Perchin in idaho

[idahopanfish]

Fished Carey Lake out here in Idaho needing some perch. This (bof) is not a "big" fish producer most times but we were able to find some 8-9"ers. Other than a piece of a worm eagle claws nitro crappie trailers in chartreus was my go to bait.
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[idahoron]

We have been doing very well there on perch from 9" to 12" this spring. One guy I went with from our church could not see to change his 3" long bass jig and he got the biggest perch I have seen there. We have been eating perch like pigs. Ron
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[idahopanfish]

Well maybe we wern't deep enough for the bigger ones. The best I could find was 9" in about 12-15' water. Moss is going to be a problem fairly soon there. Hope I can get back up there before it gets to far along.
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[idahoron]

I think the bigger ones are starting to get a little tight lipped. I think I am done for this year up there. It was a great time. Ron
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[idahopanfish]

So did you find them in the more open water on the west side? and in the deeper water?[blush] since your friend caught the biggest on the bass lure did you find that larger jigs were bring in larger fish?[]

I love that place[cool] A few years ago I had a fantastic time with the gills there, but now they need to be thined some how, they are just getting stunted[frown]

I know you said that the catfish weren't there but I did have some conversations with people on the bank that had caught 3-5#ers there. in the past. So could it be that they feed better at night? cause thats when they had caught them?
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[idahoron]

Yes the west side was the best. And the deeper water was also where we found them. They were down in the moss and weeds on the bottom. I do think that the size of the jig was the reason he had the bigger ones, and also why he didn't catch any 9" perch.
I have no doubt that in the past cats have been caught that were 3 to 5 pounds. There might be a few still but I highly doubt it. One of the reasons I say I don't think they are there is 3000 cats were planted last year. Some of them should still be there unless something happened. With the number of dead 3" perch that are in that lake I would say that NO cats are feeding on them. After speaking to the F&G on it they also believe that the catfish plantings are mostly a waste of resource. I told them I felt that the lake was not very good habitat for them and they agree. Cats do bite somewhat better at night but not always. I feel that most of the cats have migrated to the south side and were left high and dry in the summer draw down of the lake. I am sure that some were caught, and a few might still be there. But I think 18000 cats have been planted with little to show for it. They were intended to be used to control the stunted gills. That is not working. I pushed for wipers or tiger musky. We will see what they do. I also asked that the future cat plants go to other lakes.
The F&G has asked if I would like to help them with a research project for Dog creek and tagging catfish. They want me to catch and tag as many as I can up to 200 fish. I might need some help would you be interested? The details have not been hashed out yet. Ron
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