the sonar is showing no fish, it’s time to move. If you haven’t seen a fish in a couple of minutes, move to a close by hole and see if there’s anything there. Oftentimes a hole just twenty or thirty feet away will have some fish that are willing to bite.

Be sure to have plenty of holes popped before you start fishing. You don’t want to be drilling holes when the perch want to bite. But if you find that the perch are most active at a particular depth, and you don’t have enough holes drilled at that depth, get some drilled, but do it as quickly and quietly as possible. The Jiffy Stealth gets through the ice faster than similar augers, and the faster you get through, the less noise there is. Because of a special treatment on the auger, it won’t freeze up, which is a real bonus when it comes to putting holes in the ice.

Perch can provide lots of action and they’re great in the frying pan. Right now is the perfect time to get on a good perch spot to find out for yourself.

For more fish-catching information, visit fishingthemidwest.com