Fishing Forum

Well I think that today was my last trip to the Rock for the year. It seems like only last week we were all asking if Rockport had any ice yet. We had a great ice season up there and I gained five pounds, eating those golden morsels for the last two months.
I took my wife and daughter inlaw with me today. My wife had foot surgery in December, so she was only able to get out on the ice in the last two weeks. To make walking easier for her, we fished close to the boat ramp. There were a lot of people there, but we were South of most of the crowd.
We started fishing in 42' of water with very slow action so we moved in to 26' of water, We picked up a few perch and trout but it was still slow. I moved in and out the rest of the morning and never did find any big numbers of perch. Some folks were coming back in about 11:00am and said that they ended up clear down by the inlet to find any big schools of perch. It looks like they are moving into the brush to spawn now. I didn't want to make my wife walk that far, so we stayed where we were.
We only brought about 20 perch home and released all the trout. The perch made a great lunch for us.
Now I hope to hit the Berry one more time before I get the pontoon out on the soft water. I had a great time at Rockport this year and I hate to see it go.
Now if Pineview will just come back! I hope to find some big Crappie there this year or next.
Kastmaster, how did you guys do after you went to the West side? I called for you but didn't get a response back.
I didn't hear any other BFTers on the radio, but there was a lot of static on it all morning. Very annoying. DKS
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How was the ice today? Do you think it will hold up for one more week?
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I think that it will become day to day after this weekend.
Watch for posts from people that go each day. Without a plank at the ramp today, we would have been very wet getting off of the ice. Be very careful up there, DKS.
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Glad you got into some perch. I forgot to turn on my radio, got busy working on the auger. I ended up bringing home about the same amount, 1/4 of them males. The west side was a little slow for perch, I guess I have been spoiled the last few times when catching a limit came in an hour or so. I got distracted trying to fix my hand auger. After cutting one hole on the west side, one of the blade screws on my auger came out and must have fallen through the ice. I realized that when I tried drilling another hole and the auger was not doing anything. Went back to my car to see if I have any screws laying around that will fit the blade, nada. Went to my fishing hole and ended up borrowing a screw from the Fishing Buddy to get the auger working again. We left around 1:00 pm, had to find a good spot on the shore where the edges aren't too bad. Sad to say goodbye to the ice at Rockport, what with the warmer weather coming up, but that means springtime fishing is just around the corner. Be safe at Rockport, everyone!
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It was a great day on Rockport. Started out looking for trout. Went south of the boat ramp to the rocky point. There was an ice heave there so we stopped and started fishing. Stayed close to the shore looking for trout. Caught a 15 inch brown, a 14 inch rainbow and quite a few small trout. Then we took a long walk to the north of the ramp. All the way to the first bouy. Last week it was real hot for perch there. Not much this week. Only iced 5 perch. Last week nine of us caught a limit in about 3 hours. I did catch a 20 inch brown though. That made the slow perch fishing well worth while.

Any one else notice that the browns in Rockport are a little on the skinny side? I've caught a few browns every year and they always seem to be on the skinny side. Bows get nice and fat there, but the browns just don't pack on the weight. Kind of pale in color too. Nice fish, just a little different...

Probably our last trip to Rockport. Short year, but fun. Two years ago it was lots of trout (lots larger too) and the occasional perch. Now it's limits of perch and the occasional trout. Guess its just the transition or cylces of the species. Can't wait to see what next year brings.

Chester
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Fished the rock myself on sat. slayed the perch on the west side in about 60' of water. Tryed everything until we found the swedish pimple changed the whole day!! not sure if the ice will hold up another week. starting to look pretty soft.
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