Frozen Turkey on Willard 11-24-22 (With Video)

[TubeDude]

LINK TO VIDEO

Yeah, I went fishing on Thanksgiving.   But both sides of our extended families decided to have their family get togethers last Sunday...so I had Thursday open.  Figured I might be the only turkey chasing perch on Willard so I went for it.

Launched at the north marina a bit after 8 am.  Air temp a brutal 22 degrees...only getting up to about the mid thirties by 1 pm quitting time.  Water temps went from 34.5 all the way up to 36.  Glad I had some toe warmers and hand warmers working for me.  This old body needs all the help it can get. 

After some private intel a couple of days before, I was prepared to have to drive down onto forbidden shoreline to get launched...if there was ice in the ramp area.  That would also mean a long walk from where I'd have to park my vehicle after launching...and to go get my vehicle when coming back in.  But I was THANKFUL to find open water at the ramp...with only a bit of newly formed skim ice going out the channel.  Glad my electric motor was up to the task of ice breaking. 

Got out to my targeted perching area just as the sun was peeking over the mountains.  Sky was clear and the radiant heat of the sun helped reduce the chill factor on my exposed fingertips in my cutoff gloves.  Baited up a couple of the new lures I had brought to try and propped the rods in my newly modified rod holders.  Didn't take long and the first rod took a slight bend as a perch climbed on.  I set the hook and brung in the first of a whole bunch of perch.

All the lures I used on the trip were new versions.  All had little propeller blades to create a bit more flash and vibration.  And I caught fish on just about every model I tried.  The best colors turned out to be orange tiger and chartreuse perch.  I had brought two bags of small chub minnows and rigged them whole.  The perch voted for them but I did not hook any other species today.  I was focused and finessed.


There was only one lull in the action and it lasted about a half hour.  Other than that, I used the side finder on my sonar to keep finding the small groups of perch in the area and dropping down to willing targets.  I didn't really keep an accurate count after about a dozen.  But at the end of the day I had kept about 35 and had released at least another dozen or so that were in the 9-10 inch range.  I measured 3 at 13" and had quite a few footlongs or better.  And I even had one double header...where just as I was netting one footlong another climbed on my second rod.


It was cold, but nice.  And one of the better days I've had in a long time for the porky perch of Willard.  Did I get lonely?  Nah!  There were a couple of other vehicles that pulled down on the ramp and watched briefly as the frozen turkey in the float tube played with perch.  And there were a couple of wacko paddle boarders who covered themselves in neoprene and carefully paddled out around the NE corner before beating a hasty retreat from the cold.
 
With the weather forecast for the coming week...and ahead...I'm pretty sure the ice cap is coming and I am likely done with Willard for the year.  But it done me good.

[jjannie]

Well, our turkey and fixins were great, but we too spent this year with just us for the holiday. Looks like we should of went perchin instead of watching football, LOL

Nice job, way to tough it out! Glad no one shot at you for their turkey dinner! Bet those paddle boarders thought you must be crazy and maybe you are but getting all those nice perch is some good eating for several meals.

Ice fishing without the hard deck, IMO Hot Hands are great to have on hand for sure.

[doitall5000]

Wow thanks Pat for reassuring us willard is still alive!
Great story and the slide show was great. That's good eaten. Were all the fish females?

[2knots]

Great job Pat that’s a good plié of eats, glad you were able to get another time before the surface tension gets higher.

[wiperhunter2]

Great way to end your tubing year at Willard, it don't get any better than that.

[TubeDude]

Wow thanks Pat for reassuring us willard is still alive! 
Great story and the slide show was great. That's good eaten. Were all the fish females?

All of the larger perch are females...with ripening egg sacs.  But some of the smaller fish are males.  I only kept a couple of smaller ones...early in the day...and only one of those was a male.  Glad you liked the show.

[Redrebel]

Always enjoy your reports/videos Pat. Do you save/eat the eggs?

