Ice Fishing for Perch

[TClutch]

Can anyone give me some pointers on how to catch perch ice fishing. I really don't have any idea how and am supposed to take some scouts ice fishing at Pineview. I am a pretty novice fisherman so any help you guys can provide would be great.
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[DevinJ]

Well usually people fish pineview for crappie. Not sure how the perch populations are there. Just use the search function and people post usually what they are using and how deep.
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[Envenomation09]

Never fished Pineview, but from my experience locate weedlines and fish within 6-12 inches of the bottom.
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[UintaIce]

The north side of Cemetery Point has been good for perch and crappie. 40 feet has been a good depth, give or take a little. Fish just off the bottom with tiny jigs, and tip them with a wax worm or meal worm. Try a slow lift and fall with your jig to keep fish following your lure. Electronics help a lot when locating active fish. If you don't have access to any, punch a lot of holes and keep moving to find cooperative fish.
Good luck!
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[Jedidiah]

The key to finding perch is normally to move a lot. Perch school up in groups of about the same size fish, and then feed in an area for a while before moving on. Generally to target perch you're going to need to find areas they would normally be like soft bottoms, weed lines and bowls and then search for the schools in those areas. Pineview's perch adhere to this rule because their population there is fairly normal. Other places like Fish Lake, there's so many that they fill up the suitable habitat in the weed line around the perimeter of the lake. I am pretty sure that people are catching perch at Echo by just setting up shop on the north end of the lake along the contours on the bottom that lead out of the artificial bowl that the dam creates and then catching perch from the schools as they come out of the deep area in the morning and then go back in at sundown. I think the reason that people catch perch on the north side of Cemetery Point is that one of the biggest and most pronounced deep bowls is just northwest of the point and the perch are migrating out of their home there when they school up in the morning and then roving around the area for food.

A tandem rig with two ice flies or jigs, or an attractor like a small Kastmaster and a jig are a good bet when prospecting for perch. Like the other guys said though, crappie seem to be more numerous in Pineview by far and that is my experience also.
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[PerchPile]

With the warm weather, and all the moisture/snow, if you are taking a group of boys to Pineview, be very careful of the edges. Many edges are steep, and the ice edges may be very soft. It is easy to break through and slip right under the ice, if you are in a steep spot. Once out on the ice you are safe. Warn them and keep an eye on what they are doing.
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[Jedidiah]

You can also bring a plank to use to get on the ice....or run and jump, like me. One day I might dump all my gear under the edge of the ice trying to pull the sled across, though.
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[Majja]

Once you get a perch use it eyes to tip the jigs with. They tend to be kind of like Perch candy.
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[Mightymose]

Id use a drop shot perch rig. Ill send you photos.
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[RusseCoons]

The best success you will have is to put a ratfinkee above a kastmaster (bright colors work great) like 8 to 12 inches. Tip both with perch meat after you catch a perch (perch eye works the best) but any live bait will work to catch a perch. Fish 4 to 12 inches off the bottom. Move around till you find them like everyone has said. If you sit in one spot and you don't catch a perch within 5 minutes you probably won't catch any there at all. I'd try cemetery point but if that doesn't work go to the marina or dock on the west and start fishing there and work your way towards the canyon. In the canyon right when it starts to narrow is where I usually do good. I usually find them in 28 feet to 50 feet of water. Move around till you find them. With a group of scouts you should catch well over 200 if you find them. But remember you have to clean them and it takes me and my brother 3 hours to filet 150 perch. But man are they tasty deep fried or baked for fish tacos...mmmmmm. Probably the best meat in utah. Perch and Walleye. This is a recipe for fish taco sauce 9http://www.food.com/recipe/fish-tacos-with-yogurt-sauce-370972). If you're interested. It is really good. Eat it with cabbage and mango salsa. If you catch a crappie it's just a bonus. Some years you catch more crappie and some years you catch more perch. Good luck and stay warm.
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[RusseCoons]

Oh and another thing about perch during the winter at pineview is when you catch them a lot of their air sacks bulge out there mouth or in their throat so you can't let any go 98% of the time. They won't survive. But if you get into a bunch you should be catching doubles! They're awesome! A fish on the top jig and on the bottom! And don't forget a bucket to bring them all home in.
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[RusseCoons]

Here's a picture of us in the canyon a few years ago. 3 people, 150 fish.
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[Majja]

Interesting set up. To you just tie the ratfinkie more like a drop shot then go to the Fastmaster/ spoon? If you have a picture of this I would love to see it.

Majja
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[RusseCoons]

I don't have a picture. I just tie it on like a regular hook using the all popular clinch knot but leave an excess of a foot of line and tie another jig on the same way then cut off the excess. It's never broke on me so far but I never use bad line. Nothing more frustrating than having a fish get away cause your stupid line broke! So I buy new line every season.
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[wagdog]

I've done something similar to what is being described. I like using a small barrel or crane swivel. The main line ties to the swivel. I use a short piece of leader to tie on a small jig like a rat finkee. I then take a longer piece of leader (maybe 12-18 inches) and tie on a heavier lure like a spoon or jig. I'll tip each with a different bait to see what the fish like (typically wax worm, crawler, cut bait in some combination).

To me it is similar to a drop shot. Your weight is a jig or spoon (or some other heavy lure) instead of a sinker. Gives you two options for them to try out.
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[Majja]

That is kind of how I pictured it like a drop shot, but figured I would ask for clarification.
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[wagdog]

I think the way RusseCoons is describing he is basically leaving a really long tag end after tying on the first lure and then tying some other offering on the longer tag end. I've done that in the past for white bass at UL. It worked great until I got into a really thick school and somehow the second jig's line would get cut. It was strange. I was using new copolymer line too. I've since used a swivel to do the same thing. Yeah I'm tying more knots but it works fine.
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