Ririe-Report 3-10-07

[windriver]

I went to my usual holes in search of perch on Saturday. I know most of you think that I am crazy, but I would rather target a fish that I know is there then wait hours for Kokes to come by.

I found most of the perch in 45 ft of water. I also found a small school of them in 17 ft of water. I caught more than 50% males this trip, where as I may have caught 3 males all the rest of the icefishing season. Anyone know what that means?

Anyway I ended up catching 36 perch 7 cutts 4 suckers and 2 chubs. The perch were extremely skitish. I saw huge schools of them on the aqua-view but could not get them to bite, then I downsized and downsized and downsized until I was using 2lbtest and one of those Swedish tungsten ice flies called "fiskas" then the perch seemed to come alive. It took a really long time to drop that small of a jig 45ft, but it was well worth it because the perch bit everytime it got to the bottom. I did not catch any monsters this time, but most of them were in the 7-8" range with a few in the 10" size. The trout were all caught by accident while targeting perch.

If you go to Ririe in the next week bring a board. The cap is lifting fast. There is a really beautiful mudfall cominging into the lake across from the boatramp. The ice is still about 16" thick if you can get onto it.

I have heard reports of people fishing with lanterns by the island and catching kokes right after dark.

Good Luck

Windriver
[signature]

[BrianID]

Thanks for the report. If this warm weather keeps up, I might not get a chance to ice fish again this winter.
[signature]

[bdn06]

Good report--glad you got some perchies. It's always cool when the fish aren't hitting initially, but you figure out how to make them bite! [cool]
[signature]

[EagleEyes]

My thanks also for the update. I tried some other water over the weekend instead of Ririe. It is a shame that our hard water could be leaving this early. I haven't had my fill of ice fishing yet.

[signature]

[OvidCreek]

Thanks for the report Windriver! That mudfall is awsome and I must have watched it for a good 15 minutes. I did not do well Friday, and all my perch were gone; I can't complain, I have had an awsome year at Ririe. I think your quite smart to go for the sure thing. You are just as likely to have a koke run through your holes as anywhere else, plus the perch are just as good as the kokes, different on the taste buds, but just as tasty.
[signature]