01-02-2004, 11:37 PM
We braved the elements and went up to Rockport this morning. It was snowing like crazy this morning, but it actually turned out to be a beautiful day. We pulled off on the highway side at the second restrooms. The lake is 3/4 covered with ice, but the area by the dam is open water.
There were four of us fishing in around 18 feet of water. We probably caught over 100 fish today. We were there until 2:30. Any ice fly tipped with a wax worm was the ticket for perch. We probably caught at least 90-100 of those between the four of us. If you varied the depth of your fly, you were more likely to catch rainbows. We caught around 15 bows, with the largest about 2.5 pounds and 18 inches. If you want to keep the dinks off your line, put a larger lure on. After catching so many perch, I decided I wanted to catch a larger rainbow or brown. I put on a salt and pepper tube jig that was about 2 inches long and tipped that with a wax worm. I caught several 12 and 13 inch perch on that, and also had 2 decent bows, with what I thought was the biggest of the day breaking off at the hole. The trout seem to be suspended in the water line from 8-15 feet, while the perch are one or two handle turns off the bottom. The best action was in the morning but it was pretty good all day. There were around 50 people fishing in the same general area, and everyone seemed to be having fun and catching plenty of fish. We had a great time and it was fun to introduce a couple of out of state friends and my girlfriend to ice fishing.
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There were four of us fishing in around 18 feet of water. We probably caught over 100 fish today. We were there until 2:30. Any ice fly tipped with a wax worm was the ticket for perch. We probably caught at least 90-100 of those between the four of us. If you varied the depth of your fly, you were more likely to catch rainbows. We caught around 15 bows, with the largest about 2.5 pounds and 18 inches. If you want to keep the dinks off your line, put a larger lure on. After catching so many perch, I decided I wanted to catch a larger rainbow or brown. I put on a salt and pepper tube jig that was about 2 inches long and tipped that with a wax worm. I caught several 12 and 13 inch perch on that, and also had 2 decent bows, with what I thought was the biggest of the day breaking off at the hole. The trout seem to be suspended in the water line from 8-15 feet, while the perch are one or two handle turns off the bottom. The best action was in the morning but it was pretty good all day. There were around 50 people fishing in the same general area, and everyone seemed to be having fun and catching plenty of fish. We had a great time and it was fun to introduce a couple of out of state friends and my girlfriend to ice fishing.
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