Fishing Forum

Where can someone go to get some bigger perch or some good size crappie? You don't have to be too detailed just a body of water, or parking area around a lake will do. If the are some fish part of the challenge is finding them. I live in Layton, ut. so driving a few hours is no problem.Just want to catch some fish for a good dinner. Thanks for you help last week the grandsons had a great time at pineview with the perchies. Let me know where they are and thanks again.
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Dont know about much bigger perch but echo rockport deer creek starvation all have perch in my travels I think starvation has a little bigger perch oh and also fish lake
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Sounded like CJ Strike in Idaho had some good ones, but most local lakes don't give up many perch over 10 inches. Bama did well last week for crappie on pine view but only a few were over 12. Good luck. Later J
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CJ Strike in Idaho, averaging 12". Probably 3 1/2 hour drive.
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utah has some good crappie and perch... also white bass and gills!!!!
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Try [url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egoiPrvny5M"]Lake Simcoe[/url], it's more than hours away but it looks like it is worth the drive[].
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[quote wiperhunter2]Try [url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egoiPrvny5M"]Lake Simcoe[/url], it's more than hours away but it looks like it is worth the drive[].[/quote

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I would love to take a trip there!!
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Cottonwood campground, CJ Strike. I was there weds and we caught 60 over 12 inches and one 22 inch trout. PM if your going. Ice is 10+
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Try Fish Lake, there are TONS of perch and from what I understand no limit on them. These perch have decent size too!

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Part of my take last weekend at C.J. Strike near Mt. Home Idaho, ice access is probably getting bad by now though. The place also holds big crappie as well when you can find them.
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Maybe they are gone... (TD or someone else could probably say definitively) but I used to catch some big jumbos at Deer Creek.

Right off the Island in about 30-40ft of water we would nail them every trip 12-13+" perch! That was about 8 years ago though.
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[cool][#0000FF]Deer Creek is up and down...literally. When water levels are up high enough to flood the vegetation in the upper part of the lake, there is a better perch spawn...and more young to survive to larger sizes. In low water and poor spawn years not enough of the young survive to make a decent year class.

Two years ago there was a peak year class...lots of 12 to 13 inchers. They spawned and died out the following spring. This past year there was a year class that averaged 8-10 inches, but they were not nearly as plentiful as some years past. It was not good late fall fishing and so far nobody has had any decent catches through the ice.

Since smallmouth bass have taken over Deer Creek the baby perch don't have a chance. Stunted smallmouth herd the tiny newly hatched perch into balls and slaughter them. And in years where there was a poor spawn to begin with that year class is doomed before it can ever enter the anglers' arena.

This next summer will see more in the 10 to 12 inch range...but that year class is rapidly being harvested and they are not likely to be very abundant by the following ice season. The 50 fish perch limit on Deer Creek is not kind to the perch.
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Thanks for chiming in, as always.

I remember when we were doing really well on them, the limit was 10 perch per angler. But they were so gosh darn big you got a lot of meat off those 10 jumbos.

We would net up a bunch of baby crawfish (1" and smaller) and used them for the perch at Deer Creek (on small jigheads) frozen of course not alive... They sure love baby crawfish.[]

When did the bass show up in Deer Creek Tubdedude? If my memory serves me right we caught some bass while perching there. But not very many but we'd catch a few each trip... and they did not seem to be in the stunting cycle yet. Most of them were very fat and healthy. Maybe they had not taken over the lake back then.
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[#0000FF]Before smallmouth there were only largemouths. And they got big and fat on the abundant crawdads and baby perch.

Smallmouths were trucked in from Flaming Gorge about the mid 80's. And...as typical...they grew fast and fat on the super food supply in Deer Creek. There were some nice smallies taken for a few years.

Then the smallies did their usual thing and greatly reduced the crawdad numbers and started in on the perch. Walleyes get a lot of the blame for the perch decline but they eat primarily the larger perch. The hordes of yearling smallmouths vacuum up thousands of perch fry before they ever get started.

As in most perch waters, large perch get that way by having plenty of baby perch to dine on. They count on spawning enough to not only feed the adults but to have a good supply left over to spawn later and keep up the numbers. When the smallies eat up ALL the baby perch the adult perch starve and stunt too. It is only about one year in ten that sees a good perch spawn and recruitment with enough numbers to survive the predation and contribute both to anglers and future spawns.

I was to see Deer Creek lumped into the new 50 fish limit for perch. I too enjoyed being able to catch a limit of toads.

I have fished perch in Deer Creek going back to the early 1960s...when they were considered trash fish and thrown up on the bank. I was one of the first ice anglers to take advantage of Deer Creek being opened to ice fishing...perch only...in the early 80's. And I can assure you that there was still a great population of healthy perch until the smallmouth took over. Since then there have been few good years of lots of big perch.
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Brenda and I had some BYU students come down on the ice by the Deer Creek State park when I it 1st opened for ice fishing and do some filming us and our kids ice fishing the perch. They had never seen anyone ice fish before I guess and were driving by and just happened to be doing a film on winter sports in Utah and stopped to film us, kind of neat. Steve Brown and his film crew also filmed us ice fishing pineview when it 1st opened to ice fishing. Other than Pelican there wasn't much pressure on any of the year round open lakes for ice fishing in those days. No body knew what waxies were and I would have my dad send me a supply from Wis. every year. Fun days, had Holmes Creek to myself then. [cool]
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"Fun days, had Holmes Creek to myself then."

[cool][#0000FF]No you didn't. We just went there at different times. Used to be some nice bass and big crappies...as well as the bluegills with shoulders. Even saw a couple of walleyes.

Now there is nothing but hatchery pets...trout and cats. Better than nothing but not as good as it used to was. But that is what all us old fudds say about everything. Nothin's the same anymore and it usually ain't new and IMPROVED.
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I started ice fishing it in winter of 76 and would fish it 2 to 3 times a week once it froze,usually after work during the week and mornings on the weekend, I'm surprised we never bumped into each other. I have even spent some all nighters down there after the crappies we would also pick up some nice bass and once in awhile a small walleye after dark. Thru the years it became more and more popular and I made some great freinds on the ice there. I haven't fished it since getting a ticket there several years ago, the 1st year it became a community fishery, $126 bucks if I remember correctly. Now I guess it is no longer a community, fishery not sure why they changed it again. [:/]
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[cool][#0000FF]You beat me there by a couple of years. But I still had some great trips on that pond...even if it was the first and only place I have ever gone through the ice. Got impatient at first ice one year. Thankfully I was with another guy who was able to help haul me out.

Why? Can't ask a question that begins with that word if it has anything to do with Utah fishing.
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[quote happybob91]

Try Fish Lake, there are TONS of perch and from what I understand no limit on them. These perch have decent size too!

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Sorry, but your understanding is in error. The limit on perch at Fish Lake is the standard state-wide limit of 50 perch. It would be a shame to get an expensive ticket for taking too many perch. I suggest you get a copy of the Fishing Guidebook and read through it.
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Funny someone even has to say that... but it is AMAZING how many people do not read through the regulations in their entirety.
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