Wanted to get a few perch without going to Fish Lake. Saw the reports, loved the contour depth map and asked Wiperhunter a few questions. Put together my game plan and off I went. Plan A worked, never had to hit another spot. Caught about 30 8" to 11" perch in a couple of hours. Also got a bonus largemouth and a rainbow. But the big surprise was the size of the blue gills. One easily topped 10" and most were around 8". Bass, rainbow and gills all released.
Fished in 12 to 14 foot depths using a perch colored glow ice fly tipped with a wax worm. Crawlers and perch meat were not on the perch menu today. Bite was beyond soft. Never really felt any tugs. My rod tip would move maybe 1/8" or the line would twitch. Flasher did it's job today. Lots of fish would come in a look then swim away but I had fish on the graph most of time. Photo is the first hour or so's catch.
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Nobody told you about the bluegills, huh? I love that lake in the spring, too. And 11" perch are darn good even for up there, and in a couple hours, too boot. I get a lot more 8-9" ers, but have caught a couple honest 12" perch in the fall before the ice.
So far my plans have not come together like yours did up there this year, so feel free too offer any guidance. [
] I missed the whole of Dec (was basically at work the whole month), and a I'm out of touch. It's usually one of the places I do best.
And the winter bite is almost always light up there. Sometimes a spring bobber even seems barely sensitive enough!
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I had a spring bobber St Croix Legend and a Quiverstick with a very sensitive tip and the bite was practically undetectable. Without my Marcum flasher fishing would have been 10 times as tough.
I was targeting the steepest drop off from shore to about 12 ft and looking for a little flat from 12ft to 14/15ft. That's where I expected to find perch and it was. Not giving away the farm here - you can usually figure out where the steep breaks from shore are by looking at the slope of the land into the water. Mantua just has an obvious hill.
Had the contour map that someone so generously posted and with a little drilling I found what I was looking for. Had about a dozen holes in the area and just kept hopping around. When one hole would get slow move to the next sometimes a little deeper sometimes shallower. Fish were still biting when I left but I had what I wanted and left some for another day.
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Stan, thanks! That is exactly the kind of info that teaches without giving everything away. I do fine on Mantua, but I just learnt sumpthin' from you, a "beginner", and I really appreciate it. I am entirely self taught beyond worms and bobbers, and have learned the most from people on this site.
12' is exactly what I look for to start, and work to different depths until I hit a good spot, generally. But it never occurred to me that structure might matter beyond that, for some reason, except that I look for some irregularities on the bottom. (My sonar isn't very good). And, I had garnered no knowledge of that far west side at all, having been skunked on both my attempts over there.
And, yeah, Mantua is where I learned what a light bite WAS, when I first started icefishing. BIG bluegills that barely move it more than the soft breeze
In fact, I'll throw you back a tip, if I may be so bold. Might come in handy for other beginners. At some dollar stores, you can buy these small, colored zip ties. When I had no money once, I tied one of them on for a spring bobber. I heated the end with a match, bent it over, and knocked out the little locking tab. They are ULTRA sensitive, you can adjust the sensitivity for lure and line weight by adjusting the length. They can just just be tied on with a small rubber band. Ice builds up less on them than on metal ones. You have to straighten them out between the fingers occasionally, but they are so sensitive the fish sometimes don't seem to feel them, you can watch them bend slowly over rather than tick or jump.
Take care, and many more of the same!
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I just got the big fat skunk on the perch there. I rarely get skunked. I did catch 3 small, scrawny rainbows.
When I re-read your post, I realized how absolutely sensitive the bite must have been. I would like to try up there again, but I need to really step up my game.
Thanks for the fishing lesson.
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