Cascade / Fishing Blind

[SkunkedAgain]

net image download I took a trip to Cascade last week and was going to post a big story but it’s kind of old news by now. So how about some lessons learned. I think I posted that my LX-7 had blew a transistor so it wouldn’t power up and I had to send it back for repairs. So I hit the bucket list trip with my old black and white Lowrance Finder with a boat transducer. Ok so I showed up to a gun fight with a Swiss Army Knife. The ice was probably 18-20” thick, my auger had about 4” left. If you’ve followed Cascade you’ll know the ice is made up of multiple layers of frozen slush, ice and water zones. Sonar will shoot through good solid ice, but all the confusion of multi layers is like a lead liner and you can only see a pop can hole at the bottom since my boat transducer can’t be lowered to the bottom of the ice. Anyway I’ll stop the whining and proceed with the trip. Thursday we arrived around noon after a seven hour road trip. After a bait run to Tackle Tom’s and getting set up at the cabin I was on the ice to fish by 2:00. Of course I had to pick my first spot from all my map review. Seen some fish but no takers so about 4:00 moved over to the rest of our group that had been catching a few. So then it was really fun to not catch anything while those around you are pulling in 14” perch. I had one bump but didn’t see it coming and missed it. Skunked on day one. Next day, seems I don’t partake of the antifreeze the night before, I hit the ice at 6:00 and took the slow 7 mile ride down lake to our fishing area around Sugarloaf. I was first on the ice at 8 below so I set up in a spot Joe recommended the night before. Had to get the heater going in the tent to stay warm, but just after sunrise I got my first 13”er on a jaw jacker. Seen lots of fish on the graph but couldn’t track them as they started chasing my lure and never hooked multiple bumps. Later in the morning I moved over with part of the group and set up in a spot that looked really good to me. Well the fish didn’t like it, but took me hours to give up on it. About 3:00 I joined the main group that had been pounding nice fish all day. I got a 12”er just before we quit that day. Last day I only had till 11:00 so hit it early again in a spot I picked kinda like where the group had been fishing. By now I’d decided to use my camera and that was a great decision. You couldn’t see very far, but you could see enough to know when a fish was there. I had one big one on the jacker pole and I fought it to the ice and it was hard to get it started up the hole and my hole had frozen at least a quarter inch of ice so as I was breaking that clear I lost it. After I nailed a pair of Hyrum 8”ers and then out of the fog I seen a perch in bound straight after my cutr bug. I twitched it very lightly and it hammered it. Great fight followed and then I had to pull the cork out of the bottle. The fish rubbed hard on both sides of the 6” hole, but I got her and she made my trip. 15.5” and I didn’t weigh her but I felt a relief. So I learned that my fish finder is a lot more valuable than I’ve been giving it credit for. Cascade is a beautiful place and that river in the canyon is so much like the salmon that was wanting to chase steelhead. Great trip just wish it wasn’t so far away. Glad I was able to do it. Later Jeff

[JArner]

Nice write up and a beautiful fish! Will have to see about a trip up there next winter.

[Jig-fisher]

Now THAT'S a big perch! Nice catch!

[Muskyon46]

Ok so I figured out this new set-up finally, thanks Jeff. It was a great trip for sure. I'm happy that last day worked out for you to get the fat pig thru that little hole. My trip ended with 38 perch, 2 trout. Biggest perch going just under 15" and weighed in at 1.75lbs. This was a great trip all around. The weather was fantastic. I'll get a few pics when I get logged on to my phone. i really didnt see a need to hit the ice early so the anti-freeze was doing good every night and to honest the bite didnt sound like it picked up until 9ish everyday any way. I feel for you not having your LX7. After using mine for so long it would be really weird going back to my old eagle. That thing would have all kinds of lag time. I hope you cget it back soon and can make it out with us this weekend to the Gorge. I'm stoked to finally get to camp all weekend on ther ice, my hip picked the worst time to give up thats for sure.

[Justaguywaworm]

  - that perch is so fat it looks like you are holding a football in your hand!


Rob

[fast_randy]

Thanks you two, for the report. I was just thinking about putting my ice gear away. I need to get up there instead.

[Muskyon46]

Here's a couple of my bigger ones and the filet table on 2 of the night's. Biggest fish on those tables was just under 16in and weighed over 2lbs

[SkunkedAgain]

Nice write up and a beautiful fish! Will have to see about a trip up there next winter.

Thanks it is a great trip and makes a fun event... Plan it and stay long enough to figure the fish out... I wish I'd of had another day or two to catch them once I got onto it... Later Jeff

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Now THAT'S a big perch! Nice catch!

Thank you... J

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Ok so I figured out this new set-up finally, thanks Jeff. It was a great trip for sure. I'm happy that last day worked out for you to get the fat pig thru that little hole. My trip ended with 38 perch, 2 trout. Biggest perch going just under 15" and weighed in at 1.75lbs. This was a great trip all around. The weather was fantastic. I'll get a few pics when I get logged on to my phone. i really didnt see a need to hit the ice early so the anti-freeze was doing good every night and to honest the bite didnt sound like it picked up until 9ish everyday any way. I feel for you not having your LX7. After using mine for so long it would be really weird going back to my old eagle. That thing would have all kinds of lag time. I hope you cget it back soon and can make it out with us this weekend to the Gorge. I'm stoked to finally get to camp all weekend on ther ice, my hip picked the worst time to give up thats for sure.

Thanks Matt, as I've said before go fishing with Matt you'll always be the low catch guy on the trip...  I had a good four hours more fish time a day and by noon he'd aready out caught me by probably double..  but I got my LX back today.... Yooooo hooo.... now I need to go fishing... Thanks Jeff

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  - that perch is so fat it looks like you are holding a football in your hand!


Rob

It really felt like a football, that egg pouch was huge.... By the way I did take it home and ate it last night... excellent fish tacos and one fish did two tacos....  I could get in to catching big perch, they are a nice treat... Later Jeff

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Thanks you two, for the report. I was just thinking about putting my ice gear away. I need to get up there instead.

Hey Randy I think you're half way there, you better do it... Been hearing magic is fishing pretty well for perch too... just not quite as big...  Good luck and let us know how it turns out... Later Jeff

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  So I'm just trying to figure out how to do these new pictures on the forum... sorry for the distracting photo's but it is time to start planning the summer trips... later Jeff

[2knots]

Great trip guys with some awesome fish, have to put that one on the todo list for next year for sure

[SkunkedAgain]

Great trip guys with some awesome fish, have to put that one on the todo list for next year for sure

I’d recommend it and hope you get as favorable of conditions as we did. If you hit the big snow storm and slush fest it can be terrible, but when it’s set up it’s a lot of fun. I think our rescheduled date ended up being a good thing. Other than the finder not being with me. I really like these tail end of the season trips when you have the sunshine and great weather. Hope for a few more before it melts. Later Jeff

[PACKFAN]

If I could just get goose hunting out of my system I could spend more time on the ice.

[SkunkedAgain]

I used to have the bird fever, but now I prefer the fishy types, I can put them back and not have to clean things when I get home... Plus they taste a lot better than the ducks and geese... Later Jeff