Quantity was the name of the game today on Hyrum. Very little quality. Caught somewhere around thirty planter bows today. I lost another dozen or so. Small white jig with mealworm was the rig of choice today. I was fishing about 100 yards east of the swim beach in 12 feet of water. The ice is just like glass and very hard to walk on when I come off this afternoon. WHERE ARE THE PERCH. I have fished Hyrum five times since ice on and have yet to catch a perch. Saw Coyote Spinner heading across to the inlet, wonder if he got into anything up that way?
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That's the burning question! Where are the Perch?! (like "where's Waldo")
Hey Tom - shoulda shouted out, or waved, or thrown rocks or somefin. Sorry we missed ya. Tardy butt myself - Lavaman and BenFriends were already out, and Jdawg at least plugged his first hole with the new auger and got some bumps.
We tooled off to the inlet, and drilled first holes. Not too much happening, but we did manage to shake the skunk, and play with some finless freddies. Moved around a bit - worked west of the inlet, and L&B headed south. Iced a few more here and there. But it was pretty quiet.
Had the Jawjacker out, and it finally went 'snap' - running a bucktail perch jig, with a red-side minnow and slam. But no hookup. Reeled up and had a NICE fish chased - literally UP the hole! Nose stuck out, and if I coulda lipped 'em!! Tried to drop the jig right back down, but no.
New minnow, same hole - hooked up! Reeled it right up to the hole - with CLEAR ice - was easy to see the hunk - then - snap - lost it - again! Off it went. But they liked those minnows - got some good "weight" on em!
Maybe I was right - with the bigger bait, bigger fish - philosophy. Figure that pup was a 2/5-3lber easy.
We had plenty of planter bow hookups. I had at least a half dozen, Ben probably had twice that many!
We moved and moved - fanned out - covered some territory, amazed that SO few were out there.
Really cool smooth ice - almost better on rubber boots than metal chains. Woulda been good for ice-skating.
Glad it wasn't too windy, or we woulda been sailing! Ice was a good 6" overall. But still poppy, and spooky to watch cracks "open" right under your feet. Drilled a hole while a crack drew across the axis!
But - good solid, clear ice.
There was a fishfinder, and camera, and neither sounded out the schools I recall form last year. But - maybe it just still early ice. Fish still need to migrate and settle into their winter patterns.
hello friend [
] i seen you were fishing in 12 feet of water does that mean you were in 30 feet of water with your jigs down 12 feet, or you really were fishing in 12 feet? sorry for the silly question but i think im headed back up there tomorrow.. thanks for your help my friend [
]
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That was a fun day, even if it took over 2 1/2 hrs to actually find 'em. Seemed that the fourth move was the trick for me anyways...
Never heard the ice snap crackle and pop like it did today. Makes the heart race when it sings its' song, but it's a 'safe' tune.
As for the perchies, who knows. Starting to wonder if they're extinct this year. And the planter bows are plentiful if not disappointing. Still a fun day.
Rig of choice: purple power bait, tipped with sunflower seed. [
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I was fishing in twelve feet of water with my jig a foot off the bottom
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[cool] holly cow... i would have never guessed to be completly honest with you. thata crazy. and thats a lot of fish even though they were all planters. the wife wants to go ice fishing for the first time ever [
] so i wanna hit a place were we can catch a ton and keep the action some what busy all day... im talking about catching fish my friends [cool] lol... thank you once again. i love how friends always help one another out on this bft site.
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I've caught perch every time I've been out until today. Not in numbers but decent ones for Hyrum. I was even able to land a nice gill and a few small bass in the last week. What's got me stumped is where the hell are the browns? I really think that the high water and the premo spawning conditions are keeping the bigger fish fed and spread out feeding on the abundance of little guys, not to mention the DWR feeding them a couple months ago. I hit ice today with Ninja around one thirty and it was a planter fest. It was fun to watch the mob come in on my finder and then watch them hit on my buddies camera, but I'm jonesin for a big dog. I'm gonna hit some other spots tomorrow and see if I can get into at least one big brown. Thank God for paid holidays!
I tried to post some pics of the perch, bass, and the gill but it's not working, I'll try it later. I would hate to be called a liar[cool]
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Glad to see you posting again man. Hey at least you did not get skunked.
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That's one of my goals - find a biggun. Been trying some bigger baits with that in mind. Gonna try more minnows - a 3 inch offering got the attention of a bigger bow at least. It was easy over 15, probably pushing 20".
Just couldn't believe it stole my minnow, then chased that perch bucktail right up the hole! Man - if I'd just grabbed its lip! But then too hook him up, and see him through that glassy ice. Almost had his head turned... grrr.
Gonna try some other minnow rigs, hook placement. Forgot to bring my roe-sacks. See what those are able to tempt.
So what depth are you finding the perch? I wanted to move out from the weeds by the inlet, and we punched holes all over that area. Maybe they were all hung over from staying up late on new years! PARTY PERCH!!!
Don't be surprised if a lot fewer of those big browns/bows show up this winter. Will all of them being harvested last year, it's not rocket science to figure out there's a lot fewer...and far between.
As for the perchies, we just gotta find 'em is all.
That glassy ice was sure fun to be out on. When did you guys finally leave?
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I found them in 45 to 50 feet over and in structure.
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