[TubeDude]

Always enjoy your reports/videos Pat. Do you save/eat the eggs?

Not much anymore.  But at one time or another I have eaten just about every kind of fresh roe and caviar you can think of.  Perch eggs are good.  Dip 'em in egg wash and then a 50-50 mix of seasoned flour and cornstarch (dry tempura) and fry 'em on medium heat so they don't pop too much.  Pretty tasty but might be a texture thing for some folks.  Also, the later in the season (prior to spawning) the fishier they taste. 

By the way, they also make good bait for catfish.

[TubeDude]

Well, our turkey and fixins were great, but we too spent this year with just us for the holiday. Looks like we should of went perchin instead of watching football, LOL

Nice job, way to tough it out! Glad no one shot at you for their turkey dinner! Bet those paddle boarders thought you must be crazy and maybe you are but getting all those nice perch is some good eating for several meals.

Ice fishing without the hard deck, IMO Hot Hands are great to have on hand for sure.

Thankee fer the kindly comments.  I'm also glad I din't get shot.  Sounded like WWIII right at daybreak as the quacker whackers cut loose at various points around the lake and in the marshes.  But with the clear day the birds went elsewhere and stayed out of sight the rest of the day.  At least it was a lot quieter. 

The paddle boarders didn't get very close...and they chose not to say anything or start a conversation.  But if I saw me out there in all my cold weather glory I probably wouldn't dare get too close either. 

Took me about a half hour with the nuclear powered Bubba Blade electric fillet knife but I reduced my pile o' perch to about a gallon of nice white fillets in about a half hour.  Time well spent after a day well spent.  Already had one good meal of tempura perch and have another 4 big meal-sized bags of fillets in the freezer. 

I have been loving and using those Hot Hands hand warmers for several years.  But have been relying on a double layer of socks...including one pair of Heat Holders...to keep feeling in my tender tootsies.  And that works until the water temps drop below 40 degrees.  But this year a (great) neighbor gifted me with a few packages of "Little Hotties" adhesive toe warmers out of the large box they got at Costco.   Tried 'em for the first time on Thursday.  I'll never leave home without them again in super cold conditions.  They are thin enough I hardly noticed them.  And the adhesive sticks very firmly to the socks...so they don't ball up or move around.   They didn't exactly give me a hotfoot but they kept me comfy enough that I never even thought about my feet all day. 

I had to give up ice fishing but I hope I can hold up for some more late fall perchin' on Willard.

[wiperhunter2]

Hey Pat, question for you, do you soak your fillets in water before you package them for freezing? I do this on mine to get the blood out of them before freezing them.

[EyLayo]

Good job Pat. Caught some perch on your twirly dropper last weekend, but I think it was a bit too aggressive for the gills today. Only mild interest in it. Rainbows liked it though

[TubeDude]

Hey Pat, question for you, do you soak your fillets in water before you package them for freezing? I do this on mine to get the blood out of them before freezing them.

I drop the newly removed fillets into an ice water bath as I am filleting.  If I have a large batch, I may scoop some out after rinsing and put them in a plastic container in the refrigerator to await the next batch.  But yes, I do give them a good rinse.  Not so much of a blood problem with perch as with catfish and some other species.  Then, I freeze them in just enough water to cover them and squeeze out all excess water and air bubbles.  When they are ultimately thawed there is no trace of blood and they taste as good as fresh caught.

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Good job Pat. Caught some perch on your twirly dropper last weekend, but I think it was a bit too aggressive for the gills today. Only mild interest in it. Rainbows liked it though

Good on ya.  I have always done better with a smaller finesse approach on the bluegills.  Perch and trout are more aggressive and eat bigger meals.  If you are interested, I am going to be making up some micro dropper jigs...on 1/8 oz. bodies and down to size 8 hooks...with only 1" dropper wires.  I think those will have some acceptance among fishkind.  And so far Hali and Johnson don't make anything smaller than about 1/4 oz.  Lemme know if there might be a couple of colors you'd like to try.