03-01-2013, 07:37 PM
[cool][#0000FF]I don't claim to have any foolproof definitive answers. But I have fished through enough ice seasons to observe that a late season lull is not that unusual.
At least 99 percent of the larger perch we catch are females. Earlier in the ice season their eggs are not quite as developed and do not crowd their innards as much. So they feed more actively and aggressively. By the end of February they are nearing their annual spawn and the egg skeins put on their final growth surge...distending the stomach and making it almost impossible to hold any large food tidbits. The pregnant perch will still mouth a small jig...out of instinct or wishful thinking...but they only suck it in and spit it out. No hard chomps or munch and run.
A lot of other fish are slowing down now too, but for a different reason. After several months under snow covered ice the oxygen levels and pH of the water gets out of whack. This slows down the activity level and metabolism. Once the ice comes off and wind reoxygenates and stirs up the water the fish will "light up" again. Not as much of a problem in lakes where there are good stream inflows, living weedbeds, etc. But in other lakes it contributes to winter kill.
The other factor is that the active cycle seems to change from day to day and week to week...at least on some lakes. Your trip last week found you really getting into the fish from daybreak to about 10 am. You go back this week at the same time and don't catch diddly before leaving in mid-afternoon. But the next day you hear from your buddies who stayed after you left that the fish turned on at 4 and they tore it up until dark.
Bottom line is that the fish pretty much act however they want...according to their own schedules. We can guess all we want but the truth is that there can be a lot of factors that get the fish active...or inactive. In the case of these perch, remember...they are mostly females. Need I say more?
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At least 99 percent of the larger perch we catch are females. Earlier in the ice season their eggs are not quite as developed and do not crowd their innards as much. So they feed more actively and aggressively. By the end of February they are nearing their annual spawn and the egg skeins put on their final growth surge...distending the stomach and making it almost impossible to hold any large food tidbits. The pregnant perch will still mouth a small jig...out of instinct or wishful thinking...but they only suck it in and spit it out. No hard chomps or munch and run.
A lot of other fish are slowing down now too, but for a different reason. After several months under snow covered ice the oxygen levels and pH of the water gets out of whack. This slows down the activity level and metabolism. Once the ice comes off and wind reoxygenates and stirs up the water the fish will "light up" again. Not as much of a problem in lakes where there are good stream inflows, living weedbeds, etc. But in other lakes it contributes to winter kill.
The other factor is that the active cycle seems to change from day to day and week to week...at least on some lakes. Your trip last week found you really getting into the fish from daybreak to about 10 am. You go back this week at the same time and don't catch diddly before leaving in mid-afternoon. But the next day you hear from your buddies who stayed after you left that the fish turned on at 4 and they tore it up until dark.
Bottom line is that the fish pretty much act however they want...according to their own schedules. We can guess all we want but the truth is that there can be a lot of factors that get the fish active...or inactive. In the case of these perch, remember...they are mostly females. Need I say more?
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[signature]